In Netflix's new show, The Witcher, the story is fantasy fiction and focuses on a lone monster hunter and a princess, who find their destinies to be crossed. The season focuses on world-building and how these two distinct characters, as well as many other sub-characters, mature in this environment.
As a guest podcaster on The Daily Wire, crime novelist Andrew Klavan visited and decided to comment on The Witcher after having given it a view. His comments, however, were extremely misogynist, anti-progressive and just historically wrong.
Klavan jumped right into his critique, giving away his position:
"Immediately I was put off by the fact that there's a queen in this who fights like a man. There's a couple of scenes where women fight with swords."
"And I just hate these scenes, because no women can fight with swords. Zero women can fight with a sword."
Klavan then felt the need to elaborate on what he meant:
"What I mean by that is in a situation where you are fighting men who are used to fighting with swords, you are going to get killed if you are a woman fighting with a sword 100 percent of the time."
"A woman with a sword could kill somebody who doesn't know how to fight with a sword. But in a war situation, where you are swinging this five to ten pound sword again and again and again, against much, much, much stronger men, they are going to kill you."
Klavan then suggested a more realistic take on the fantasy fictional show, since monster-slaying appears to be more realistic than a woman handling a sword.
Klavan suggested:
"They should have made the character a man. She's a man."
"She's gross. She swaggers around and she rips into the meat and tears it with her teeth and curses people."
"It was a feminist statement and I was like 'please, give me a break.' I don't know if that is in the book but this is not the way that any woman behaves."
You can watch his full critique here:
Daily Wire host reviews 'The Witcher': "No woman can fight with a sword. Zero women can fight with a sword" https://t.co/RJuUoujkAG— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1578014228.0
Twitter, of course, felt the need to respond.
They gave Klavan a little history lesson in sword-fighting and common fantasy fiction elements.
@JasonSCampbell Um what— The Guillotine Shouter (@The Guillotine Shouter) 1578146660.0
Some started off easy on Klavan, pointing out his inaccurate portrayal of the weapon women apparently can't wield effectively.
@_Milo_De_Venus_ @JasonSCampbell Seriously. A zweihander, one of the heaviest swords ever used in warfare, was only about 5-7 pounds.— Crustaceans🦀 (@Crustaceans🦀) 1578106355.0
Or, ya know, Joan of Arc.
Also, while we're talking about wielding, there were multiple comments about how the making of swords is specifically meant for easier handling.
And never mind the popular female figures who viewed swords as their weapons of choice.
@JasonSCampbell Counterpoint: Julie d'Aubigny, the bisexuals cross dressing opera star and swordsman who famously a… https://t.co/ZWX18Q62HP— Kim Cavill (@Kim Cavill) 1578015539.0
@JasonSCampbell so glad this guy is speaking the truth, i.e., that in a sword fight Ben Shapiro would win against S… https://t.co/6OWLt4099h— Max Kennerly (@Max Kennerly) 1578107148.0
@MikeLamentino @JasonSCampbell There's actually quite a few examples of real life women swordfighters, it all depen… https://t.co/7p4eIowph4— I am Jack's itchy taint (@I am Jack's itchy taint) 1578016039.0
Also, apparently women being proper sword fighters is much less predictable than monsters and monster-slaying.
@JasonSCampbell Guys like this are the ones who need to be ridiculed as snowflakes. He can watch a show with magic,… https://t.co/JBrhbfbTRi— DarkMatter2525 (@DarkMatter2525) 1578126931.0
@JasonSCampbell Every time a woman does anything on screen other than play a one dimensional, passive love interest… https://t.co/g9h1sS0Zaa— Claudia B (@Claudia B) 1578076711.0
Clearly, before Klavan comes forward with another film or TV critique, he should be careful to double-check his historical, and patriarchal, facts before speaking out about the "issues" he's seeing.
He may also, where applicable, want to give the books a gander, too.
You can get The Witcher Boxed Set: Blood of Elves, The Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire to check out the accuracy of Klavan's rant here.
