In an age of #metoo awareness with powerful and charismatic sexual abusers like Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein being condemned or charged, and canceled, the height of irony is when we see these types of figures celebrated and glorified in mainstream fiction. Of course, Fifty Shades has been appropriately addressed and condemned for its sordid writing and problematic fall for abuser tropes. However, would it surprise you to learn how predominant these tropes are in teen fiction? And how much worse they are?
As a #metoo and feminist, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer a *Trigger Warning*. I will be addressing explicit content in teen books that involves sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, dissociation, etc. I am well acquainted with trauma. I have dedicated over a decade’s worth of my life to training in anti-trafficking and overall anti-sexual violence advocacy and am currently training to become a crisis counselor for women in domestic abuse.
For the purposes of this critique, I will address some prevalent concepts in pop culture and how they are infecting the minds of the next generation. And how as parents and concerned individuals, we should do our very best to be aware and educated so we may best guide our children to better content while having discussions about the red-flagged nature of other content.
My critique will focus on a toxic fantasy book that is a worldwide bestseller, was originally meant to be New Adult but was shifted to upper Young Adult (now being rebranded to adult, but the damage has been done). The author herself required the inclusion of explicit sexual content when the publisher informed her it would be moved to Young Adult.
I want to clarify that this critique is NOT meant for shame but rather education. As a sex-positive author who writes smash the patriarchy feminism and empowered and intimate erotic content, I champion positive smut when I see it. As long as the couple is respectful and mutual, and as long as abusive or exploitative content isn’t glorified but openly challenged, I honestly agree with teens reading it so they can understand that sex is a good thing! So they can have positive sexuality without romanticized exploitation, violent urges, and glorified alpha-hole abusers.
Unfortunately, A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas does not apply.
Before the fandom raises their torches, yes, I have read the books three times. Thanks to my past trauma and years of training, I am well equipped to dissect the negative behavioral patterns and content. Again, this is not meant to be shame-based. I can respect some aspects of Maas’s writing, world-building, characters, etc. But as a mother of daughters, a survivor, a trained advocate, and a bisexual feminist author, I have a responsibility to expose dangerous content that grooms and negatively influences children just as it did for me.
Following the excerpts and breakdowns of dangerous abuse patterns, I share final examples of misogyny, white supremacy, and poor LGBTQIA+ representation.
The first excerpt I will share is from A Court of Thorns and Roses. I challenge parents: do you want your teen girls reading content like this?
Excerpt from Book One:
- Lying: Context: at the end of book one, destiny transcribes a bond between Feyre and Rhysand. He knows it. She does not. Skipping over some fated “love bond” where the woman doesn’t even get a say, regardless of circumstances, it’s not loving or respectful to lie to someone for months on end. Especially if that lie causes the protagonist to become *weaker and physically sick*. Yes, this is a thing in the sequel. Feyre can only physically and emotionally grow stronger and healthier when she’s with Rhysand. Um…this seriously reminds me of law requiring women to be with their abusers. We will also address the nature of a “trauma bond”.
- Sexual harassment: throughout the ACOTAR series, Rhysand continues to sexually objectify and harass Feyre. Publicly and privately and even encouraging her to rub her tattooed eye on “certain body parts” to summon him faster and making references to her breasts to other powerful males. He even outright admits to using that tattooed eye to spy on her when she was naked. That’s what we call stalking and I know women who are victims of it. Overall, Feyre’s response? Smirk and laugh and dismiss. Extremely disrespectful to women and girls who endure chronic sexual harassment and sets a tone for acceptance of this cultural norm.
