Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Chapter 59 part2 Discussion

It's frustrating to see a female-oriented novels being so misogynistic and this novel is particularly nasty.

The internal harem conflicts the most appealing aspect of this novel. It is interesting to see a realistic portray of the hierarchy in a harem and seeing the balance of power within the harem swaying between the contenders. However, the author ruined it with the deep misogynistic themes. Indeed, the schemes of women are truly heinous and they deserve to be punished for that, but the author seems particularly determined to portray the female characters in the worst way possible by nitpicking in specific aspects of their identity (pretty disappointing when you see some intricate schemes, but it devolves into a slut-shaming fest)

Spoiler

When the ML married Consort Jin, he repeatedly tried to approach her for s*x. He obsessed over the fact that many men pursued her and he was gleeful for being the one to marry her. He treated her as a prize. The ML had called Consort Jin "repulsive" and declared that he would never have s*x with her because she is a lesbian.

The ML called Side Consort Hu "dirty" for using seduction tactic (implicitly pointing to her association with a brothel).
He humiliates them by giving them the cold shoulder which signifies to the entire household that they have fallen out of favor (their status plummets when this happens).

The ML is very petty for punishing the women so severely for these kinds of offenses

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The author is so determined to villainize the women that we see ML contradicting himself in his bouts of condemning the women. The ML calls his wives dirty for trying to have s*x with him, but he himself is guilty of using his authority to pressure the MC to have s*x with him. Spoiler

When the MC kept refusing his advances, he took advantage of her dire situation to make a deal with her. The ML offered to raise the MC's status and give her a huge sum of money.

Offering materialistic benefits for s*x is prostitution yet the author tried to portray this as love because the smut was consensual.

Pretty ironic consider he shamed his wives for trying to get those exact same benefit

Another shady aspect about their relationship is the MC's baby. The author reveals that the ML is the father from the get-go, but from the author's notes, it seems like the author intends to portray it as a romantic coincidence

The MC was intoxicated and was completely unaware of who the father was. This is clearly drug r*pe, yet I get the impression that the author intends to downplay this incident as a romantic coincidence (a coincidence that the man who r*ped her is the love of her life and that it's not r*pe because the rapist is her love interest)

I have not actually reached this point, but that's the feeling I have based on the shady nature of the deal they made.

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Another big downer is how superficial their relationship is, esp considering how it started. I've reach ch 59 which a quarter of the novel and the MC and ML has yet to show any chemistry outside of s*x. Sure, there are moments when he goes out of his way to help her, but when you think about what motivates him to do so, it's pretty depressing.

Spoiler

I kid you not, in the early chapter of this novel, all the ML constantly fantasized about MC's big breasts (yes, he has a breast fetish which becomes more obvious later on in the novel).

For some inexplicable reason, he only likes MC's breast and the bodies of every other women repulses him. (Wtf? Is her breast really that magically more better than everyone else's?)

Every time the ML visited the MC, it was always to have s*x. He never care to make casual chats. (Tbh, the MC's personality is too boring for them to have any interesting conversations and the two have yet to show any common interests outside of sex)

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