I feel like we, as a fandom, have been glossing over something for a very, very long time: What the hell was up with the Prefects’ Bathroom?
So. Two prefects are chosen in the fifth year in every house and stay prefects till they graduate. That means there are 24 prefects at any given time (2 prefects x 4 houses x 3 years), and 4 quidditch captains at any given time, who also have access to the bathroom. Additionally, any kind of other student leader* (as demonstrates by James, a quidditch captain) can be head boy/girl. That means there are up to 30 people (24 prefects + 2 possible external head boy/girl + 4 quidditch captains) with access to the Prefects’ Bathroom at any given time.
Moving on. It’s been a while since I read GoF, but I remember Harry’s description of the Prefects’ Bathroom to be one very large bath. He doesn’t mention any side rooms, or that this is one room among many. So, unless there is room-of-requirement type of magic going on (and that’s implied to be very unique, very old magic, while the plumbing was put in, iirc, at the end of the 19th century), there is no privacy in the Prefects’ Bathroom.
24-26 prefects, as well as 4 quidditch captains, all teenagers, one bathroom. Unless that year’s prefects and captains were all in a polyamorous relationship with each other or extremely confident about their bodies, this strikes me as problematic.
Okay. Say, for some reason, all 28-30 students with access do want to go to an incredibly unprivate bathroom. Why the hell would the go to one that is nowhere near any of their dorms? I lived in a boarding school during high school. There was no way I would’ve gone anywhere but the bathroom right there in my dorm. In my dorm only four/six people had access to my bathroom (including me, rooms varied in size), I knew exactly what they were doing there (cause nobody was going to use the bathroom for anything but showering and pooing with the thickness of our walls), and should somebody leave a mess or not clean up after themselves, we all knew who was responsible.
If, as jkr says, there are 1000 students at Hogwarts at all times (the math is wonky, but she wrote her books with that assumption, and jkr isn’t the best at math), there are probably bathrooms in every dorm room (ie, no communal showers, but instead a bathroom for Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville to share). That means they, like me, have the comfort of a bathroom that is shared by relatively few, and along with showers at the quidditch pitch (which I am, admittedly, assuming are there, for a variety of reasons), there is no reason for anybody to ever venture so far out of their way to take a bath on the Fifth Floor, of all places.
The third question is: why is there a Prefects’ Bathroom in the first place, and who put it there? Who decided that they need one? Why did they design it in such a peculiar, unpractical manner?
And last question. This one is probably the most important, most confusing one of all:
Why, in the name of all that is holy, isn’t it used more often for fanfiction sex?
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* we don’t know what other kinds of student leaders count but there are plenty of other school-sanctioned activities, which makes me wonder if the leader of the chess-club could be a head boy/girl.
Hey, Rameses II, @ me next time. This is the second time you’ve mocked an incredibly reasonable comment I made. Or are you “Mia”? And what the hell did I ever do to you, apart from defend a character who dared to be mentally ill when (gasp!) others were, too?
Not an R/L fan, by the way, no relation to the actual racist idiots who want to see Dorne burn. Maybe people aren’t writing comments defending Viserys because they know that you like to write provocative parody and don’t want to get involved in a potential clusterfuck? Just a thought.
By popular request, and explanation of the term “Social Justice Calvinism”
Social Justice Calvinism, like regular Calvinism, revolves around the idea that human society is so steeped in sin that, not only is it inherently irredeemable, but almost everyone involved is essentially damned (to hell, in the case of real Calvinism, to … I dunno being bad, I guess, in the case of Social Justice Calvinism).
Similarly to real Calvinism, Social Justice Calvinism allows for a small, elect group of people who are miraculously able to rise above the morass of evil that is human society (in real Calvinism this is due to G-d’s will, in Social Justice Calvinism, this comes as a result of their overwhelming moral superiority).
As in real Calvinism, nobody knows who the elect of Social Justice Calvinism are, but they are identified by certain signs (in the case of real Calvinism these signs include prosperity, in Social Justice Calvinism, these signs are things like using trigger warnings or sharing photo sets of queer people of color).
Like real Calvinists, Social Justice Calvinists tend to shun and loudly denounce much of the society that they see as inherently corrupt so as to demonstrate (as much to themselves as to everyone else) that they are likely to be members of the elect. However, because membership in the elect is impossible to determine, a Social Justice Calvinists are often wracked by guilt and anxiety as to whether or not they are actually members of the elect.
