Edythe Cullen or something idk I didn't read Life and Death
At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edythe Cullen was out of her seat. She moved like a dancer, every perfect line of her slim body in harmony with all the others, her back to me, and she was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.
I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after her. She was so harsh. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying to block out the confusion and guilt that filled me. Why should I feel guilty? I hadn’t done anything wrong. How could I have? I hadn’t actually even met her.
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At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose - he was much taller than I'd thought - his back to me, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.
I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying to block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency.
This is so bonkers guys. Neutral phrases in black, unchanged phrases crossed out, gendered phrases in pink (womanly) and blue (manly). She spells out exactly what actions in her characters she chalks up to gender. Smeyer really said "delete the part about crying, ew, this story is about a boy." Also Edward is mean and unfair, which victimizes Bella. Edythe is described as harsh, which plays on the catty female narrative we saw in the demonization of Jessica in the original version.
The only true way to make a point about gender flexibility would have been changing ONLY names and pronouns. Instead, she played herself!!! She highlighted EXACTLY how tied up with stereotypical femininity Bella's actions are in smeyer's brain. And don't even argue it was changed to keep it fresh. Telling boys to be less emotional and cry less is the oldest (dangerous, scummy, toxic) trick in the book. Also, hot girl = slim, hot boy = tall.
Nowhere else in the history of popular fiction have we had a PUBLISHED RECORD OF GENDER BIAS. I will nerd out over this exploration of Smeyer's psychological bias until the day I die. How did she not see this from a mile away????