KIERAN > Recent Status Updates

After the kiss scene, the FL and ML have agreed to a truce and appear to be sticking to it, which is wonderfully refreshing.

Also, they genuinely seem to understand the concept of consent re: magic.

Equally refreshing is the fact that we have a new source of conflict instead of repeating the same source of conflict endlessly. A fabulous new witch named Morgan.

So Murderbot is currently running around an abandoned facility at the same time as a group of other explorers, although said group (except for a companion bot Miki) doesn't know about Murderbot.

Wait, Marva EXISTS? Then why the hell is Zeiko a PUA?

After defeating the mech suit in unimpressive fashion, Diana essentially does a Feminist Imperialism on the rest of the world, which we are supposed to support because the Amazons are the Good Guys TM.

Somehow all the women of the world have planned a Lysistrata Gambit. There are no tradwives, no Republican women, nada.

But then again, this is the series that decided redeeming Paula the literal Nazi was okay, so you really can't expect nuance.

They pay lip service to intersectionality, sure, but they don't actually take it seriously.

Although, credit where credit is due- the line "What's time to a god?" is pretty cool.

It's not saving this book though.

The only thing these future-world meninists do is provide a source of fatphobia, homophobia with that one caricature of a gay man, and create dark implications about this supposed paradise.

They provide nothing for the story at all.

And the Big Bang is scientific fact with piles of evidence behind it.

But for some reason we're gendering it in order to make the Amazons look good? WTF?

Anyway, none of the factors that traditionally make MRAs are present in this utopia, plus there's been 1000 years since the patriarchy.

Meaning there is NO REASON for these meninists to exist. At all.

Therefore, a fear of being "unmanned" by women is not something that is likely to occur, because these men would likely either grow up used to gender equality, or with the belief that men are inferior to women.

Also, I just realized: the bad guy meninist shouts out that he is "The Big Bang", something which refers to the start of the universe.

And on top of that, hyper toxic masculinity is something the Amazons look down upon. So it wouldn't be encouraged in this utopia either.

And of course, male dominance/female inferiority is DEFINITELY not an idea that's encouraged in this utopia.

The text itself seems to want us to read these men as more typical MRAs, but that doesn't make any sense.

Part of the reason MRAs are the way they are because of their entitlement to women, something which would NOT be encouraged in a futuristic matriarchal utopia. Plus, this society ostensibly is about "peace" and "love"...

But anyway-where did the misogynists come from?

There is a possible interpretation that the Amazons' ideals have NOT led to a true gender equal utopia, but merely a flip of the patriarchy. But that interpretation is dicey at the best of times, and I certainly don't trust Morrison to handle it with care.

However, rather than drawing parallels to how fatphobia encourages sexism, I suspect Grant is just mocking these male MRAs of the future for being less than ideal physical specimens. (Which is in and of itself feeding into the patriarchy, but I digress)

I too am curious as to how this pacifist matriarchal utopia 1,000 years in the future still manages to have misogynists and MRAs.

There is a mention of "Greek statue ideals" that the men feel pressured to conform to, implying that body diversity is not necessarily accepted in this utopia.

Oh, no you didn't. You did NOT just compare a bad nickname to a trans woman's deadname.

Granted, it's still a sign of disrespect to call someone by an unwanted name but there are NUANCES. Nuances!

So we have a female leader, named Artemis, give voice to gender separatism.

Then Nubia helpfully points out that intersectionality exists, thankfully.

So, according to Aunt Desira, the men of her planet are "subdued and pampered creatures. Domesticated, content with their privileged lives, their all-consuming hobbies."

Which is exactly the sort of language a misogynist might use to describe how they think WOMEN ought to behave. Even Diana points out that it's questionable.

Diana goes to visit an alternate plane of existence where her Aunt Desira rules, which begs the question: why didn't the Amazons simply retreat to this plane? Why build Paradise Island on Earth at all?

Again, this whole "it was fate for Paula to kill Hippolyta" feels like such a flimsy, bullshit excuse.

If we wanted to create a PUA villain, a better way would have been, say have Dr. Zeiko as the leader of a cult of misogynist men, whom he gives grand promises of manipulating women to. However, these promises are empty, and Zeiko's real goal is to use these disgruntled men as a base for his evil plans.

Although, considering how Zeiko essentially manipulates Diana into punching Steve and declaring war on "man's world", I don't think it's a good idea to make him a PUA.

It gives pick-up artists too much credibility, makes it seem as if their strategies actually have merit. When the whole thing, you know, is that their strategies are basically misogyny.

While I am impressed by how Dr. Psycho actually manages to be a villain that successfully manipulates Diana, I am less impressed by Hippolyta randomly letting Paula the Nazi - a woman she could easily beat with her eyes closed-kill her.

Also, how did the Amazons MISS Paula being a secret agent of Maxwell Lord for nearly 80 years?

It feels like something that should have come up.

Still, it's very contradictory. On one page, Diana has enough understanding of marriage "not to intrude" and on the other she kisses a married man back without any guilt whatsoever.

Which way is it, Mr. Morrison? You can't have it both ways.

Unless you want Diana to look like a guiltless homewrecker, which can't be ANYONE'S intention. Anyone but a misogynist's, that is.

Which makes me think nobody explained the concept of marriage to Diana, specifically the part about monogamy.

Although Diana explicitly says earlier that she "doesn't want to intrude" on their marriage, meaning she DOES understand the concept to a degree, although on that same page she also says that "marriage is still an idea I'm coming to terms with".

Of course, we the reader KNOW that the kiss and Zeiko's talk of "pheromones" that men are helpless against is him manipulating her. And that Marva probably doesn't even exist.

But from Diana's perspective, Dr. Psycho is a happily married man. There is no reason for her to kiss him again, especially if she does not have explicit permission from Marva.

So now we get to see Dr. Psycho blatantly be manipulative. It's pretty clear they were testing Diana's bracelets to satisfy curiosty. Dr. Psycho's lines after are extremely uncomfortable, although probably purposefully so.

As for the kiss...has nobody explained the concept of monogamous marriage to Diana?

"The gods are ideas always looking to express themselves" philosophy of religion is interesting.

Oh, shit, is Diana going to be wrong about something and face consequences for it?

Also, apparently Dr. Psycho is successfully manipulating her and they're hanging out. Although I'd have prefer we SEE this supposed change in Diana rather than be told about it.

I cannot describe how unimpressive that is in the context of gods and comic books where we eat twelve impossible things for breakfast.

The only way this could even REMOTELY be salvaged is if Ares is somehow an invisible hand steering the creation of the mech-suit, a hidden villain controlling everything from behind the scenes.

Still not mythologically accurate, but at least then we'd have a real antagonist.