Really great, Claudia. Loads of excellent details and really compelling world you've built here. The initiation awaits!
I think this short line is my favourite: "Her mother’s voice propagated through the air in slow motion, hardly reaching her brain before she fell again into a deep, heavy sleep."
I’m loving your initiation story! The parallels to life is one that is relatable. Looks like history is repeating itself in the future—debutants of the Deep South, being presented at court, vision quests, Quinceañeras, and other coming “out” ceremonies.
Given the current discourse around women and their bodies instigated by the Roe vs Wade overturn, the discourse around how women joining the workforce took away jobs from men and/or cheapened the job market, it looks like controlling women will never go out of fashion.
I am now combing through some practices such a footbinding, purdah, the cult of womanhood etc. they were initiated and practiced by the noble classes for a long time before they were adopted by the masses.
Foot binding??!!! Not just gendered practice of control but also class. Only the wealthy could afford to cripple their daughters by breaking the bones then binding into a forced arch to produce the required tiny ideal of several inches. For peasants like my ancestors on my father’s side, women needed to work the fields.
If the initiation is merging her mind with an Orca, the appetite would be normal. The forced torture by the women might seem out of place, but in some societies, women have always been the most vindictive and inflicted the most pain on each other.
A lot of seemingly innocent practices meant to elevate women are cruel. I'll do a spoiler alert and say that the initiation is not merging her mind with Alva. (I had humpback whales in mind.)
Really great, Claudia. Loads of excellent details and really compelling world you've built here. The initiation awaits!
I think this short line is my favourite: "Her mother’s voice propagated through the air in slow motion, hardly reaching her brain before she fell again into a deep, heavy sleep."
Thanks Nathan, I wanted to write a Halloween story and this came out. I don’t think I have it in me to write scary stories. 🤣
I’m loving your initiation story! The parallels to life is one that is relatable. Looks like history is repeating itself in the future—debutants of the Deep South, being presented at court, vision quests, Quinceañeras, and other coming “out” ceremonies.
Given the current discourse around women and their bodies instigated by the Roe vs Wade overturn, the discourse around how women joining the workforce took away jobs from men and/or cheapened the job market, it looks like controlling women will never go out of fashion.
I am now combing through some practices such a footbinding, purdah, the cult of womanhood etc. they were initiated and practiced by the noble classes for a long time before they were adopted by the masses.
"unpetaling her with their eyes" is quite the turn of phrase.
Great job keeping up with the demands of serialization!
Thanks, Takim. I think I read a bit too much about the biochemistry of flowers for this story 😅.
That said, I love this series! Looking forward to the reading group on Ministry for the Future!
🙏
Foot binding??!!! Not just gendered practice of control but also class. Only the wealthy could afford to cripple their daughters by breaking the bones then binding into a forced arch to produce the required tiny ideal of several inches. For peasants like my ancestors on my father’s side, women needed to work the fields.
Many of these practices restricting women’s movement were initiated by the elite classes.
Awesome! So close now!
You mean the initiation? 😁
If the initiation is merging her mind with an Orca, the appetite would be normal. The forced torture by the women might seem out of place, but in some societies, women have always been the most vindictive and inflicted the most pain on each other.
Footbinding :).
A lot of seemingly innocent practices meant to elevate women are cruel. I'll do a spoiler alert and say that the initiation is not merging her mind with Alva. (I had humpback whales in mind.)
Really enjoying the story
Thank you, Stephanie. Now onto part 4.
Not sure what I did but thanks 😉