BLACKWOOD FARM CHAPTER 27
Jun. 10th, 2017 11:13 pmI did a little bit of research for context, and...remember how Rowan Mayfair is the heroine of the first Mayfair witches book, The Witching Hour? And she and her boyfriend, Michael Curry, also from the first book, are now Mona's legal guardians?
Michael is the father of Mona's baby. Which she had when she was thirteen. Michael was 48 as of his introduction in The Witching Hour. I think she's supposed to have """seduced"""" him, and I'd like to point back to the post I made about how Rice has a tendency to make the bullshit pedophile defense of the seductive child into a reality so that people in her books can have sex with children and not be terrible for it. Now, obviously children, for varying reasons, can be sexual. I'll even admit that maybe they can try to, as far as they understand it, seduce an adult. Generally this is a sign they have already been sexually abused by one, or at least have been exposed to inappropriate material or activities, but I'm willing to believe that a kid with a crush and no other problems can try to get the attention of an adult (though if they're doing it in overtly SEXUAL ways, there is, again, clearly a problem already)
And you know what?
THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY TO HAVE SEX WITH THEM
BECAUSE THEY ARE A CHILD
Like I just do not even get this logic of "it was okay because it was the kid's idea" like SO WHAT? THEY'RE A KID! KIDS THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO LET THEM DRIVE THE CAR!
And honestly, the very fact that Michael *can* be seduced by a thirteen year old means he was attracted to one in the first place. People talk about children dressing "provocatively" and I'm like, provoking to who? Do you think ordinary grown men suddenly get boners for six year olds because they wear a bikini to the pool one day instead of a one piece? No! Because if they're not attracted to kids to begin with, the kid's clothes aren't gonna change that! And it baffles me how if you asked someone, hey, would you be attracted to, say, a fat woman if she wore a miniskirt and they'll be all EW NO but somehow they think that a short dress on a child can just suddenly warp someone who isn't into children into being an insta-pedophile. It's asinine.
And I understand that some teens develop fast. I can understand it if someone's hindbrain thinks they're looking at a grown person because "boobs" or "muscles" and I can even understand the adult finding themselves attracted to what physically looks to them like another adult. But we aren't animals, and as adults, as human beings, we should know better than to act on those attractions. They are not okay. It is your responsibility to understand and remember that no matter what their bodies are doing, this is a CHILD.
Basically, Michael Curry is disgusting. And I hope that Mona was not his legal ward when this happened (not that it's not unforgivable as is but the additional power dynamics there would just make it worse, if it can even be worse). He definitely shouldn't have been made her guardian after, but the Mayfairs are obviously pretty twisted so I'm not surprised by this. And guys, I like twisted. The idea of a secretive creepy incestuous Southern family of witches is RIGHT UP MY ALLEY. I love that idea so very much. But the thing about my love for twisted trash is it NEEDS TO BE PRESENTED AS TWISTED TRASH like is that so much to ask? Apparently so, from a lot of fantasy authors.
Also, two other things about Michael:
- According to TV Tropes, he had sex with Mona when Rowan was in "dire straits". They don't specify that this means (it was in one of the books after The Witching Hour so I didn't read it), but basically Michael would still be scum even if Mona had been an adult.
- Rowan was raised by adopted parents, totally apart from the Mayfairs, with no knowledge of her biological family. Michael is an ordinary guy who gets drawn into the Mayfair shit in The Witching Hour due to her discovering her heritage and powers. I don't remember this from The Witching Hour so I guess it was in a later book (though I don't remember much from The Witching Hour) but it turns out Michael is a Mayfair too, descended from an illegitimate affair between one of the Mayfair men and a house maid. So Rowan is raised TOTALLY APART from the Mayfair family and neither she nor Michael know their heritage, but they just happen to hook up? I know this is a supernatural story and all but that's just too big a coincidence to buy, and...both Rowan and Mona are stated to be really inbred already (Rowan's father is her mother's grandfather) is MORE INCEST needed? Like, whoops, you think you're fucking outside the family tree but YOU'RE NOT? And spoiler alert, turns out Quinn is descended from Julien too.
I'm starting to think this whole incest thing is a fetish on Rice's part or something; it would explain some of the weird stuff with Quinn and Aunt Queen earlier, as well as stuff with Lestat and his mother, and maybe even some of the Lestat/Louis/Claudia dynamics (which I had *thought* was *meant* to be disturbing). It would also explain the very weird detail of Rowan being able to survive birthing a Taltos because said Taltos (which grow rapidly to maturity after birth) breast-fed her afterwards. Like, Taltos as like, super duper witches or something, right? And Rowan herself is a really good doctor specifically because she can use her own witch powers to heal cells. So...shouldn't her Taltos daughter be able to do that? But nope, apparently the way she heals her mom is to breastfeed her. I just...question why that's what Rice decided to go with. That's all I'm saying.
