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past patitently waiting

@benedictatorship / benedictatorship.tumblr.com

Sekhmet | 23 | UK | She/Her | Bi - Haven't been a Cumberbatch blog in a while. Just too lazy (and proud of the pun) to change the name. Feminism, Hamilton, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek (TOS, AOS, TNG, DS9, STD) Strike (books and show), Joss Whedon lands, MCU, Hiddleston, Jessica Jones, Kingsman, Harry Potter, The West Wing, Marina and the Diamonds, Heathers the Musical, Cats (real ones not the musical), Cumberbatch, Sherlock, Austen, Shakespeare
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i wonder when harry told ron and hermione that the dursleys used to make him live under the stairs

ron: i’m sorry you have to share my room we don’t have much space

harry: that’s fine i used to sleep under the stairs at the dursleys

ron: you slept where now?

*cut to the whole Weasley family dog piling on Ron to prevent him from somehow storming to Privet Drive to kick some ass*

Bold of you to assume they would stop him instead of join in

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Also how can Arthur Conan Doyle write a character like Irene Adler 1891 and have her 1. Outsmart Sherlock Holmes and get away with it and 2. Be in no way a damsel or love interest to Sherlock.. But every modern retelling not only has her be a sexual /love interest character but she is posed as being very very smart… But never smart enough to just outwit him, get away with it and move on? Women can be smart, sure, but no one is allowed to be smarter than Sherlock.

It’s been over 120 years and Irene is, at her best, never as decently treated as the original.

Arthur Conan Doyle: Here’s a story about male insecurity where the police underestimate her for being a woman and feel the need to get her because she’s a woman and Sherlock is ultimately beaten by a woman and in a bit of character development accepts it and acknowledges her intellect.

Sherlock fans: Uh no way Sherlock is smart Sherlock is so so smart she must have used her feminine wiles or her sexy things or her love to undermine him but he gets her in the end i feel a strange catharsis at changing this ending but I’m sure Doyle always meant to be this way, it just feels right.

Half of the reason that Adler was able to out-wit Holmes was because Holmes was too narrow-minded. Holmes is smart and has knowledge of many subjects, but he also strongly relies on social order and norms to solve crimes. He’s even says in A Scandal in Bohemia that:

“When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it … A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box.”

Holmes uses this social norm and order to stage an attack and find out where Adler hid the photo in her house. He drops his guard and is so proud of himself because he knew that this would work, he knew that if he created disorder,  “natural” order would attempt to counteract that disorder.

Adler defies those social orders and norms: she is an untitled American woman who earned her own money through a career as an opera star, instead of relying on a husband or family to have financial security; she outwitted Holmes because she cross-dressed and indicated that she frequently did so, allowing her to have a lot more freedom roaming around London on her own terms, and her stage career aided that so that she could act like a man easily; and she didn’t care one bit about her reputation or being a “pure” woman, had several boyfriends, and was known for being an “adventuress”. More importantly, she had the ability to defy those social norms while simultaneously being able to present herself as the ideal respectable and under-estimable Victorian-era woman.

Adler literally defeats Holmes by dressing in drag then happily goes off with her new husband whom she loves very much. And Holmes respects that and is thoroughly impressed. Not only does he respect that, he realizes that he was on the wrong side of things, that he shouldn’t have agreed to take on the case for the King of Bohemia. This is the exchange that follows after Holmes, Watson and the King read Adler’s letter.

“Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?”
“From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a very different level to your Majesty,” said Holmes coldly

Holmes takes Adler’s side and realizes that the photograph is her protection from the King, not something she intended to use as a weapon against him. Adler never exploited the King to get what she wanted, only kept it as a safeguard of her own happiness. She made sure she had a way of ensuring that she alone guided her future.

Irene Adler is “the woman” to Sherlock Holmes, not because she was sexy or he was in love with her. She was a reminder that real life doesn’t always follow what social norms and order are to be expected, that people shouldn’t be taken on face value or respected just because of their title or apparent respectability and ability to follow social order and norms, and that there are two sides to every story.

Take a lesson from Sherlock Holmes, people. Doyle knew what he was doing. If we’re going to keep making him roll over in his grave from creating Sherlock Holmes media, please, at least respect him and Irene Adler.

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on calls to boycott the Bohemian Rhapsody movie

Based on a 90-second teaser trailer and a few assumptions, the calls have gone out that we should boycott Bohemian Rhapsody for queer erasure.

“The trailer doesn’t show any gay content, only het stuff!” There’s a split-second shot of Freddie hugging his girlfriend at one point. There’s also multiple shots of him obviously flirting with guys. The contention that the trailer is queer erasure is mostly coming from cis gay (white) men mad that the movie seems to be depicting Freddie Mercury as bisexual and capable of loving women at all, but given how significant his relationship with Mary Austin was to his life, it would be a disservice to everyone to exclude it.

Also, the cast list includes several male characters listed as “Freddie’s Lover,” as well as Jim Hutton, his partner in his final years.

