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‘Women want to experience pleasure’: how the female gaze caught the attention of film, TV and fiction

I will slightly concede that maybe women have not had quite the opportunities in film and TV that they have had for centuries in written fiction, though even so I suspect with a little thought we could come up with instances where female gaze was significant in creating popularity even if it hadn't been part of the purpose in making.

But as ever, the instances about fiction are limited in their genre range (OMG there is a long history of ROMANCE) and appear never to have read anything that was not on the radar approximately five minutes ago.

E.g.

[T]he genre has altered the way female worlds are received. “I wasn’t the only one who thought that if you were female in the fantasy world it wasn’t going to end well: if you fall in love it’s going to be used against you, if you have any sort of power you’re going to die or become the mad queen,” she says. “You never really saw female characters represented in any way where you felt safe, thinking they’re going to be here in the end and not have to give up their sense of identity to do so. People, almost, have been waiting for these books to come.”

Good grief.

Okay, will concede that I am currently reading The Books of Earthsea and I occasionally look up from Ursula Le Guin's commentaries and thinking a very strong case can be made that she had never, at least when she was writing those works, encountered anything by Naomi Mitchison. Which would blow out of the water certain of her contentions about female protagonising....

But leaving my much-neglected and overlooked precious aside, I scan my shelves for the works I was scooping up during the 70s-80s-90s, ahem.

And no mention of fanfic.... dearie me. Did not do the research?

***

On another topic, there was an interview with Will Self in The Observer which is paywalled, so not linking. But in it he moans that after his divorce and ex-wife claiming mental abuse, ALL their friends cut him off, even his oldest besties: which makes me rather wonder whether a) they had actually observed things going on or b) they were fed up with him whingeing on about it.

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/20/the-big-idea-dan-rice-5/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60263

When we explore our minds, our thoughts, and who we are as a person, we don’t always like what we find. Author Dan Rice takes a deep dive into the idea of accepting one’s true self, even if some facets are uglier than others. Grab a mirror for some self-reflection and follow along in the Big Idea for his newest novel, The Bane of Dragons.

DAN RICE:

Sometimes you have to go down the rabbit hole.

The challenge I faced when writing The Bane of Dragons was to send Allison on an adventure with a climax that ended her story and the series with a bang instead of a fizzle. Luckily, Allison had rabbit holes to go down, one that she had explored many times before and another she had only ever gazed upon.

The rabbit hole Allison spends much time spelunking is her inner self. In those dark tunnels she wrestled with, negotiated with, and sometimes was defeated by her literal internal monster that always pined for escape and to supplant her. This device provides ample ongoing conflict throughout the series after the monster wakes up in the first book, Dragons Walk Among Us. Allison’s titanic clashes with her inner monster, which she comes to understand is another facet of herself, mirrors the struggles young adults face as they pass from adolescence to adulthood, albeit in dramatic and often bloody fashion.

The other rabbit hole Allison must explore is the slipstream, described as a superhighway through the multiverse. Since encountering this pathway to alternate dimensions in the first book, she has dreamed of traveling it, and, while both sleeping and awake, has been commanded by a stentorian voice to enter the slipstream. It is something she both yearns for and fears. In The Bane of Dragons, it’s a yearning she must give in to and a fear she must face. The only way to protect everyone she loves is to travel the slipstream and discover exactly what’s waiting for her on the other side.

What Allison and her motley companions discover are strange worlds and monstrous aliens. They are captured by angry, terrestrial octopi, whom they attempt to negotiate with, with nebulous results. Instead of taking the fight to the monsters threatening Earth, Allison is handed over as a prisoner to her nemesis, General Bane. But not all is what it seems on the surface, and even the deadly General Bane, with whom Allison shares a kinship by way of her inner monster, is a prisoner of sorts, pining for freedom.

To free Bane and hopefully protect everyone she loves, Allison must finally come to ultimate terms with her inner monster. In the end, that means looking into the mirror and accepting herself, both the human and the monster with its fangs and claws and transgressive desires. Only by becoming one with her monster can she communicate to Bane and others like him how to break the bonds that hold them.

Just like in real life, young adult characters sometimes need to go down the rabbit holes, both those that spark curiosity and those that cause dread. It’s the only way to learn, mature, and find self-acceptance.

—-

The Bane of Dragons: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Books-A-Million

Author socials: Website|Facebook

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/20/the-big-idea-dan-rice-5/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60263

puddleshark

( +1 )

james_davis_nicoll

Congratulations to the finalists!

2026 Aurora Award ballot announcement

The nominees are ( Read more... )

mific

I'm feeling too tired to write properly about this, but here goes. I'm subscribed to NZ National Geographic online magazine, which is a reasonably trustworthy source, and last Friday I learned that NZ only has 18 days of onshore diesel stored. By now I guess it's down to 15 days. No idea if the article is accessible if you don't have a sub, but here's the link.