- Manipulation. Rhysand is very clever in his wordings. Readers are made to feel like he’s a feminist for giving Feyre a “choice”. First: I encourage everyone (even if for the sake of hilarity) to go check out CindyReads, a popular booktuber. I follow her religiously. She’s extremely intelligent, yet comical in her reviews, especially of A Court of Mist and Fury. Cindy Quote: “I, Rhysand, think women can choose what to do. *audience applause noises*. So revolutionary. I love it when a woman is independent now that a man allows her to be.” ~Shifting back to critical thinking: This is what abusers do well. Like Rhysand, they know their victims. He’s studied her. He ultimately knows what choice she’s going to pick. This is a common tactic of abusers in steering women towards the choices they want them to make. I.e Rhysand wanting Feyre to tap into her unknown power. Moreover, he is still in an ultimate power position, but he continues lying to her about the bond. That’s taking advantage of her. A woman cannot truly make an “informed” choice if any partner is withholding information from her.
- Dangerous situations: multiple times in book two, Rhysand allows Feyre to be put in dangerous situations. Claiming it’s all “her choice” blatantly dismisses the manipulative power he wields over her from his mental powers to all the patterns of a covert domestic abuser. He even used her as bait and allowed her to be attacked by a monster so he could get information about an impending war. It’s perhaps the only time in the entire book where she challenges him. But he still responds by laughing and gaslighting her. Which sets another cultural norm for men dismissing women’s voices. Again, he offered her a “choice” in some situations. But he did so without fully informing her as to the danger that would occur, leaving her blindsided. This is not a fully informed choice. It’s also an example of a male preying on a traumatized woman, taking advantage of the “bond” she’s unaware of, using a woman’s power, manipulating her by not communicating to her honestly, and gas-lighting her as an over-dramatic female for having the audacity to react. Feyre is the perfect type of victim as we see by her internal reflection of self-esteem/self-worth/vulnerability. Yes, this could all be wrapped up in the mating *cough trauma* bond. But while Feyre was a feisty spitfire in book one, broke rules, rebelled, she ultimately did whatever Rhysand wanted her to do AND moreover needed to stroke his ego.
- Plays the Victim/Love Bombs Feyre: In book two, following a section of the book where Rhysand used Feyre by pitting her against another high lord and to take advantage of his hospitality and kindness so they could steal a valuable object (which also put Feyre in danger while Rhysand simply hung back and punched a few guys), the high lord sends a classy *F U* gift of blood rubies. Rhysand spends the day sulking in a state of misery over this gift because his dirty, underhanded nature was exposed. This scene is another cunning scene where Feyre tries to offer solutions to placate Rhysand, tells him she doesn’t blame him and hopes he will cheer up. Ultimately, he references how one of his powerful friends would want to destroy this high lord’s court despite how they betrayed them first (lovely company he is keeping) and how this personal feud that could last centuries is a price he will pay if necessary. *This is not taking responsibility. This is playing the victim and garnering sympathy from the victim*. In the end of this scene, to thank Feyre for her help, Rhysand gives her a lavish paycheck and tells her she may buy anything she wishes. *This is a very common abuser tactic known as LOVE BOMBING, which is meant to get back in the victim’s good graces after he has used them and wronged them.*
- Blames Feyre: Rhysand is incapable of taking responsibility for his actions. He specifically blames Feyre for using him vs the other way around. He uses his past trauma as a weapon against her. And I can’t count on one hand all the times his Inner Circle praises him and brings up his past trauma to excuse any of his bad behavior. This is such a parallel to powerful men in society gathering their own “Inner Circle” where women will boost their egos and advocate for men. Ironically, SJM cited the main villain in the series, Hybern, was based off of Trump, but Rhysand shares far more close characteristics with Trump than Hybern.
- Using Feyre. Another common pattern in book two is Rhysand using Feyre. (Context. Impending war. She knows war could cross to her human world). Feyre is a brand new fey with a transference of multiple powers. Rhysand makes it no secret he wants to use her. He claims they are “equal”, but there are clear scenarios he sets up for her to take all the risk while he does little to no work or he benefits. Worst is sexual diversion.
