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Cinderella vs Ableism: the trials a hypothetical Princess Sara
So there was the question on the other site about whether August and Sara would actually be allowed to date Sara if he were in line for the throne, and what kinds of barriers they could potentially face as a couple. I’ve actually had a lot of thoughts about this (as it happens: no one is shocked) and here might be as good a place as any to write them down.
I’m going to start by sharing some thoughts I had for a fic I will likely never have time to co-write. I’ll put them behind a cut since the fic thoughts themselves aren’t strictly necessarily, but they are illustrative of some of what I’ll talk about afterward.
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The short version of what I wrote behind the cut: On the surface, Sara might seem like she’s advancing her social class the “approved” way, by dating/marrying someone of a higher social class and adopting the manners and mores. As time goes on, however, she would likely face increasing amounts of ableism. In her case, this would especially manifest in people questioning whether she is “fit” for royal duties or to be the mother of royal children. While this may not often take the form of over hostility, it could take the form of lots of soft power and microaggressions that wear her down and make her life hell.
In terms of Sara playing the role of queen or princess, she would be doing a demanding, public-facing job takes up a lot of time and mental energy. For an autistic person, this is going to involve a lot of masking, and too much masking leads to chronic stress, burnout, health complications, and trauma. If Sara shows more of her autistic traits during an event or ceremony, she’s likely to be criticized for it by the press or by people who surround her. These critics might not understand that they are responding Sara’s autistic traits. It might just be as simple as them saying “she’s so cold and unfriendly—she never made eye contact with me once” or “I don’t know if she really needed to tell us that much about her horses at a state dinner” when Sara is infodumping. Regardless of the intention, these statements are still ableism, and they’ll likely have an impact on Sara’s interactions with people. We also see examples of canon where people laugh at or find something “off” about Sara when she follows the rules too strictly, so I can imagine a lot of that.
I’m going to talk about motherhood next, which involves talk about eugenics and its impact on disabled people. I’ll put this behind a cut.
( Read more... )
Ultimately neither Simon nor Sara are going to be understood as ideal partners for a monarch-to-be. Both of them will be impacted as working class children of an immigrant mother and abusive father who struggles with addiction. At the same time, Simon is impacted by homophobia while Sara is impacted by ableism, and those two prejudices operate differently. People lash out at Simon because he doesn’t fit in, and because he tries to advance the “wrong” way. Because he and Wilhelm are both men, they visibly call attention to the way they disrupt of a system of inheritance. Sara, however, provokes people’s anxiety and ableist disgust because at first she could seem to blend in, but would also be seen as a little bit “off.” Members of the palace, and most of Sweden, never fully trust her because they’d always see her as unempathetic, or socially inept, or childish, or other things that autistic people are often perceived as, and they’d tear her down in the process. Moreover, the notion that she could say, marry into the royal family, give birth to the heir to the throne, and potentially that child would be autistic… people would be awful about that. And I’m just gonna point loudly at Autism Speaks and the anti-vax movement regarding the why and how.
This is not meant to show ableism is worse than homophobia or vice versa. I only wanted to point out that Sara and Simon both have prejudices they’re dealing with, and this is why it’s interesting to look at the siblings’ stories side by side. I kind of wonder to what extent these subtexts will be teased out in season 3, and what we’ll have to figure out for ourselves as a fandom.
I’m going to start by sharing some thoughts I had for a fic I will likely never have time to co-write. I’ll put them behind a cut since the fic thoughts themselves aren’t strictly necessarily, but they are illustrative of some of what I’ll talk about afterward.
( Read more... )
The short version of what I wrote behind the cut: On the surface, Sara might seem like she’s advancing her social class the “approved” way, by dating/marrying someone of a higher social class and adopting the manners and mores. As time goes on, however, she would likely face increasing amounts of ableism. In her case, this would especially manifest in people questioning whether she is “fit” for royal duties or to be the mother of royal children. While this may not often take the form of over hostility, it could take the form of lots of soft power and microaggressions that wear her down and make her life hell.
In terms of Sara playing the role of queen or princess, she would be doing a demanding, public-facing job takes up a lot of time and mental energy. For an autistic person, this is going to involve a lot of masking, and too much masking leads to chronic stress, burnout, health complications, and trauma. If Sara shows more of her autistic traits during an event or ceremony, she’s likely to be criticized for it by the press or by people who surround her. These critics might not understand that they are responding Sara’s autistic traits. It might just be as simple as them saying “she’s so cold and unfriendly—she never made eye contact with me once” or “I don’t know if she really needed to tell us that much about her horses at a state dinner” when Sara is infodumping. Regardless of the intention, these statements are still ableism, and they’ll likely have an impact on Sara’s interactions with people. We also see examples of canon where people laugh at or find something “off” about Sara when she follows the rules too strictly, so I can imagine a lot of that.
I’m going to talk about motherhood next, which involves talk about eugenics and its impact on disabled people. I’ll put this behind a cut.
( Read more... )
Ultimately neither Simon nor Sara are going to be understood as ideal partners for a monarch-to-be. Both of them will be impacted as working class children of an immigrant mother and abusive father who struggles with addiction. At the same time, Simon is impacted by homophobia while Sara is impacted by ableism, and those two prejudices operate differently. People lash out at Simon because he doesn’t fit in, and because he tries to advance the “wrong” way. Because he and Wilhelm are both men, they visibly call attention to the way they disrupt of a system of inheritance. Sara, however, provokes people’s anxiety and ableist disgust because at first she could seem to blend in, but would also be seen as a little bit “off.” Members of the palace, and most of Sweden, never fully trust her because they’d always see her as unempathetic, or socially inept, or childish, or other things that autistic people are often perceived as, and they’d tear her down in the process. Moreover, the notion that she could say, marry into the royal family, give birth to the heir to the throne, and potentially that child would be autistic… people would be awful about that. And I’m just gonna point loudly at Autism Speaks and the anti-vax movement regarding the why and how.
This is not meant to show ableism is worse than homophobia or vice versa. I only wanted to point out that Sara and Simon both have prejudices they’re dealing with, and this is why it’s interesting to look at the siblings’ stories side by side. I kind of wonder to what extent these subtexts will be teased out in season 3, and what we’ll have to figure out for ourselves as a fandom.