My Fable 2 Queen

    Well hey! I'm a dork and wanted to share a piece of my Fable 2 character. I've been replaying the Fable games for the first time in some years, and it's been fun. :) Probably, my next posts will all be about my Fable characters, just 'cuz~

    So! I just got married. I wanted to own the Castle because this time I elected to marry an Aristocrat instead of a Gypsy like I have usually done on the past. This means I had to wait until Lucien was dealt with - which also means Donald (my Aristocrat) did not get assassinated by Lucien's men (yeah, I remember that tidbit from previous gameplay >.> ). So end-of-game, I get married. We currently have a daughter, Hannah, named in honor of mah bestie, Hammer. Yeah, I'm just sentimental like that.

    Anyway, while mingling with Aristocrats, I typically don Noble Lady clothing. Dyed with Swarthy Revenge Indigo Blue and Shiner dyes:

    After having lost my dog, Dark Mousey (<--yes, I'm a D.N.Angel fan), lost my friends, lost my mentor, and having forsaken Rose (sister who was murdered in the beginning, for non-players reading this) and my beloved dog to instead bring back all of Albion's (the world) loved ones who were killed because of Lucien's plans...I decided my character deserved as proper a wedding dress as possible, even though it's not part of the game. :/

    I bought a new Noble Lady ensemble:

    You see why I dyed it? I mean, it's not bad. Just not mah thang. I did the first dye job because royal colors just screamed "Noble" to me more than this scheme. Plus I like being different. :)

    I dyed it again, this time with Kilowhite and Liquid Gold dyes to create her wedding dress, combination Queen dress. Because I am now Queen:

    I had also dyed my characters hair white, but liked her natural Blonde hair with this better (my character is a Saint, basically, thus the Blonde hair and Halo - which actually bothers me a bit, but I won't rant about that stereotype right now). And so she's a blonde again~ For now.

    Anyway, I like her wedding dress, and I decided to make it a Queen dress because I realized I now match My Donald, as I've nicknamed him, quite perfectly:

    So, that's my character as a Queen. A married Queen with a daughter and a rockin' Noble Lady ensemble, if I say so myself. :) And Donald is a flirty NPC, so that's nice.

Have a great one! I'll post her adventurer look next, I think.

Love,

Bryn

A Letter To UNITED STATES Feminists.

    Hey~ I'm back. Well, at least long enough to post a letter I wrote to United States Feminists. Before I post the letter, there are two things I want to say.

    1, This is addressed only to United States Feminists. Why? Firstly, I don't know much about other country's Feminists, and even if I did, it isn't my business to tell another country how to conduct their business. I also know that some countries are only just now getting schools for girls as a result of Feminism. So way to go, out-of-country Feminists. :) That's a HUGE deal!

    2, I do believe in equal pay. I don't address that in my letter - but that's really the only Feminist thing that I've heard that isn't ridiculous. However, I don't just believe in equal pay among genders. I believe in equal pay among gender, age, and ethnicity. If you have two people of two different genders, two different ages, or two different ethnicities (or a combination) doing the exact same job, they should get the exact same pay. It's really a no-brainer.

    I've been working on this letter for a few years, and I just haven't had the words until a few weeks ago - because someone on Facebook tends to post things that piss me off, especially relating to Feminism. One news feed full of Feminism later, and I suddenly knew how to word what I felt. I've been putting it off since then because I'm a little nervous. Some Feminists get rather extreme. However, I feel very strongly about my opinion, so, here is my letter:

Dear United States Feminists,

    I am a woman, and I don't keep up on Feminism. The Women's Rights movement ensured that women could have the right to vote, the right to work, the right to go to school. Women have been allowed, for decades, to dress how they please with general acceptance. Women can be anything they choose to be these days. Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Stay-At-Home Mothers, Working Mothers, Forest Rangers, Archaeologists, Journalists, Military Personnel of any rank, Chef, Entrepreneurs / Business Owners, Seamstresses, Pilots, Flight Attendants, Martial Artists, Musicians, Brain Surgeons, Nurses, Astronauts, Receptionists, Computer Programmers - they can do all of that, and so much more. Women can choose to go to college or not. Women can report abuse and be taken seriously. Women can be home owners. Women can date other women. Women don't have to get married if they don't want to. They don't have to date if they don't want to. They aren't required to have children. They can have as many children as they and their spouse wish. Women can dress very modestly, can dress more revealing, or, in some places, are permitted to be nudists. Women can travel and explore. Women can have sex when they choose without being berated or shunned by the general public for it. Women can be very vocal about their opinions.  Women don't have to get permission from a man, or anyone for that matter, to take part in things that they feel strongly about - whether that be protests, charities, or any number of causes. Women can be single mothers if they so choose, again without being berated or shunned by the general public for it. With, perhaps, the exception of heavily religious areas, but even then there is a level of acceptance there didn't used to be. Women can run for positions of world leadership. Women can seek divorce. Women can propose. Women can marry for love. Women can also marry for lust, power, money, political or career advancement - and half of the time get praised for it.