I've been ruminating in a confused way about that, since Friday. Will it be the start of supply line collapse here, as we're at the far end of that chain, in worldwide terms? Or just a period of restrictions, annoyances and a degree of belt tightening? It'll affect two things massively - transport, and farming. Like, the trucks that bring food and essentials to supermarkets, and deliver groceries to us, and in the longer term, it'll affect the farms growing the food.

Bring an old bastard who's profoundly unfit and who doesn't get out much, there's not a lot I can do for others, except maybe to help my immediate neighbours in some way. And I vacillate between vague prepping notions, nihilism, and thinking it'll turn out to be nothing after all. But I read apocafics, so I wonder. I mean, my car's petrol tank is fairly full and I use it only occasionally, but if it runs out will there still be buses? Which doubtless run on diesel. And if petrol gets harder to come by will people start stealing it, like, siphoning it off from cars parked outside like mine is, close to the road?

The fuel crisis expert guy in the article, Nathan Surendran, recommends talking to neighbours to prepare, but I'd definitely feel weird if I did that. At this point, anyway, when things alternate between feeling totally normal or like we're all fiddling while Rome burns. Or doesn't burn, due to the lack of diesel.

Guess I'll get an extra grocery delivery in, and make sure I have seeds in case I need to clear my garden beds of flowers and plant veggies more seriously. And I did unearth my camping gas stove and lamp in the last "cyclone", but I think we'll have power, as most of our grid runs on hydroelectricity (with the parts to repair the power stations probably delivered by diesel-powered trucks).

Well, we'll see if this is anything. Covid was fast. A week or three of worrying reports then (for us, here) whammo, lockdown. It felt surreal at the time. This is like that pre-Covid prodromal period with some signs and warnings cropping up but no one here taking it seriously, mostly. And our government now is largely shits and idiots, not a decent crisis leader like Jacinta, who actually listened to experts.

I'll keep fiddling, and let you know how it goes.

james_davis_nicoll

Looking for more romance in your SF? Look no further...

Five Science Fictional Solutions to Finding Your One True Love

prettygoodword

satrap (SAY-trap, SA-trap) - n., the governor of a Persian province; a subordinate ruler, esp. a despotic one.

Specifically in the Achaemenid and Parthian dynasties of Persia, as well as the intervening Hellenistic Seleucid empire -- the system of satrapies was set up by Cyrus the Great around 530 BCE and lasted till dismantled by the new Sassanid dynasty around 230 CE, though the title was intermittently used by various nearby polities even afterwards. A satrap had considerable autonomy over his satrapy, and was technically a viceroy and thus spoke with the voice of the emperor. We got the word in the 1300s in the Middle English form satrape, from Latin satrapēs, governor, from Ancient Greek satrápēs, from Old Persian khshathrapāvā/xšaçapavan, protector of the province/domain, from khshathra-, realm/province + pāvā, protector.

---L.

james_davis_nicoll

bruce_schneier_feed

Posted by Bruce Schneier

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/is-satoshi-nakamoto-really-adam-back.html

https://www.schneier.com/?p=71964

The New York Times has a long article where the author lays out an impressive array of circumstantial evidence that the inventor of Bitcoin is the cypherpunk Adam Back.

I don’t know. The article is convincing, but it’s written to be convincing.

I can’t remember if I ever met Adam. I was a member of the Cypherpunks mailing list for a while, but I was never really an active participant. I spent more time on the Usenet newsgroup sci.crypt. I knew a bunch of the Cypherpunks, though, from various conferences around the world at the time. I really have no opinion about who Satoshi Nakamoto really is.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/is-satoshi-nakamoto-really-adam-back.html

https://www.schneier.com/?p=71964

linode_status_new_feed

Posted by Linode

https://status.linode.com/incidents/ththk5lfphtz

Apr 21, 01:08 UTC
Resolved - This incident has been resolved.

Apr 20, 13:57 UTC
Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results.

Apr 20, 12:25 UTC
Update - We are continuing to investigate this issue.

Apr 20, 11:49 UTC
Investigating - Our team is investigating an emerging service issue impacting connectivity in Frankfurt (DE-FRA-2). We will share additional updates as we have more information.

https://status.linode.com/incidents/ththk5lfphtz

dinosaur_comics_feed

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4461


archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about

this comic inspired by my dog's freeze-dried cheese treats that are just normal cheese that's been freeze-dried and honestly pretty great if you love the flavour of cheese but have always craved an added freeze-dried CRUNCH

← previous

April 20th, 2026

April 20th, 2026: MURDOCH UPDATE: she cut her paw on a zebra mussel and needed stitches :( But she's doing great and her only complaint is she's not allowed to run around at the dog park until it heals! And she has to wear a bootie over her bandage when she goes outside. Look, she's had better times but she's a trouper. <3

– Ryan

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4461

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: excited

cloversome posting in

dw_community_promo

hello!

just wanted to promote my new DW comm

queerbookclub!

the community is a no pressure book club dedicated to fiction books of all genres that are queer in some way! each month we take suggestions on what the next month's book should be and we vote on it. if you're not interested in the book for the month, that's perfectly fine! you are free to come and go as you please. :)

we plan to start in may and currently book nominations for may are open until april 26th.

hope to see you there!

glinda

I need some help/advice. (I definitely still know at least a few fannish Canadians right?)