“They’ve said the movie is going to ignore the AIDS crisis!” No. What’s been said is that the movie ends in 1985. Once this information was released, people immediately jumped to assume that because the movie wasn’t going to chronicle Freddie’s illness and death in detail, it was avoiding the subject entirely. But the AIDS crisis was in full swing in ‘85, and Freddie of all people was extremely aware of it. The description of the trailer (the first teaser trailer!) even alludes to it.

It’s a fair point that they haven’t mentioned AIDS by name yet, but also, the only materials they’ve released so far are some promo images and one teaser trailer.

In this context, for people wondering why the creative team or the remaining band members don’t come out to “put the matter to rest” by assuring us the film deals with AIDS, it might help to remember that the media has in the past been extremely tawdry and exploitative in its treatment of Freddie Mercury’s illness and death (have you not seen all the “HIS TRAGIC AIDS STORY!!!” videos floating around Youtube? Not read the biographies that linger in lurid, dubiously sympathetic detail?). It makes sense to me that if Brian May and Roger Taylor have a heavy hand in the making of the film (which they seem to), they’d ask for a more subtle approach.

Also, again: we have six months till the movie comes out and only one teaser trailer at this point. Be concerned if you feel the need, but it’s a little early to call for a boycott.

Do not tell people to shun queer content because you have decided, six months in advance with very little information, that it won’t be up to your standards when it comes out.

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I didn’t know cheetahs meow I’ve always thought they roar my whole life has been a lie

Ok but the other one is purring so hard

If I ever don’t reblog this assume I’m dead

Purring ability, rather than size or behavior, is one of two chief distinctions between the two main genera of cat, Felis and Panthera. (The other difference is that the eyes of the former have pupils that narrow to vertical slits.) These genera are sometimes called “the purring cats” and “the roaring cats,” respectively, although among the latter only the lion roars habitually. Other large cats are more apt to snarl, yowl, hiss, spit, grunt or cough.
One big cat that purrs but can’t roar is the cheetah. Biologists place it in a genus all its own (Acinonyx), simply because it can’t retract its claws completely. Also unique to the cheetah is a high- pitched chirp, said to resemble a canary’s. (via The Wildcat Sanctuary)
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almondkittie

Imagine being mad at women for being nice to each other and tweeting about it:

Then imagine that tweet backfiring! Lmbo

The entire thread is filled with women complimenting each other. I loved it! ☺️☺️

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Hey if you haven’t noticed, nothing scares the bad guys more than solidarity. Like literally nothing. That’s why all they ever do is try and split us up. They try and turn the LGBT community against the Muslim community. They try and turn lesbians against trans women. Lauren Southern was just caught spreading Islamophobic pamphlets that were blatantly attempting to paint the Muslim community as homophobic and transphobic. TERFs are constantly trying to paint lesbians who support trans women as somehow fake or less than.

Every time you show solidarity and stand with your neighbors and friends, you do a serious frighten to the folks trying to kill us all. So always stand up for each other.

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It was ‘Ms. Frizzle’ and not ‘Mrs. Frizzle’ because it was the 90s and the magic school bus lady couldn’t marry her gf yet

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80s-addict

THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH

Okay but it is Mrs Frizzle now, now that marriage equality is a thing ye? <3

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esser-z

Okay y'all here’s the thing. Ms Frizzle was voiced by Lily Tomlin, a lesbian. In the new show, she’s being voiced by Kate McKinnon, also a lesbian.

She’s absolutely gay.

^ No heterosexual woman could be as powerful as Ms Frizzle

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raedmagdon

The best part: Kate McKinnon didn’t replace Lily Tomlin as Ms. Frizzle. There are two Ms. Frizzles.

Lily Tomlin still voices the Original Friz, Valerie. Kate McKinnon voices her younger sister, Fiona Frizzle.

THEY ARE BOTH VOICED BY LESBIANS. Not just one, but two gay Ms. Frizzles! Adorable redheaded lesbian science teacher sisters!

What’s better than a magical lesbian?

TWO MAGICAL LESBIANS

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brainstatic

The key to getting over imposter syndrome is to know everyone else is an imposter too. Tell yourself you deserve a stake in the scam they’re all running.

Ummmm excuse me but this is fucking brilliant.

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drst

Did you just cure imposter syndrome with… spite?

You can cure a LOT with spite.

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An action being “punishable by a fine” basically means “legal for rich people”.

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gnotknormal

Oh wow. That’s…

This is why all fines should be income based. They should carry the EXACT same weight of punishment to anyone who commits the act. That way poor folk aren’t bankrupted into desperation or jail by a minor offense and rich people can’t get away with shit.

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by the way the funniest thing ive read all week is this post on reddit i think where somebody asked for the pros and cons of different stem majors and so this one girl responded and she said she was a software engineer i believe and then she said “ok pro #1. i never have to wait in line for the bathroom ever again. there are more female restrooms in this building than there are women”

pro #2: growing up i was surrounded by so many saras. just. saras everywhere. which sara do you want? but now, as a software engineer, I am the only sara. the eleven marks weep in jealousy. 

the marks smdjdjdjdjd YEAH when i took my first compsci class the lab section had twice as many nicks than there were women

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geardrops

someone was complaining to me about how there are too many ryans on the team, and i said “you wanna know how to fix that? hire more women” and the only other woman sitting nearby spat out her coffee