- ADDED: In context of the most recent book in the series, A Court of Silver Flames, Rhysand’s pattern of abuse has not ended. It has only grown worse with lying to Feyre about her own body and the knowledge that the baby in her womb will cause her to have a horrific and traumatic labor followed by death for her and the baby. If this was a doctor, he would have been stripped of his license and would have been sued. But apparently, husbands are allowed to lie to their wives and are condoned in this very anti-choice behavior. Not to mention, he knew about the baby prior due to a vision Feyre sent him (while they had sex, mind you) and whenever suggested any form of birth control while knowing her body was unable to bear his race’s children. [Personal: As a mother who had TWO high-risk pregnancies where I almost died, this disgusted me, and I know my husband who truly respects me and spent each pregnancy injecting two needles a day in my stomach to keep me alive would never have done this. In fact, he always worked harder to give me details about my medical disorder and discussed everything with me about the pregnancies.]
- Rhysand is the one in power. Not Feyre. When a male uses his power to exploit instead of protect and empower – a pattern for Rhysand -, it is the opposite of respect and equality. This is not an example of healthy love. It’s not what I want to see for my daughters as they grow. It’s merely another alpha male and toxic masculinity and a woman fitting into that narrative in the way that is most societally common and acceptable. 1A. TRAUMA Bond. This is a parallel scene to book one. Many abusers develop a trauma bond with their victims. In book one as already critiqued, Rhysand played the role of a villain and sexually exploited and assaulted Feyre. However, he also created a bond by claiming “innocence” because he was so generous not to grope her private parts which were on full display. He was also generous to sexually assault her because otherwise…hmm, what would have happened? Oh yes, the original villain of Amarantha would have discovered her body was touched by Feyre’s fiance who she’d held captive. Why? Oh yes, because of the magical ink Rhysand forced upon Feyre. In book two, the trauma bond is solidified by his kind treatment toward Feyre from teaching her to read and write (insulting her intelligence in doing so), giving her a pretty room to sleep in, and doing the bare minimum of decency (a low bar considering his first book actions). However, this still fits the pattern of a domestic abuser using a trauma bond. In breaking down the patterns, the “mating bond” acts as a real “trauma bond“. A woman can only become healthier and happier if she is around her mate even if she doesn’t want to be. First, can we acknowledge how convenient said bond is that only women suffer? Second: how this paints the abuser as far more of a “healer” and a “savior”, allowing them to continue the cycle, which Rhysand does: sexual exploitation, treating Feyre as property, sexual harassment, gaslighting, etc. As an overcomer of multiple trauma bonds, I could expound, but I encourage all to research trauma bond patterns.
- Rhysand ultimately benefits. Call me crazy, but I’d hoped we had reached an age beyond the scantily clad female sitting in a fully clothed male’s lap. While I champion a woman’s sexual confidence, this is not an example. Feyre is not owning her body, challenging the male authority, and demanding respect. She is simply a participant in her own public and sexual objectification. No different than a stripper placating a pimp. And she defaults to a trauma response of dissociation so she may gain some pleasure from it. A common response for trafficking victims and domestic abuse victims.
- Feyre dissociates to cope. Notice the line of how she becomes the “wild, dark thing”. While it may seem empowered, this is deceptive and subtle internalized misogyny. She still refers to herself as a “thing”. It’s also a trauma response. When a woman is in a world of male power and in a position where she is being sexually exploited and publicly degraded, a common coping mechanism is to identify as something else…and particularly someone who enjoys what is being done to them. I have met countless survivors of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation who did the same thing. I, as a survivor of sexual and physical trauma, began patterns of dissociation while I was very young. Sadly, our culture is so very fond of the aggressive, hypersexualized female. Why? Because patriarchal men ultimately benefit most from such a trope. Whether it’s hypersexualized women in private or in public, it doesn’t truly matter to the patriarchy.
- Feyre doesn’t reclaim or overcome. She simply forms a new trauma response. And a new trauma bond with Rhysand. As someone who formed that response again and again for years and I did so as a teenager, I assure you it’s notempowering. This deceptive brand of fandom feminism believes there is a wild hypersexualized beast in every woman just waiting to be unleashed. This isn’t too surprising considering SJM hypersexualizes all of her women while painting all men as domineering “alpha-holes” while any queer archetypes are fetishized. (We will get to that soon). The Court of Nightmares scene, which truly has no plot point other than to serve as meaningless smut, progresses with Feyre’s repeated public and sexual degradation. Feyre doesn’t rise to power in this scene. She simply believes she is empowered. A popular patriarchal narrative. While I can’t speak to SJM’s true beliefs behind her books, the patterns she has written are one of definitive concern.
