Nerd Church - SHE is NOT on Trial Here!

(This post is going to discuss rape, rape trials, rape culture, victim-blaming, and slut-shaming.)

No matter what your thoughts are on any individual rape or sexual assault case, there is one thing that should be clear: the person making the allegations - the victim - is NOT on trial.

Regardless of your thoughts on the details of the Ched Evans case, there is one thing that I hope you agree with me on: a woman's sexual history should NOT be a factor in the verdict of the man accused of raping her.





OK, some background for those who don't know what I'm talking about:

• Ched Evans is a professional footballer who was accused, and subsequently convicted, of raping a woman.
• He brought the case back for a re-trial after serving his sentence.
• He was acquitted in the re-trial (this week.)

As part of the re-trial, the defence was given special permission by the (male) judge to give details of the woman's sexual history, and to bring previous sexual partners to the stand as evidence against her.

Let me explain, as calmly as I can (because HOW DARE THEY,) why this was a stupid-a*s decision:

• Her behaviour with past sexual partners is NO INDICATION of how she acted that night.
• It DOES NOT MATTER whether she was 'instigating' or acting flirtatiously - what matters is how drunk she was, if she was capable of giving consent, and/or if she at any point indicated she wanted to stop.
• Bringing up people who had sex with her a few days before is A BLATANT ATTEMPT AT SLUT-SHAMING.
• Women are ALLOWED to have as many sexual partners as they want - this is the 21st Century.
• SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL. SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL. SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL. SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a harmful and worrying development, not only for this case, but for others that may follow.

This sends the message that if you have lived a sexually active life, you will not be believed if you are assaulted.

This sends the message that all of your past partners will have the chance to humiliate you in court.

This sends the message that, regardless of truth, the blame will be placed on you.

This sends the message that, even once a conviction is made, there is the chance you will have to sit through the whole thing again.

This sends the message that if you bring allegations to the law, you will end up having your private life examined. You will have to defend yourself, even though you are not the defendant.

This sends the dangerous message to all future rapists and victims, that justice is unfair.

I don't know the answer to this particular case - I wasn't there, and I haven't seen all the evidence. BUT justice is NOT done when a young woman is treated so appallingly by the court.

This trial was not about justice. And that makes me both angry and sad.

Nerd Church is a weekly post where I try to tackle the issues and make the world a little bit better - I have no idea whether it's working or not.

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Mental Health Conditions ARE Real Problems - And Books Need To Realise It

(This post discusses mental illness, negative representations and perpetuation of stigma around mental health, depression, anorexia, and suicide.)




Don't you hate it when you're reading a fairly awesome book, and then there's some ignorant and hurtful mental health representation just thrown in there?

You're there, enjoying yourself, and suddenly there's an ignorant portrayal of mental illness which does nothing but perpetuate the stigma around these conditions.

OK, let me rewind and explain what brought this on:

I've just finished reading We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (UK - US.)




Overall, this is a great contemporary novel about our point-of-view protagonist, Darling, growing up in Zimbabwe, and then moving to America.

It's not a perfect book - but then, what is? I was enjoying it though - but there was a chapter which left me with a sour taste.





What was my problem with it? Well, dearest nerdlets, I'll tell you.

In this particular chapter, a few chapters before the end, there is a rich, white, American girl called Kate. Darling does some cleaning work for her father.





Kate tried to kill herself not long before the two girls meet. Kate is starving herself because she thinks she's fat, even though she's super skinny.

Kate is clearly anorexic, and depressed.

Darling's reaction? Well, Darling's reaction is to laugh at her. Because according to Darling, Kate has no 'real' problems, and is therefore being ridiculous.

Let me make this clear: mental illness is not directly linked to what money you have. Mental illness does not care how comfortable your living conditions are.

Mental illness is not something you can get over simply by being more grateful for what you have, and neither is it a result of being ungrateful.

Mental illness can happen to anyone. At any time.

This depiction of Kate as nothing more than a silly, spoilt, rich girl is harmful. You don't get to judge her - no matter who you are.

We are given no background on Kate, and no rectification of these implications about her. She appears only in this chapter, and then is gone, not to be mentioned again.





Her pain - and the pain of millions of people like her - are used simply as a way of saying that American kids are ungrateful and complain too much, when other people have it a lot worse.

Yes, there are people who are worse off financially etc. than Kate. She has a safe home, a fridge full of food (as Darling points out,) and an overly-spoilt little dog which has its own wardrobe.

But pointing these things out to people with mental health problems does nothing but make them feel worse.

Again - just to reiterate - MENTAL ILLNESS DOES NOT CARE IF YOU ARE A PRINCESS OR A PAUPER.

