dzio posted a comment on Friday 15th July 2011 1:31pm for Chapter 1

Okay, I'm going to rant now. Sorry.

I've read "Harry Potter and the Distaff Side" before this story and I thought - okay, if you reversed the genders back and had the male characters treat the women the way women treat (and speak to and think about) men in this story, we'd call them a bunch of disgusting, misogynistic bastards. That would be a pretty clever way to point out the double standards in our society and say something significant about discrimination of women. But only if that was actually the point. As it is, Harry is mostly amused by the girls opening doors for him and such, and from time to time he gets pissed off, which shocks every woman around, because oh, ah, a BOY has an opinion. And occasionally lets his inner wife-beater-in-training show, treating the Black Hat girls with as much contempt and venom as they show him - which is when the story turns downright ugly, IMHO. I think a more appropriate response would be something along the lines of "Merlin's balls, is THIS what we do to women back home?!". But no, your characters have no problems with the relations between genders looking like something from a cheap 50s sit-com and their complete lack of reaction or even opinion on this makes it look like you think that the unequal treatment of men and women is nothing more than a great source of comic relief. Add to this the bullshit comments about "naturally aggressive and dominant" men/women (depending on the reality we're talking about) and not a single serious attempt to break the stereotype - and it's beginning to sound frankly insulting.

But hey, the story is not complete, maybe someone was supposed to have a sudden epiphany in the next chapter. Or maybe you just wanted to avoid serious issues altogether. Well, I think it could have worked if this story'd been written in the early 70s...

Anyway, I still had some hope, but then I read the first chapter of "The Truth". Where the biggest concern of the characters is not the fact that someone took away their free will and manipulated their life using their trust or desperation. Noooo, they're much more worried that after the magic makes the four young wives of out hapless hero healthier, smarter and prettier, their cycles will sync and they will turn into hormonal beasts, who either tear him apart or screw his brains out. Or both, possibly.

Seriously? Is this supposed to be a script for a cheap porno?

Sorry, but no. Ten times no. Neither of those stories works as an exaggerated satire, or a light comedy, or an AU adventure, or an Independent!Harry kind of thing. They make me cringe, like watching an old Disney cartoon with stupid and lazy Black people, or a comedy show where the joke is about the boss fondling the vapid secretary.

Where the hell have you been for the last 40 years?

Clell65619 replied:

- Inner wife beater? I'm not sure I see that, the only time Harry has gotten physical with a woman who wasn't trying to do him damage was (1) with Orestes' cousin, who was about to have her way with him, and Harry, being a relatively normal 15 year old, wasn't about to just lay back and think of England and (2) with the Puff girl who wouldn't take no for an answer.



- For the record, in Distaff Side Harry has wondered more than once 'on camera' as it were, if this is how women were treated 'back home.' Have I made it a central theme of the piece? No, mostly because that's not the thrust of my story.


- Perhaps you should review this chapter again. Harry is extremely pissed that he got tricked into this multi marriage. Susan had NO choice in the matter (beyond prostituting herself), Millicent was exercising her Mercenary little heart with plans to get her hooks into the Potter fortune (which doesn't actually exist in story) and turn his butt over to Tommy and his boys. Romilda was over the moon for bagging her hero, and Marrietta was supremely pissed that her father had sold her to pay off a debt to the Potter Trust, and fully intends to make Harry pay for it.


- A script for a cheap porno? I wish. Have you any idea how much the writers in the porn industry make? Admittedly not much, but more than I did for any story I've ever written.


- If you are actually curious, I've spent the majority of the last 40 years punching holes in the ocean with submarines.


- I fully recognize that my work doesn't work for everyone, and somehow I still manage to carry on. Since you didn't like the stories, I'll see to it your ticket price is refunded...

Wolff posted a comment on Thursday 21st January 2010 8:44pm for Chapter 1

"Putting that rather sexist (if highly accurate) thought aside, I pondered what I had learned the previous two days. My first realization was the blindingly obvious. I’ve been very, very stupid. The central basic truth of my life boiled down to the uncomfortable idea that Dumbledore was toying with me. He pulled the strings and I danced like an obedient little puppet was supposed to."

"And then I resolved to AK the fuckwit the very next time I saw him." ;)

-W

Riegert8 posted a comment on Saturday 16th January 2010 2:34pm for Chapter 1

This is a good chapter, It sad that Harry trust Dumbledore so much that he would sign something based on that trust. I do think that Dumbledore is out of his mind thinking that Harry could reunited the House by just marrying a member of each house, but if Dumbledore wanted to lose Harry trust then he is a winner.

I have been reading your story on Fanfiction for a long time