So I’ve been thinking about going on holiday later this year, maybe end of September, beginning of October. Originally I’d planned either coastal Spain or bimbling around the low countries on an inter-rail ticket. (My local airport flies directly to Schipol, trains from there around Europe are easy.) There is - as of like a week ago - an absolute shitshow going on with the new post-Brexit passport controls/biometrics for UK travellers with the current advice being to get to the airport at least 3 hours early. And look, this may all be sorted by September, but I got caught in the post covid/Brexit nonsense on a work trip to France a few years ago - fucking running with a giant rucksack of Camera kit through Charles De Galle airport from passport control to my gate with a gate agent - and I’m not keen to repeat the experience. So between programmes the other day I pulled up seat61 intending to look at fun inter-rail options via Eurostar because, so my internal monologue went if I need to be at the airport that early I better be flying transatlantic at least. And like fuck am I going to the states while Trump’s in office…

…Yeah.

So back in 2008, when I worked in a call centre and used to plan train adventures between calls to keep myself sane, one of my favourite ‘and while I’m dreaming I’d like a pony’ plans was to do the ‘Canadian’, through the Rockies, across the prairies, across a fair chunk of Canada really. I spent way too long looking at pictures taken out the domes of the viewing carriages along that route. It was out of my budget, and oh goodness, I could not cope with the logistical uncertainty - the train shares tracks with freight, which has priority, so when it’s late it’s not minutes it’s hours, even now with the adjusted compensatory timetable they still recommend you don’t book onward travel or flights for at least 24 hours after your expected arrival time. But all these years later, I can afford it - not the fancy ‘prestige’ option, but the tiny individual sleeper cabin? A couple of nights in Toronto and Vancouver at either end to explore those cities and act as a buffer zone? Totally do-able.

Given the state of the world right now, neither Japan or Australia feel entirely feasible right now - I was never going to be willing to fly via Dubai, it was always going to be via Singapore, nonetheless - the logistics are just beyond me right now. But Canada. I could do Canada. And I’ve wanted to do that specific train journey for a very long time. I’d half planned to get my other bathroom re-done, but the thought of taking that money and turning it into a new bathroom suite when there’s so many places I’ve never been and things I’ve never done, just feels so pointless. I want to knock a destination off my life-list.

So Canadians - or just folks who’ve spent time in Canada - what’s your advice? What am I missing/not taking into consideration? Which direction do I go: East to West (with a detour to Vancouver island) or West to East (with a detour to Montreal?) What time of year? (I was thinking Autumn colour but I’m persuadable. However, I remember Chicago in February, and my friend C’s other bridesmaid flew in to meet us from Manitoba, and nothing she said made me want to do Winnipeg in winter…Would Spring be a better choice?) Should I stop off along the way? If so, where? Have I, in fact, lost my damn mind?

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: Alanis Morisette - Head Over Feet

oursin

Happy birthday,

forthwritten!

futilitycloset_feed

Posted by Greg Ross

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2026/04/20/hidato/

https://www.futilitycloset.com/?p=73136

This logic puzzle game was invented by Israeli mathematician Gyora Benedek. The task is simple: Write a number in each blank square so that, in the finished diagram, a continuous chain of consecutive numbers connects the lowest number, 1, to the highest, 40. The numbers can connect horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. For example, the number 8 must go in the square above 7 because 7, 8, and 9 must occupy adjacent squares. Can you complete the rest of the diagram?

	Select Click for Answer</>

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2026/04/20/hidato/

https://www.futilitycloset.com/?p=73136

sovay

It was very nice to be told by the ophthalmologist this afternoon that I do not need surgery on my eye. I had been given some reason for concern. It was aggravating to be told that I should persist in spending hours of my time with a warm sheep, i.e. the cereal-filled microwaveable hot pack that lives in our freezer applied to my face, but at least it's working.

I read like a medical diary. Yesterday had social interludes in the form of

rushthatspeaks and

selkie and

genarti who dropped unexpectedly by with a lifetime supply of bagels and other heymishe staples from Mamaleh's. I paused Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (宮本武蔵完結篇決闘巌流島, 1956) in order to show

spatch that Kōji Tsuruta lived up to his character's billing of looking more like an actor than a swordsman, which had sounded self-referential until he stepped onscreen as if exactly out of an ukiyo-e print. This evening I felt so set on fire that I curled up in bed for an hour and Hestia snuggled herself under the covers and pushed her head kitten-fashion against my knee. I made myself a sesame bagel with chopped liver and watched another of the Warners B-pictures written by Raymond L. Schrock that TCM has been running to more than fast-cheap effect so long as they do not contain Ronald Reagan. I feel as though I measure my time by what I can do in between managing my health.

I cannot manage the state of the world and it remains exhausting. Nearly a decade of my life seems to have folded itself like a tesseract of the Echthroi and it is hard at the moment not to feel that all that happened in the interval is that people died.