Finally, and most importantly, much of Social Justice Calvinism’s appeal comes from its goal of challenging a corrupt and oppressive power structure, and its hints of moral clarity. Social Justice Calvinism so especially frustrating because the things that are being fought for are so important (see I’m one of the elect). As with salvation and prosperity in real Calvinism, many of the signs of goals and signs of the Social Justice Calvinist elect are actually quite desirable, but unfortunately they come at the price of believing that nearly everyone, up to and including you, is damned.
… wow, everything I’ve ever thought about The Discourse in a neat post. OP you’re a blessing.
we could probably have a long debate about the fact that social justice calvinists come from the US and US society was basically born out of calvinism…
The worst scenario for Trump would be for Democrats to gain control of congress in the November midterm elections, and start up corruption investigations possibly including impeachment hearings. Basically, Trump’s fate is in the hands of voters….
Is there a bright side for Trump?
How about this statistic: “Only 28% of young adults say they are absolutely certain they will vote in the 2018 election compared to 74% of seniors,” according to a study by the non-profit PRRI. If the Democrats can’t take Congress, the notion of accountability for Trump may recede farther into the distance.
If you are a United States citizen eligible to vote in the midterm elections, please make sure you are registered (check even if you’re sure you are, people have been removed from the rolls without warning) and everything is in order well ahead of time. Please encourage others to turn out and vote Democrat, not because the Democrats are an ideal progressive party (by the standards of most countries outside the US they’re right-wing) but because it is the best strategy to get this vile old crook out of office or at least to make it a hell of a lot harder for him to do what he wants.
Hi there 🙂 Well, in the novels, Lyanna is described as being a wild, wolf blooded tomboy-esque character who died at 16 years old. She’s compared to Arya a lot in appearance, behavior, and personality. The show has so far kept the adapted version in line with this, which makes me very happy. I’m still wary about the coming flashbacks though.
Within the fandom, Lyanna’s often depicted as a very delicate and genteel gender conforming older woman (sometimes in her mid-twenties and even thirties) who only wears flowing blue gowns and has blue roses sprouting everywhere. Very little attention is paid to her wild and non-conforming nature.
Me- I don’t wanna go to class today. I feel out of it
*classes is cancelled *
Me- God???? Is that you???
Me: I️ don’t want to go to work today
Boss:
(Looks like God’s got both our backs today)
Bless this day ❤️❤️❤️
I swear this post is blessed or something because I said “I want a reason to go somewhere” while looking at this post and then pretty much just after, my mother asked me to go to the store to get some eggs since I used the last 2
Reblog this post to get something you want
Sign me up for the “I love both Sansa and Arya Stark, they’ve suffered too much, and I hope they develop a good relationship when they’re older and more mature (also please let them survive)” Club.
Protip for men: if marriage is a horrifying concept for you and you think it is an evil trap, do not buy a ring and ask a woman to marry you
I’m way over seeing radical feminist bullshit on my dash. This isn’t even social justice or a real issue.
sorry that not marrying someone you dont loathe is radical feminism i guess?
women: don’t propose or get married if u don’t like the thought of marriage
men: what kind of sjw fuckery
the other bit that this implies is:
If you like your wife, act like it. Even around your friends. Be open and honest about liking your wife, liking spending time with her, and not being resentful of the shared work of building a household. Let your buddies know you can’t hang out with them because you’d rather be home with your wife, whom you like, because she is your legit bff, even though you know your buddies are gonna mock you for it.
Stand up to your buddies. Tell them mocking isn’t cool and you don’t want them to do it anymore. Challenge the other men in your life to be better men.
That is what “don’t get married if you think marriage is an evil trap” implies to men who are married. And while it’s all completely reasonable I imagine that it’s scary as fuck when it’s just so much easier to har de har har the little woman’s such a nag, ain’t she, don’t we all hate being married so much? with other men.
In that context, “don’t get married if you think marriage is an evil trap” is kindof a radical statement.
