14 Comments
Oct 9Liked by Vicky Randle

Oh wow I remember that gay son thot daughter thing from twitter years back, I had no clue and hadn’t linked it to thought daughter so thanks for doing the work, so interesting.

I’m also interested to see how you present the eldest daughter trope too - I’ve seen it in talked about in diasporan communities(my communities) as the daughter who is expected to take on a parental role in a family!

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I found it interesting too! Yes...the eldest daughter trope is taking some unpicking...it's a complex one!

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Oct 7Liked by Vicky Randle

Thank you for researching and writing about this so clearly! I've been seeing the term these few days and didn't know what it meant.

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I am so glad it was useful and you are most welcome. Next..."eldest daughter": I am literally one of those – but am I actually one of those?!

(Disappears into another research worm hole)

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It was! I look forward to your next deep dive. :)

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Oct 7Liked by Vicky Randle

super cool, I have to re-read this, I "thought" of Natalie Merchant right away

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Thanks so much – glad you enjoyed!

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Having recently realized that I seem to be in some sort of personal evolutionary period, in reading this piece I seem to fit most of your criteria for being a thought daughter. I appreciate having some frame of reference for what I have been experiencing. Since I don’t do “standard” social media (too much of a black hole for this elderly, mentally ill brain), I had not heard the term before. Thanks for the education.

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"Thought daughter" is an idea that needs more currency.

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I learned something. I didn't know about that term "Thought daughters".

When I saw it first in the title of this post, I thought it had some kinship with "musical lineage".

The idea of a genealogy of one's thoughts sounds quite cool, although it would be incredibly hard, if not impossible, to figure out.

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Oct 9·edited Oct 9Liked by Vicky Randle

This gave me an idea to write a note, some day, with the title "A Thot Experiment"

Not sure what it's going to be about, but such a title absolutely requires a substack note.

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I'm so glad - I'll look out for it!

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Mahalo for your thoughtful piece! What a great way for women to take such a mysogynistic insult and turn it around into an empowering concept

Three of my favorite Thought Girls are Lindsay Ellis, Tansy Gardam, and Mina Kimes

Lindsay Ellis has made many deep dive videos on her YouTube channel and for PBS, my favorite of which is about how mysogynistic the ending for Game of Thrones was, and explained it in a way that could understand, never having watched the show

Tansy Gardam has made an insightful podcast series, "Going Rogue, " looking at the behind the scenes difficulties for Hollywood productions such as "Rogue One," "Quantum of Solace," and "Robin Hood." And she focuses in on the relationship between chaotic and dysfunctional production processes and the films as final artistic works

Finally, Mina Kimes at ESPN is one of the best NFL analysts today. She brings keen analysis of all three phases of football that wipes the floor with the overwhelming majority of dude bro blow hards. Where they use swagger and an in yoyr attitude, she uses her brains to bring the some of the deepest football thoughts I've heard in a long time

Sorry for such a long response, but your piece gave me a lot of food for thought! And my three thought girls to highlight are definitely not exhaustive!

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And many thanks for your thoughtful response! I will definitely be checking all of these people and stories out – thank you ever so much!

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