Episode 3 of the show's third season saw the Fab Five hit up Kansas City, Missouri, where they became acquainted with sisters Deborah and Mary Jones, the owners of Jones Bar-B-Q. The restaurant has a signature barbecue sauce, and the main storyline of their episode followed their efforts to get their barbecue sauce bottled so it could be sold.
The sisters had trouble doing this themselves, so Antoni and Karamo took them to Original Juans––now Spicin' Foods, after having been sold––where they were able to finally bottle their signature sauce.
Refinery29 reached out to Spicin' Foods via email and received the following response:
"Our Product Development Manager, Tommy Carter, helped create a match to their secret ingredient just in time for filming. We're proud to have been able to partner with the Jones sisters and help them develop their recipe and get their sauce bottled. Also, the sauce is delicious! The secret ingredient gives it a rich and unique flavor."
The partnership was a big success: The Jones sisters sold 11,000 bottles of their signature Sweet & Tangy sauce the weekend that their episode aired.
As they wrote on Instagram:
Let's talk about the sauce. As of yesterday morning, we sold 11,000 bottles. We averaged 1.7 bottles per minute this weekend. We are feeling so much love and support from all of you.
THANK YOU to everyone who ordered a bottle. Your support means so much to us! Now, we're asking for your support in the form of patience. Please allow 7-10 days for your sauce to arrive.
To all our friends from around the world asking for our sauce, we hear you! It is one of our goals to start shipping internationally soon. Keep an eye on our page for updates.
Patience, everyone. Making and bottling this stuff sure is a lot of work:
And just look at how thrilled they are!
Fans are, simply put, over the moon for these two.
Want to order some barbecue sauce of your own? It's available for purchase on the official Jones Bar-B-Q website.
We're making a note to get some sauce ourselves!
You can also check out the recipes in this book for some inspiration for innovative ways and foods to barbecue. It's the first day of spring, folks. That means barbecue season is coming soon. Polish up those grills.
Netflix describes the upcoming special on its show page:
"Amy Schumer spills on her new marriage, personal growth, making a baby and her mom's misguided advice in a special that's both raunchy and sincere."
Given the subject of the special, Schumer decided to share a promo poster to Instagram and Twitter on International Women's Day.
The poster draws definite inspiration from the "We Can Do It" World War II poster of Rosie the Riveter by J Howard Miller, and portrays pregnancy as empowering.
Schumer has been quite open about her pregnancy, and her exposed baby bump in the promo reinforces this idea that pregnancy isn't something shameful that needs to be hidden.
Quite a few people loved the poster, and the encouraging message that all bodies are beautiful.
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detroitwhooty/Instagram
@amyschumer Amy, you big, tall, brilliant, funny, beautiful, gorgeous, sexy, leggy blonde bombshell, I LOVE ❤️ YOU!… https://t.co/yu6oRUUNyt— Hartley Pleshaw (@Hartley Pleshaw) 1552062713.0
@amyschumer You are gorgeous Amy. I cant wait to see your show soon— Jose Estrada (@Jose Estrada) 1552076405.0
@amyschumer Beautiful!!!!!!— Finney (@Finney) 1552079929.0
@amyschumer love this photo!— chelle (@chelle) 1552057256.0
One woman shared similar pregnancy photos.
@amyschumer #Twinning! This was me posing for my mothers artwork last year when I was pregnant. https://t.co/24QE6MOwWj— Michaela Lamy (@Michaela Lamy) 1552057847.0
Others were excited to watch the new special.
@amyschumer Omg this is awesome! 😍 and I can’t wait to watch!— Jennifer Correa (@Jennifer Correa) 1552057768.0
@amyschumer Can. Not. Wait!— Alison (@Alison) 1552060105.0
@amyschumer Yessssss Give me birthday gifts of laughter!!!— salima kamau (@salima kamau) 1552065621.0
@amyschumer I'm so excited!!! Love @amyschumer :3— Radeon9 (@Radeon9) 1552068542.0
@amyschumer Just watched @IFeelPretty very funny and sad, i shed a tear or 2...thoroughly enjoyed it 😍💕— Sisi (@Sisi) 1552087894.0
Some were also looking forward to Amy's future endeavors.
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Schumer's special will be available to watch on Netflix starting March 19th.
