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Don't get me wrong, Rusty Hearts can be good at writing. It's just that sometimes she forgets that too.
I want to focus on the two big mothers in the comic so far: Shez's mother, Meriam, and Jaden's mother, Josephine. There are several key differences in not only the way they are portrayed, but also in how they're perceived and intended to be perceived, especially the surprising deficit of sympathy the narrative gives Josie while Meriam is awarded "mother of the year" by everyone.
TLDR: Josie is allowed to be human. Meriam is a saint.
Josie is called out on her shortcomings as a mother, from parentifiying Jaden to favouring her younger brother, Jacob. Josie is allowed to argue, fight, and act unfavourably towards her daughter, and the narrative rightfully shows Jaden and Josie's relationship as strained.
That can't be said the same for Shez and Meriam.
Rusty Hearts has Meriam's trauma be "higher" "more painful" than Josephine. Because Meriam is an abuse survivor, she can do no wrong and isn't a bad mother when she does the EXACT SAME THINGS Josie is criticised for!
But because Josephine's suffering is supposedly lesser, she's open to criticism and being called a "flawed mother". But not Meriam. Meriam is the greatest mom of all time.
Let's compare:
- Josephine favours Jacob over Jaden. That's a parenting Flaw.
- Meriam favours Shez over all her other children. That's correct. Shez deserves to be favoured.
You could argue that Jacob never put himself in the line of fire between an abuser and his mother, and that's why it's unfair of Josie to favor him. And I'm not disagreeing with that. Shez did a lot for her family, and deserves to have recognition for her sacrifices. The problem is that how Meriam does it...sucks.
Meriam is willing to shut her third-youngest daughter out, comparing her to Shez. The rest of her daughters can walk out, as long as Shez is alright. This is an example of "hurt people hurt others", and how Meriam is slowly propping up Shez as this beacon of protection, one all her daughters should look up to. That's objectification: Shez is losing her identity as a human to be the great saviour of Meriam.
Interestingly, Josie's pedestal on Jacob is an interesting foil to this dynamic. Jacob is, like Shez, a sort of reminder of the trauma suffered by her. Jacob was born on the day Jacobus, Josie's husband, died. Jacob is said to look like Jacobus.
Josie simply favours Jacob on principle. Not only is she a boy mom, but he's the ghost of he husband she lost early. His face bears the similarities of the love of her life. that's fucked up, dawg.
And I'm not denying it's fucked up! It is! Very much so!
....so why doesn't she get any sympathy for it?
There's sympathy for Meriam being hurt, and as a result pedestaling Shez, but there's no sympathy for Josie being hurt, and therefore using Jacob as a way to reflect that grief by showering him in love.
...why?
Either way, their siblings get hurt. Rocky sees her family fall apart as Rissa walks out and Tina loses one of her sisters on a past she was too young to remember. Jaden gets more labour, emotional and physical, because her mother can't let go of her dead father.
But there's no sympathy for Josie.
And here's my theory as to why.
Rusty's view on straight relationships is, to put it lightly, very flawed. She sees men as horny, violent, aggressive villains that women should stay far from, and in several cases that's true and shouldn't be ignored.
That's why no women who knowingly and willingly has a healthy relationship with a normal-ass man who knows women are humans (who do exist, surprisingly, my dad is one) will be portrayed as "good women". They're "flawed", they're criticised, they are bad to Rusty, they need to be saved, which is PRIME VICTIM BLAMING, RUSTY. THATS NOT SOMETHING A FEMINIST DOES.
Rusty does a lot of things that feminists don't do. One of them is transphobia. The other one is prioritising victims, the way she does it.
Again, a comparison:
- Jaden is parentified by Josie because Josie has no resources outside of her mother to take care of their house after her husband DIES.
- Shez is parentified by Meriam because she's the eldest daughter, and of course the mother is too weak to escape her abuse without the help of her CHILD.
But Meriam isn't allowed to just be a hurt person with depth, she's the great mother who was hurt by men. She's Rusty's ultimate radfem victim. There's no depth to her abuse- it's just something she should have expected, partnering with a man, but she's a great mom for teaching Shez to never, EVER, associate with men. It's Rissa's fault for being straight. Tina is being brainwashed. Meriam is the greatest mother, and anyone who disagrees is in favour of domestic abuse.
Josie is a flawed mother. She made the mistake of partnering with a man rather than fulfilling her education, and then said man...died. What a horrible father. Dying.
Josie is wrong to compare Jaden and Jacob, even when Meriam does it. Josie is wrong to parentify Jaden, even when Meriam does it. Josie is wrong to scream at Jaden, Josie is wrong to still love her husband, Josie is....human.
And that's the true tragedy of Meriam, in my opinion. She's not allowed to just...be hurt. Make bad desicions. She's the fantasy of saving an abused mother, and that makes her this...victim, completely stripped of anything than her victimhood and her role as "mother".
Josephine, Jaden, and all the Andersons are Rusty's best characters, but she can't imagine, at all, an actually good story that doesn't perpetuate her politics. It's all wasted potential on a writer who can't even write, and surrounds herself with an echo chamber of her own yes-men and dickriders, never taking criticism for an option.
So yeah. That's it. That's all.
There is no sympathy for Josephine Anderson, according to Rusty Hearts.
No sympathy.