Listen, I am a pro-sex author and advocate. I am a bisexual feminist who writes sex positivity and I personally love sex with my husband and even establish healthy and consensual roleplaying/bdsm. I truly believe in women enjoying sex and loving sexual pleasure in whatever healthy and consensual and empowered form that may be. As is confirmed in countless feminist circles I am a part of, while a woman owning and enjoying her sexual power is good with whatever she wears or behaves, a woman believing she is owning sexual power while a covert abuser is truly the one in power, has formed a trauma bond with her, groomed her, manipulated her, and lied to her…that is NOT the sort of misogyny and false feminism we want teenage girls internalizing. It is not a sign of feminism or empowerment.
- Male power. Feyre only lives in book one due to male power. She is very strong physically but ultimately lacks intelligence and depends on Rhysand who helps her through a book trial and does so by physically injuring her through her eye tattoo. He also states how he willed her soul to live and convinced the other male lords to help bring her back.
- Ultimate male power. Feyre only lives due to ultimate male power. After the sorceress kills her at the end of book one, seven high lords must grant her their power to bring her back to life.
- Patriarchy: the magic of the land is only bound to men and passed through male bloodlines. There are no high ladies – only high lords. The fandom would have you believe Rhysand is a feminist for “giving” Feyre the title of high lady. That’s akin to men taking ownership of “giving” women the right to vote. Also, men can’t be feminists, only allies.
- Male Responsible for Female’s Arc and Growth: I’ve already outlined how Rhysand is ultimately the one who drove the plot forward by setting up scenarios and manipulating Feyre into making non-informed choices. At the end of the book during their explicit, aggressive sex, she credits Rhysand with her healing and growth.
- Dominant and territorial males. This is a major trope of the series. Because Rhysand and other fey males have much power, they are permitted to be dominant and territorial and have uncontrollable sexual urges. Again, Feyre leans into that hypersexualized state and references how Rhysand is fulfilled after he climaxes but there are specific scenarios where her fulfillment is not referenced. Par example: Rhysand’s sexual urge being so uncontrollable after they are apart, he has to take her in mid-flight in public and almost crashes into a building while she just laughs in response. Nothing about her sexual pleasure in this scene either.
- Poor self-esteem/Self-hatred: throughout book two, Feyre is continually beating herself up whether calling herself a traitor and a whore for leaving one abuser or referring to herself as prey and Rhysand is predator. She also refers to herself as “dinner” while Rhysand refers to her body as his own sexual feast while in the same sentence, he establishes his ultimate male supremacy of power. We also have the old stereotype where the protagonist doesn’t think she’s beautiful and relies on the male to give her praise and affirmation. And condoning it when he objectifies or insults her. ADDED: This is very typical of female characters in the ACOTAR universe. The same self-hatred and self-destructive patterns manifest in Nesta, the older sister, who still retains in the end that she deserves someone evil and abusive instead of someone kind like Cassian (despite the fact that he continually sexually harassed/assaulted her and publicly shamed and degraded her including when she was at her lowest point).
- Women as props. Despite Rhysand “giving” Feyre power, she ultimately becomes a glorified paper pusher. Throughout the rest of the series, the women are seen in very passive roles signing boring documents, gossiping, shopping etc while Rhysand and the males of his inner circle are at the war camps and discussing politics and practices. The women have little agency and little voice in matters of state, though Feyre does continue to brag about her powers, her wings, and is seen laughing and smirking again at Rhysand’s uncontrollable sexual urges.
- The Bond: I’ve addressed the mating bond is what it’s called. In book 3, the author seemed to try and excuse the mating bond by indicating a partner can reject it, but that the bond “pricks poorly”. And while females can ignore that response, apparently, it drives males into a mad rage. Because again, the misogynistic trope is that men cannot possibly control their mating urges and cannot respect a female rejecting them. And that even after the bond is rejected, they view the female as their belonging and will even return to challenge the new male she chooses. And “many mated pairs will try to make it work”. Page 211. I can’t even stop the bile rising.
