Hi thank you! I'm excited to be here but I have no idea what I'm doing at all! I hope I come up with something interesting to say! In any case, I could not imagine a world where I am not writing lesbians. It's just not possible. The world needs more!
I may or may not have just binged like half of the freud zine (I have made it to part 5!), and will read more when I get the chance. I think I need to go write some meta about bingqiu and the blood-drinking/breast feeding and the entire medieval Christian mystical tradition of blood drinking from Christ's wound (but also the wound is described with vaginal imagery, but also there's a bunch of breastfeeding from Christ imagery). Binghe literally recieves the stigmata. I guess this is what Dreamwidth is for! Also fanfiction. I'm going to write some lesbian fanfiction about this also.
I was lucky enough to avoid most of the fandom osmosis for beefleaf. I had some understanding that there was a bit of tragedy, but no idea what to expect. Now I sort of yearn for a f!beefleaf fic that keeps all of the tragedy of canon. Or maybe a beefleaf Carmilla au. I think I am really primed to write that (though the tgcf fandom terrifies me). Something something the nature of consumption and ghosts and SQX (has anyone pointed out that one of the things SQX has taken away from them is the ability to transform into a female form? The form that they are the most powerful and comfortable in? I think about that a lot). I love what art I've seen of course, but I'm sort of desperate for some beefleaf with a little girl aggression. I have been in too many of those unhealthy, kind of homoerotic codependent teen girl friendships to not see beefleaf get a story with that.
The idea of girl aggression as pillow stuffing, as something that is expressed through the aesthetic and proper behavior is actually soooo Shen Yuan, come to think of it. The moment he wakes up as Shen Qingqiu, he is Performing, and the system is outright enforcing a very specific type of existence. It would be... so much fun to explore this through the lens of girl aggression. A female Shen Qingqiu, even more of a performance, used to even more restriction on what she is allowed to be. When she pushes Luo Binghe into the abyss, she herself is breaking a boundary by actualizing the girl violence as plain, physical violence, or something. If I am making any sense. What sort of Binghe would come back from this? She has to get the sword to escape, but the language of behavior she's been taught doesn't allow her to use it.
In any case, I feel like I should at least bring up Clear and Muddy Loss of Love at least once here. It's baihe rather than danmei, it's about gender (and also political drama), and I have no idea what to say about it at all. Except that it does not shy away from women and violence, but also both of the women committing that violence are already transgressing gender roles in some way (either through presenting as masc or becoming a female emperor). I loved that book. Then I went to look for fanfiction, and it was a majority really fluffy modern aus. I am still trying to figure out why that is.
Anyway, I continue to be entranced by this girl aggression concept, and am teasing it out in my head right now. It seems to come in a simultaneous enforcement and transgression of gender boundaries. Because, as you said, overt aggression isn't allowed to happen between women, it must be covert instead. The examples that you've given of where it can happen are great, honestly, and I am excited to think of more in the meantime as I figure out where in literature it can go.
I hope you enjoy the Fingersmith! You'll be familiar with the plot, because despite like 30 million changes (changes made to suit the visual medium, a transformation of setting and time period, having to stop at what is actually more of a halfway point in the book) it is a near perfect adaptation, I think. The heart and themes are All There, perfectly recontextualized.
I hope you enjoy my writing! I think when I finish the yaoi zine (and the freud zine) I'm definitely going to have a Lot of Thoughts. I'm sorry this comment was also still so long. I think my brain is full of thoughts.
no subject
I may or may not have just binged like half of the freud zine (I have made it to part 5!), and will read more when I get the chance. I think I need to go write some meta about bingqiu and the blood-drinking/breast feeding and the entire medieval Christian mystical tradition of blood drinking from Christ's wound (but also the wound is described with vaginal imagery, but also there's a bunch of breastfeeding from Christ imagery). Binghe literally recieves the stigmata. I guess this is what Dreamwidth is for! Also fanfiction. I'm going to write some lesbian fanfiction about this also.
I was lucky enough to avoid most of the fandom osmosis for beefleaf. I had some understanding that there was a bit of tragedy, but no idea what to expect. Now I sort of yearn for a f!beefleaf fic that keeps all of the tragedy of canon. Or maybe a beefleaf Carmilla au. I think I am really primed to write that (though the tgcf fandom terrifies me). Something something the nature of consumption and ghosts and SQX (has anyone pointed out that one of the things SQX has taken away from them is the ability to transform into a female form? The form that they are the most powerful and comfortable in? I think about that a lot). I love what art I've seen of course, but I'm sort of desperate for some beefleaf with a little girl aggression. I have been in too many of those unhealthy, kind of homoerotic codependent teen girl friendships to not see beefleaf get a story with that.
The idea of girl aggression as pillow stuffing, as something that is expressed through the aesthetic and proper behavior is actually soooo Shen Yuan, come to think of it. The moment he wakes up as Shen Qingqiu, he is Performing, and the system is outright enforcing a very specific type of existence. It would be... so much fun to explore this through the lens of girl aggression. A female Shen Qingqiu, even more of a performance, used to even more restriction on what she is allowed to be. When she pushes Luo Binghe into the abyss, she herself is breaking a boundary by actualizing the girl violence as plain, physical violence, or something. If I am making any sense. What sort of Binghe would come back from this? She has to get the sword to escape, but the language of behavior she's been taught doesn't allow her to use it.
In any case, I feel like I should at least bring up Clear and Muddy Loss of Love at least once here. It's baihe rather than danmei, it's about gender (and also political drama), and I have no idea what to say about it at all. Except that it does not shy away from women and violence, but also both of the women committing that violence are already transgressing gender roles in some way (either through presenting as masc or becoming a female emperor). I loved that book. Then I went to look for fanfiction, and it was a majority really fluffy modern aus. I am still trying to figure out why that is.
Anyway, I continue to be entranced by this girl aggression concept, and am teasing it out in my head right now. It seems to come in a simultaneous enforcement and transgression of gender boundaries. Because, as you said, overt aggression isn't allowed to happen between women, it must be covert instead. The examples that you've given of where it can happen are great, honestly, and I am excited to think of more in the meantime as I figure out where in literature it can go.
I hope you enjoy the Fingersmith! You'll be familiar with the plot, because despite like 30 million changes (changes made to suit the visual medium, a transformation of setting and time period, having to stop at what is actually more of a halfway point in the book) it is a near perfect adaptation, I think. The heart and themes are All There, perfectly recontextualized.
I hope you enjoy my writing! I think when I finish the yaoi zine (and the freud zine) I'm definitely going to have a Lot of Thoughts. I'm sorry this comment was also still so long. I think my brain is full of thoughts.