You can be a millionaire with a mental illness. You can be in poverty and have a mental illness (and certainly, I'm not denying that there are often higher rates of mental health problems amongst those with lower incomes.)





Being unwell - being ill - with a potentially fatal illness (depression can kill; anorexia can kill,) is NOT BEING UNGRATEFUL.

And it's time people started to realise that.









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Friday Fics Fix - One For All...

I should've known, after the Pumpkin Incident of last week, to stay away from the Halloween-themed fanfiction.

But clearly, I don't learn quickly when it comes to fandom. Either that or I'm a glutton for punishment *shrugs*

(And yes, there was much disturbing-ness to wade through.)

Annnnyways, I managed to find another fluffy and fun Halloween fic, which, most importantly, HAS NO SEX WITH PUMPKINS. ANYWHERE.

Ahhhh, the things I do for fandom ;)





OK, so this week's fanfiction is based on the BBC series The Musketeers (which, oddly enough, is based on Dumas' Three Musketeers.)

If you haven't seen The Musketeers - go my nerdlets!!!!!!!! Watch the pretty leather-bound perfect-haired 17th Century French soldiers!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will not regret it!!!!!!!! (So many pretty people in this series... *sighs*)

via GIPHY

(Oh, and it has a diverse cast. A historical action drama about France with diverse actors in leading roles, based on a book written by Dumas - a 19th Century Person of Colour (PoC). And there's lots of pretty people. You really don't need more than that.)

This fic actually is set in a modern AU with a slightly OOC Aramis.

(Fangirling notes:

AU = alternate universe.

OOC = out of character.)

via GIPHY

And - and this is actually done really well - in this fic, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, are in a polyamorous relationship together.

I really liked the casual way this was dealt with - they're all in love; simple as that.

So this is based around one of those Haunted Houses that get set up for Halloween with animatronics and actors and all that. I've never actually been to one of those because we don't have many here.

So, dearest nerdlets, this week's fic is:

The Nightmare Before Halloween by SirLancelotTheBrave

Enjoy the fluffiness!!!! ;)



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Comics Wrap Up - Things Are Shaping Up To Be Pretty Odd

Film Trailers

Marvel made a Doctor Strange trailer that makes 2 different trailers! One when it's played forwards, and one when it's reversed.

It's called 'Strange's Time' (yes, the trailer has it's own title, but to be fair, whoever made it is probably pretty chuffed with themselves right now.)

Here it is played forwards:

Annnnd here it is in reverse:

And just because I like your robot, dear nerdlets, here's the new TV spot for Doctor Strange too:

TV Trailers

Dudes, the next series of DC's Legends of Tomorrow looks EPIC!!!!

As a reminder: this is the series which totally shouldn't work but does - a ragtag spinoff with minor characters from CW's DC pantheon, along with him-off-Dr-Who (otherwise known as Arthur Darvill, here playing Rip Hunter,) and a flying time machine.

We also have one of the only LGBTQ+ superheroes to ever make it on screen (and still be LGBTQ+ - Harley Quinn, Mystique, Loki, et al. had that part of their identity erased when transferred to screen) - the amazing and beautiful Sara Lance, aka the White (formerly the Black) Canary.

Yes, my dearest nerdlets, this looks pretty damned cool:

Graphic Novels

This week I read and reviewed Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead (UK - US.)

This is a fun and zombie-filled kids/all-ages graphic novel, which I enjoyed a helluva lot more than I thought I would!

You can check out my review of Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead here.

So that's it for my week in comics, dearest nerdlets: on to the next week!

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Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead

Title: Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead

Author: Steve Bryant

Contributors: Mark Stegbauer, Jason Millet

Genre: Kids, Horror, Zombies

Series: Ghoul Scouts #1-#4

Release Date: 18th Oct 2016 (US); 20th Oct 2016 (UK)

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via Edelweiss. Edelweiss provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

In honesty, I thought this would just be OK, and nothing more. Turns out, it was really freaking awesome! :)

Premise:

Full Moon Hollow - Paranormal Capital of the World. But of course, those are just stories.

A scout jamboree. Fun, right?

Until the zombies show up, and the remains of two scout groups have to fight to find their way to safety...

What the hell is going on in Full Moon Hollow?

Best bits:

Have you ever thought what would happen when you smoosh a multi-racial Scooby-Doo style gang of kids (unfortunately, without the dog,) into Brian K Vaughn's Paper Girls, with the more family-friendly parts of the film Zombieland?

Nope, me neither. But clearly someone's been thinking about it - because here it is.

And it's really fun!

Bright, spoopy ('spooky' to the purists amongst you,) and with an adventure that really scoops you up and drags you along with it, this is a really involving book.

The artwork was effective - bright, but not too in-your-face.