- Barbaric practices. Despite the fandom wanting you to believe Rhysand is empowering, the male fey warriors in his land are referenced as “brutes” and hostile to the females of the land. It’s not hidden. In fact, it’s acknowledged that while Rhysand owns everything, he has allowed other abusers to be in power – abusers who would have allowed child marriage and forced rape – to operate freely. (217). In the same book, Feyre and Rhysand and his Inner Circle along with her sisters visit the war camps, they hide Feyre’s wallflower of a sister behind their bodies due to the “backward view of the Illyrians toward females” (387). Despite this, it’s customary for females to serve them after they’ve returned from war. These women are not even permitted to lift their eyes to these Illyrian males. Another practice: the clipping of female wings. Now, bear in mind: wings are extremely important to the fey and “wing fetishes” are referenced. So, they are extremely sexual and highly sensitive. And to even touch a female’s wings is considered assault. But despite Rhysand having “ultimate power”, the kind of power that can level mountains, for some reason, he cannot outlaw a barbaric practice of clipping female wings. With what we know about wings physically and sexually in this series, this practice is akin to female genitalia mutilation. Rhysand excuses these barbaric practices and claims he doesn’t have enough power to take on the whole army. But we were shown his power in book two as “ultimate” with the ability to “level mountains”. So, either it’s a lie that he does not have ultimate power or he is simply a misogynist who simply can’t be bothered to protect all the females of his land.
- Female Emotional Abuse: At the heart of true feminism is females empowering other females. But the females in ACOTAR series praise the patriarchal and dominant males and emotionally and verbally abuse any who do not i.e Nesta. Ironically, while Mor was allowed to have self-destructive patterns for 500 years and received no ill treatment for it from the fandom, she outright accuses Nesta of being like her abusers even though Nesta has not abused her and has only been rude and defensive when attacked – aka can we have some compassion for a trauma survivor? A sad fact is that the Inner Circle believes Feyre was worthy of love and support, but not Nesta. This is not female empowerment. This is not feminism.
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Other harmful tropes in SJM writing:
- White supremacy/Racism: BIPOC characters are either hypersexualized or servants living for the white female protagonist or savages – BIPOC men as barbarians. The Illyrians, as shown above, are the violent ones. And these are the Black characters represented while Rhysand is only half-Illyrian. And while Feyre, the white savior protagonist (who is truly anything but a savior), receives wings but is protected by Rhysand so her wings are not clipped by the Illyrian males and instead, she receives training. Not to mention Black Night Court servants serving her. The appropriation of cultures with Feyre having a henna-like tattoo and Asian clothing. If an author also has to block comments that challenge her on her negative portrayals of BIPOC, then it’s a serious problem.
- Poor LGBTQ representation. Though my bisexual journey is very recently recognized, even I know when LGBTQ+ is poorly represented from hypersexualized bisexual stereotypes to the gay who is somehow closeted for 500 years even from her closest friends/family. Or the extremely hypersexualized gay who wants orgies and must ride in on magical unicorns to announce how he is gay as abandon. Other critiques are coming to light on this. This is very harmful to the LGBTQ+ community and not representative of us. Stop fetishizing us. Stop treating us like we are sex-obsessed vs so much of the community in committed monogamous relationships as whatever gender you identify. Stop portraying us as sad and depressed and closeted. We are real. We exist.
In wrapping up this in-depth analysis, and I thank you for your due diligence in reading and assessing. It takes vulnerability and shows character and rationality to critically process vs. simply jumping to defend based on pure emotion or “I like what I like”. We should be able to challenge content in books, open ourselves to other perspectives, especially professional/survivor/queer/bipoc etc. We should not be so swept up in a book world that we must defend it at all costs. Trust me, I’ve been there. I used to be a die-hard Twi-hard. I also used to love Fifty Shades of Grey. Oops!