    In fact, however, some of those things I mention, women are also becoming oppressors of women. Women who choose to stick to more traditional roles - whether that be career, family, or schooling - are frowned upon for not supporting the idea of being a more modern woman. Those women are being pushed into a form of Feminism all their own; the fight to be allowed to be Traditional.

    Women have come a long, long way from when we were required to be chaste virgins who had expectations to marry well, even arranged marriages, instead of for love - because they were seen as pieces of property. Women who quietly stayed in the background, vocalizing no thoughts of their own, serving meals and drinks to the men, and raising their children. Women who were expected to keep up appearances. Women who had to just deal with it if their husbands were abusive or if their husbands cheated on them, and just pretend like everything was okay. Women who were ruined if they weren't virgins at the time of marriage, even in cases of rape - who were sometimes killed for this, or, at the very least, ostracized from society. We aren't those women anymore. Our predecessors have had to struggle and fight, cry and sometimes die for our rights. For the gift they gave to use, their future.

    Now, the scales seem to be tipping. I see a lot of men who are abused and used by Feminists and are too afraid to speak up because the Feminist would label it as discrimination. Men are taken advantage of sexually, men are taken advantage of financially, men are cheated on, men are beat, men are oppressed as much as women these days, men get used by us. Not all of them, of course, and some of them by other men as women are sometimes used by women, but it's starting to happen. Most men are afraid to speak up, and the ones that do are usually the ones that get punished. Because "they don't believe in equality" - when all they are trying to do is look out for their well-being against a tyrant. Yes, tyrant. Women are as capable of tyrannical action as men are - "but it's okay because it's Feminism". No...it's not okay and we are becoming tyrants. Not to say all men are innocent of these things themselves, but quite a number of them are also victims.

    Why should they have to fear women, the way we used to fear men? There isn't anything right about that. The society that we are living in right now is full of so much promise and hope, but also starting to fill with so much fear. Some Feminists say they are against rape, forgetting that men are raped too. Some Feminists say they are against abuse, forgetting that men are abused too. Some Feminists say they are fighting for same-sex marriage, forgetting that men are fighting for that too. And so on and so forth. The fear I speak of, is the fear of discriminating. So many things count as discrimination these days that it's almost impossible to avoid the action. As a result, so many people remain silent against oppressors while they are praised for paving a pathway to a new future. A pathway that was already paved, might I point out, and that new future the Feminists of today are creating may not be as bright as we think. I sense a lot of chaos in the world, and true equality would not breed such chaos.

    A decade from now, we can either all truly be equal, or we will be living in a female-ruled society where men are oppressed as we once were, and the cycle will start over. There will be a Men's Rights Movement, eventually, followed by the male equivalent of a Feminist - Masculinist? And we will never break that cycle, not until we can learn when we have achieved what we fought for and how to stop fighting for more - because there isn't more to fight for on a gender-only basis. The things being fought for, now, by United States Feminists are things being fought for by men too. They aren't just women's issues anymore.

    How I feel about equality between the sexes is that we have it, both in our rights and in our fights and in our fears. It's just that women have been fighting for so long, that we don't remember how to not fight. We forget to look around and see what has been accomplished. We forget to say, "You know, life is actually pretty good for me" and then just allow ourselves to relax and enjoy the fruit of struggle. Certainly, there are issues that need to be fought for - but not as an act of Feminism, rather, as an act of Humanity.

    No one is stopping you from doing the things you want to do, Feminists. If you want to parade around in your skivvies, go for it. If you want to wear the current fashion, go for it. If you want to dress modestly, go for it. If you want to dress outside of the current fashion, go for it. (I mention fashion so much, because that is one of the biggest, and most ridiculous, things that I have seen for Feminism. Dress however the hell you please, women - don't let your personal insecurity turn choice of dress into an issue, please.) If you want to be in an equal relationship, talk to your partner about how you can be equal with one another - but not in a way that oppresses your partner. If you want to stop rape and abuse, join with the men who have also been raped and abused and make it a Human fight, not a Women fight. If you want to do a certain career, go for it. You literally have the potential to do any career you want at your fingertips because of The Women's Rights movement so many years ago. Don't forget to be thankful to them, and don't forget to enjoy that gift they gave us through their sacrifices and struggles - because what they gave us is Freedom of Choice. We simply have but to choose and we can accomplish anything we wish, so long as we are willing to put in the effort, because that price has already been paid by those brave women.

    I don't care for Feminism because I find it dehumanizing to men, as well as the Traditional woman. What I believe in is fighting for Humanity.

Signed,
A Free Spirited Woman in The United States

    PS: From my dad, "If a man wants to be a Gentleman and hold the door, or give up his seat, let him." I couldn't agree more! Especially because women complain that 'chivalry is dead', when five minutes ago they were just yelling at a man for being a Gentleman.

    Everyone, of course, is entitled to their opinions, this is just mine.

Take care, dear reader.
Love,
Bryn