And the main characters are pretty evenly split between white characters and people of colour (PoCs). Overall, the split may even be slightly in favour of PoCs - depending on who you count as main characters.

It's done well - not forced; it simply is (as it should be.)

Not so great bits:

While the kids were relatively well-drawn characters (in the metaphorical sense - though in the literal sense too, I suppose,) I think they still could do with some character development - though this may be expanded on in continuations of the series.

I also think that things maybe weren't tied up correctly...?

Like, how did the kids explain the zombie attack to the adults? And where the hell did the zombies come from in the first place?

Again, this is possibly just a symptom of first-volume restrictions - and it's entirely possible that this'll get sorted in later instalments.

OK, so I'm nit-picking a little... but someone has to ;)

Verdict:

This was so fun! A well-rounded kids' story (and big kids, like yours truly, of course,) with a diverse cast and zombies!

With room for growth, and perfect for Halloween, I really do recommend this one guys - I enjoyed the hell out of it! :)

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads

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Mini-Review! - Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Title: Finders Keepers

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Crime, Thriller

Series: Bill Hodges #2

Amazon: UK - USA

Verdict:

After reading the first book in this series, Mr Mercedes, a little while back, I wanted to read the sequel.

So, yes, this book is a sequel.

It's actually very different in terms of tone to Mr Mercedes - the central crime-fighting team takes a bit of a back-seat to the plot here - but I actually would recommend reading Mr Mercedes first, rather than reading this as standalone.

(This advice is coming to you from someone who reads most series in a random order according to mood and what book was in the library.

So people who like things organised - and you know who you are - you will definitely want to read Mr Mercedes first.)

This though, is not a book that's that much about our main characters.

I know, that sounds crazy. But this is a book where the central characters of this series are very much in the background.

Instead, our focus is on a decades-old crime, (which, a la Mr Mercedes, we already know the perpetrator of,) and it's unforeseen affect on a teenager from the present day.

This is a tale of literary obsession which bookish folks will recognise as the potential frightening extremity of fandom. This is about the power of words, and people who will literally kill to possess them.

Because this is what happens when the teenage Peter Saubers finds the missing notebooks of a murdered literary genius. This is what happens when the person who hid them wants those notebooks back...

This isn't for the faint of heart - but then, it's Stephen King; even though it's not horror as such, you probably guessed that it was going to be dark.

I found the final showdown pretty disturbing, in honesty. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing ;) But yeah, I actually flinched; it was pretty damn vivid.

There's loads of violence, a shed-load of swearing, and slurs of various sorts from some pretty horrible people.

There's also a lot of reference to rape - there's a lot of rape-as-incidental-plot-point in this book. It's not gratuitous, but it's also very uncomfortable.

I'm glad that black character Jerome is phasing out his jive-talking alter-ego (who consciously came out whenever Jerome decided to act like a jack-a*s,) because that was one of the things that bugged me most about the previous book.

A white dude writing a black character who liked to mock negative stereotypes by inhabiting those stereotypes was a very fine line to tread, and I'm glad that aspect of Jerome's character seems to be falling by the wayside.

I still love our female crime-fighter Holly - the sidekick to main character, ex-cop Bill. She's fab.

She's strong, smart, and has OCD and anxiety problems. And she still kicks a*s.

Allow me to indulge myself in an awesome heroine with mental health problems, ok? ;)

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

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Nerd Church - No Future

Poverty. Inequality. Racism.

This is what our Prime Minister is advocating, though she covers it over with a smokescreen of faux-reasonability.

By claiming that Britain will be a meritocracy, what she is actually saying is that those who grow up without the advantages of connections, financial stability, and the best education money can buy, will not be supported by their government.

She is saying that if we are unable to get on in life, it is our fault, and not the fault of a warped system that still cares more about who your father was and what your postcode is, than your actual potential.

via GIPHY

She is advocating an 'in it for yourself' attitude. She is suggesting there are no barriers in British society to those from poorer backgrounds, when this is blatantly untrue.

She may talk prettily about supporting hard-working people, but what she has actually done is throw us all under the bus.







And somehow she has the cheek to come out with policies which actively discriminate against non-British-citizens, including our doctors and medical staff.

Yep, our doctors. The people who actually do things like... oh, I don't know... SAVING LIVES.

via GIPHY

Mrs May, this is what you have done in your short time in office: you have screwed us over and then smiled smugly while telling us to be grateful.

I have only one word for you, Mrs May, the worst insult a Welsh woman could possibly give - and I'm sorry it's come to using such language:

Mrs May, you are THATCHER.

Nerd Church is a weekly post where I try to make this world better and end up very frustrated! I'll try to be less political next week - but no promises!








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