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I want to reiterate that none of this is meant to be shame-based. Just as adults can read, dissect, and understand Fifty Shades of Grey and still attain some enjoyment, I don’t judge. Do find it healthy and a good example of a healthy couple of equality? No, as many psychologists don’t either. But Fifty Shades is marketed to adults. ACOTAR was originally (and still is on many platforms) marketed to teenagers.
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We can only imagine the impact this series will have on children when they are older. Perhaps we won’t truly know until after it hits the big screens as was the nature of Fifty Shades and Twilight. While I can accept the enjoyment of the series, I cannot condone those who want to glorify and romanticize the couple as some paragon of empowerment and feminism. Nor can I condone the abusive and dangerous tropes, especially not marketed to teenagers, which it still is today despite the fandom denying it was always New Adult. Google: Young adult fantasy. After Shadow and Bone and a few others, ACOTAR pops up.
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And everyone should oppose and combat the homophobic and white supremacism within the series.
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Sadly, Sarah J. Maas knew the industry had moved on from New Adult and when her publisher pitched releasing it as Young Adult vs Adult, she agreed with a condition: only if it included the graphic sexual content. The publisher agreed. And again, all the abuse and degradation is passed over in the name of raging “female sexual pleasure”. SJM’s work do not even read as traditional, popular smut of Harlequinn which I enjoy with a man wooing and romancing a woman, learning her needs and desires, and prioritizing her and learning to respect her. Or commercialized romance series with smut. Perfect example: Diana Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER!
Honestly, I have nothing against alpha holes, especially ones with growth arcs. My favorite author who does this well is Amelia Hutchins with such portrayals as Knox or Ryder. She unashamedly labels them as alpha-holes and her content warnings are incredible to say the least! And the women she writes are just as badass, can verbally spar, and “knock those alpha holes on their arses”. Not to mention how Hutchins is masterful at writing smut!
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No, ACOTAR reads as cheap smut centered around the male gaze and satisfaction, hyperfocused on body parts, airbrushed unrealistic perfection, and big dicks without the big dick energy.
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This is not feminism. This is not equality. There is no growth for alpha holes, only growth for the women in learning to accept those alpha holes without much challenge and finding their power and healing in said alpha holes.
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As a feminist, a #metoo, and bisexual, I am a personal champion of addressing heavy issues like trafficking and sexual violence for teenagers. Laini Taylor highlights these issues in her works and showcases strong female heroines who challenge and fight their abusers.
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Similar to the work I have featured on Kindle Vella. Though mine is much steamier and doesn’t hit on trafficking or sexual violence, though overcoming trauma is always a featured favorite for me.
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So, we are left with questions.
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What do we do when sexual violence is excused or glorified because the abuser is portrayed as sexy and charismatic?
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What is our reaction when males are permitted to be predatory and it’s romanticized?
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What example is set when women protagonists cater to fulfilling their sexual appetites?
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What happens when those women may only carve out agency in a world of male power is by becoming the hypersexualized, aggressive and angry female that ultimately benefits the male in power?
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I do not believe in cancel culture.
I do not believe in censorship.
I do believe the publishers were right in shifting these works to the “adult” section. Am I still enraged that it was popularized for teenagers and that kids as young as 12 are still reading while the works are heavily promoted on Instagram through art where the platform is an untapped reservoir for teenagers with self-esteem/eating disorder issues? Absolutely.
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Do I caution teachers, parents, and librarians that the content is not appropriate for minors and that they should read and educate themselves and the children in their lives accordingly? Absolutely.
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I truly have hope for a better future. I find it in the books by my fellow queer authors, in established traditional works of power-feminist authors like Susan Dennard, Laini Taylor, and Leigh Bardugo. We are at a cultural crossroads. And I hope you will join me in standing up for youth like my past self and empowering the future generation like my daughters through positive, feminist fantasy while leaving books like ACOTAR to sleep on their outdated pedestal.
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Feyre and all the women in ACOTAR deserve better.
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And so do my daughters.