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Michael is the father of Mona's baby. Which she had when she was thirteen. Michael was 48 as of his introduction in The Witching Hour. I think she's supposed to have """seduced"""" him, and I'd like to point back to the post I made about how Rice has a tendency to make the bullshit pedophile defense of the seductive child into a reality so that people in her books can have sex with children and not be terrible for it. Now, obviously children, for varying reasons, can be sexual. I'll even admit that maybe they can try to, as far as they understand it, seduce an adult. Generally this is a sign they have already been sexually abused by one, or at least have been exposed to inappropriate material or activities, but I'm willing to believe that a kid with a crush and no other problems can try to get the attention of an adult (though if they're doing it in overtly SEXUAL ways, there is, again, clearly a problem already)
And you know what?
THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY TO HAVE SEX WITH THEM
BECAUSE THEY ARE A CHILD
Like I just do not even get this logic of "it was okay because it was the kid's idea" like SO WHAT? THEY'RE A KID! KIDS THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO LET THEM DRIVE THE CAR!
And honestly, the very fact that Michael *can* be seduced by a thirteen year old means he was attracted to one in the first place. People talk about children dressing "provocatively" and I'm like, provoking to who? Do you think ordinary grown men suddenly get boners for six year olds because they wear a bikini to the pool one day instead of a one piece? No! Because if they're not attracted to kids to begin with, the kid's clothes aren't gonna change that! And it baffles me how if you asked someone, hey, would you be attracted to, say, a fat woman if she wore a miniskirt and they'll be all EW NO but somehow they think that a short dress on a child can just suddenly warp someone who isn't into children into being an insta-pedophile. It's asinine.
And I understand that some teens develop fast. I can understand it if someone's hindbrain thinks they're looking at a grown person because "boobs" or "muscles" and I can even understand the adult finding themselves attracted to what physically looks to them like another adult. But we aren't animals, and as adults, as human beings, we should know better than to act on those attractions. They are not okay. It is your responsibility to understand and remember that no matter what their bodies are doing, this is a CHILD.
Basically, Michael Curry is disgusting. And I hope that Mona was not his legal ward when this happened (not that it's not unforgivable as is but the additional power dynamics there would just make it worse, if it can even be worse). He definitely shouldn't have been made her guardian after, but the Mayfairs are obviously pretty twisted so I'm not surprised by this. And guys, I like twisted. The idea of a secretive creepy incestuous Southern family of witches is RIGHT UP MY ALLEY. I love that idea so very much. But the thing about my love for twisted trash is it NEEDS TO BE PRESENTED AS TWISTED TRASH like is that so much to ask? Apparently so, from a lot of fantasy authors.
Also, two other things about Michael:
- According to TV Tropes, he had sex with Mona when Rowan was in "dire straits". They don't specify that this means (it was in one of the books after The Witching Hour so I didn't read it), but basically Michael would still be scum even if Mona had been an adult.
- Rowan was raised by adopted parents, totally apart from the Mayfairs, with no knowledge of her biological family. Michael is an ordinary guy who gets drawn into the Mayfair shit in The Witching Hour due to her discovering her heritage and powers. I don't remember this from The Witching Hour so I guess it was in a later book (though I don't remember much from The Witching Hour) but it turns out Michael is a Mayfair too, descended from an illegitimate affair between one of the Mayfair men and a house maid. So Rowan is raised TOTALLY APART from the Mayfair family and neither she nor Michael know their heritage, but they just happen to hook up? I know this is a supernatural story and all but that's just too big a coincidence to buy, and...both Rowan and Mona are stated to be really inbred already (Rowan's father is her mother's grandfather) is MORE INCEST needed? Like, whoops, you think you're fucking outside the family tree but YOU'RE NOT? And spoiler alert, turns out Quinn is descended from Julien too.
I'm starting to think this whole incest thing is a fetish on Rice's part or something; it would explain some of the weird stuff with Quinn and Aunt Queen earlier, as well as stuff with Lestat and his mother, and maybe even some of the Lestat/Louis/Claudia dynamics (which I had *thought* was *meant* to be disturbing). It would also explain the very weird detail of Rowan being able to survive birthing a Taltos because said Taltos (which grow rapidly to maturity after birth) breast-fed her afterwards. Like, Taltos as like, super duper witches or something, right? And Rowan herself is a really good doctor specifically because she can use her own witch powers to heal cells. So...shouldn't her Taltos daughter be able to do that? But nope, apparently the way she heals her mom is to breastfeed her. I just...question why that's what Rice decided to go with. That's all I'm saying.