The number of guys I work with who are engaged who started pulling the “uh oh, life over soon, har har” shit that I have completely shut down with a simple “well if you don’t want to get married, then don’t”…*sigh* And they’re just like, hem, haw, welllll if I don’t then she might not stay with meee, which I respond to with “well, sounds like you need to have a pretty serious and honest conversation with your fiancee about your feelings then” and then the *panic!* look…When you remove that easy “hah hah ball-and-chain” narrative, watch the reaction. Some of them (to a female friend) will mumblingly admit that they love their fiancee and are excited to be married. Others…all you get is fear.
That’s the disservice we do men by refusing to teach boys how to explore their emotional needs. It hurts everyone. I watched three male friends walk into marriages I can tell they weren’t ready for and didn’t want, just because it was expected and they had no tools for emotional self-examination. Two of those marriages are (shockingly) in crisis, a couple years later. One has kids involved now. It’s more than a little heartbreaking. The marriages I see that are working? Are the guys with the emotional maturity to talk to their wives and who don’t care if everyone knows they’re in love with them.
SERIOUSLY.
My friend is getting married this summer and when I congratulated her fiance on their engagement he said to me “Yeah well you know, women. This is what they want so you have to bite the bullet.” and my other friend’s husband who was sitting next to him laughed and agreed. If this is how you feel, don’t get married. Don’t propose. Just…. Don’t. Do it. Any of it.
Straight people think that doing things you really don’t want to do – like marriage and having kids – is normal cos they’re still stuck in a fucking 19th century mindset.
It’s why I know my best friend got a good one, he’s open about how much he loves her and he’s excited to be getting married and regularly contributes ideas and has his own input, it’s nice to see
It filters through as well. Even being gay, a lot of my straight friends don’t understand why I spend so much time with my husband. Because I love him? Because I enjoy his company? Because he’s my best friend? I can’t count the amount of straight people that have told me that they think it’s “weird” that my husband and I spend so much quality time together. The only person who understood was my mom, whose response was: “If you love someone and genuinely enjoy their company, why WOULDN’T you want to spend your free time with them?!”
How can anyone look at their impending marriage and think ‘oh no, it’s all over now’ like???? I’ve only felt so close to so many people in my life, but those small few were like?? I’d wake up in the morning excited to be awake just to look forward to SEEING them. I’d catch myself with this stupid idiot grin in broad daylight just THINKING ABOUT BEING AROUND THEM. I’d sleep easy with them in my head, shitty days became perfect once I spoke to them. THAT’s how I imagine feeling again someday. I think about feeling that way for someone again and it’s like the whole future opens up. Marriage is finding your best friend in the whole wide world and wanting to have a sleepover every single day, and to agree to it and then go around groaning like your freedom is being stolen is a HUGE disrespect. If you have the freedom to share your life with anyone you like and you throw it around like baggage you really can’t expect it to grow, can you? You gotta care about yourself a little more than that I think
All of this.
Not to mention this mentality makes it’s way TO THE DAY OF THE WEDDING. How many weddings have we seen with something like this:
Like what kind of toxic mentality do you have to have to say this as the bride is about to walk down the aisle and marry someone who it’s now suggested doesn’t even want to be there?? How is this cute? How is this supposedly charming? This is supposed to be the person you love and want to be with! And not to mention that you send this down the aisle with a small child (the ring bearer or the flower girls)…I have a special loathing for things like this.
Holy shit I didn’t know that was even a thing.
This reminds me of a study I read about years ago with statistics on happiness/stability in relationships of people of various genders/orientations, and straight people were at the very bottom. (And lesbians were at the top! Not a huge surprise, given that women are generally more inclined to communicate and work out emotions and issues.)
Reblogging for the “last chance to run” comment. Honestly it’s so fucking gross.
And think about the people who marriage actually is an evil trap for, like child brides, or like people who can’t leave an abusive marriage because they’ll struggle financially.
These men are willingly choosing to get married.
Yes, it’s a long post but very important. I have seen these behaviors play out over and over again among my friends and colleagues, and it needs to stop. We need to raise children to think of marriage as a positive or else something they don’t have to feel guilted into. If you’ve met your person and want to get married, that’s awesome, if not, maybe live a good life as a single until you do. Much better than feeling lonely when you’re with your husband/wife, and it’ll improve your chances of being happy later. My 2 cents.
Death By Catchphrase 