feuervogel | Gross.

Via

geekfeminism_feed, a review of Retribution Falls, a book filled with creepy misogyny.

An excerpt from the review (by a man, allow me to point out):

Trinica Dracken was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist for whom Frey worked. When they were both in their late teens, they fell in love. Trinica was a lovely sweet girl with long hair who wore white dresses, Frey was much as he is now. Eventually, the relationship had gone wrong. Here is Frey's description of it:
In the early months he'd believed they'd be together forever. He told himself he'd found a woman for the rest of his life. He couldn't conceive of meeting someone more wonderful than she was, and he wasn't tempted to try.

But it was one thing to daydream such notions, and quite another to be faced with putting them into practice. When she began to talk of engagement, with a straightforwardness he'd previously found charming, he began to idolize her a little less. His patience became less. No longer could he endlessly indulge her flights of fancy. His smile became fixed as she played her girlish games with him. Her jokes all seemed to go on too long. He found himself wishing she'd just be sensible

Okay, leaving aside for the moment that Frey's analysis of what went wrong with his relationship boils down to “the bitch wouldn't keep her mouth shut” note that here his dissatisfaction with Trinica stems simultaneously from (a) the fact that he starts to see that she isn't the perfect fantasy figure he thought she was (he “idolizes her less” which in sane-person world is a good thing in a relationship) and (b) the fact that she still displays many qualities of the fantasy figure he wants her to be (her “girlish games” and her “flights of fancy”). You've got to feel sorry for the girl, because I seriously don't know how she was supposed to please this arrant cocksucker.

[I would like to point out that 'cocksucker' is an insult based in misogyny, and I do not endorse its use.]

These depictions of casual misogyny in texts are reflective of casual misogyny in society at large. These are the thousand papercuts. I can't just ignore them or laugh them off, and anyone who is against discrimination of any sort ought not to, either.

We must shed light on them. That's the first step in changing attitudes: expose casual, everyday misogyny (and racism and ableism and homophobia and cissexism and ...) for what it is. If we ignore it, it won't just go away.