abortion law in Poland was already the strictest in Europe, abortion was allowed in only 3 cases:
if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest
if the mother's health was at risk
in case of foetal defects.
another problem is that there is something called "conscience clause" among Polish doctors which means that they can deny a patient certain treatment if it's against their conscience or beliefs (yes, it mostly applies to conservative, catholic doctors). some doctors went as far as not telling women about foetal defects until it was too late to terminate pregnancy. what's more, abortion in case of rape happens very rarely, since it's difficult to prove rape in the eyes of Polish law.
in 2019, only 1100 legal abortions took place in Poland, a country populated by 38 milion people. 98% of these abortions happened because of foetal defects.
Polish women will be forced to give birth to children with basically no chance to live. they will be tortured physically and mentally. rich women will be able to visit neighbouring countries to have abortion there but there are plenty of women who will have unsafe, illegal abortions, endangering their lives.
there are protests happening all over the country. not for the first time though, we've been protesting abortion ban for few years now. there's a sense of solidarity among us but the truth is, we're afraid.
The title of this post is clickbait. I, unfortunately, have not read every book ever. Not all of these books are particularly “dark” either. However, these are my recommendations for your dark academia fix. The quality of each of these books varies. I have limited this list to books that are directly linked to the world of academia and/or which have a vaguely academic setting.
Dark Academia staples:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum
Vita Nostra by Maryna Dyachenko
Dark academia litfic or contemporary:
Bunny by Mona Awad
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
White Ivy by Susie Yang
The Cloisters by Katy Hays
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates
Attribution by Linda Moore
Dark academia thrillers or horror:
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
Dark academia fantasy/sci-fi:
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Betrayals by Bridget Collins
Dark academia romance:
Gothikana by RuNyx
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
Dark academia YA or MG:
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Crave by Tracy Wolff
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Dark academia miscellaneous:
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip
It’s 2:00am and I have finally finished the shawl that I have been working on to wear to Easter breakfast. Which is at 10:00am.
the pen testing pads at art stores are the only worthwhile social media platform
i grew up watching angsty FMA AMVs on youtube and that’s why i’m Like This.
Song: “Take My Breath Away” by Mayday Parade
⭐️Just hug it out⭐️
concept: spotify wrapped but for fanfics
HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT whats your favorite place to find drawing references?
there’s like, half an hour before doffy’s birthday ends for me so there is no way in HELL i’m not gonna post my SHITTY ART.
honestly i only colored the three most important parts of his look because i’m a lazy ass not because there’s any meaning behind it
Good job, you beat me! Goodbye, Edward Elric!
What if there was an op au that was like the millennial/genz answer to fucking Fight Club
May I present:
Dissociative identity disorder Law, but instead of being a toxic 90s action movie trope hes just this gay depressed millennial with some shitty early trauma, no will to exist in our dystopic modern society, and an antiestablishment streak a mile wide
So, one of us
His alters aren't some crazed antihero things, but protective personalities that (soemtimes ineptly) try to keep him safe from harm and stress
So, his crew
Penguin is the main alter, an efficient yet chill goofball who takes over whenever law cant deal with mundane stresses like going to the bank.
Look, hes a millennial, the bank is a fucking ordeal.
Shachi is a peppy, social sweetheart who takes over when law is forced into social situations, especially groups. Shachi and penguin together take care of most stresses Law faces in the world
Law can deal with most things, he's getting better. but there'll be seemingly random things like a siren or a screech of laughter and he'll just find himself phasing out, til hes gone, and penguin will find himself standing on the street with no real clue how they got there or what they're supposed to be doing. But he rolls with it! Penguins good at figuring things out and getting them home. Law leaves notes for him and shachi on their phone so they know what's up that day if something should happen. They record clips for each other on the phone too, to discuss things. They regard each other like roommates, even brothers.
There's the bepo alter, who comes out only in private, and carries the burden of Law's need for comfort. He's emotional, hesitant and extremely vulnerable. He's also one of the only ones law can let out or stifle on purpose.
Law tries to let bepo out now and then, because he feels bad that he's always stuck in the deep dark of laws head. Law will bring home a fluffy blanket and a pumkpin spice latte and let bepo take over for a couple hours, so he can experience some good things.
Then there are the Doffy and Cora alters
These aren't quite... as helpful as the crew alters, but they're not actually antagonistic. They're part of Law's development and they're older than the crew. They're also the only ones that can 'co-pilot' with law and share thoughts with him, though never at the same time.
Law can't control them.
They come out in response to more extreme stresses, and can sometimes take over and push law to the passenger seat. They are usually at odds with each other and sometimes fight to come out if they don't like what the other is doing.
Doffy is simple. He emerged from law's early experiences of extreme cruelty, and that's what he's good at facing. Any hint of toxic treatment from others and Doffy will suddenly be in Law's ear, analyzing the threat and suggesting horrific ways to eliminate it. He also tends to emerge in moments of extreme frustration or pain. He wants things to be simple for law -- he wants them to do the things that will get them ahead, and to not care about the human consequences
Law never lets Doffy take over because law is not a fucking idiot.
Law has a complicated relationship with cora.
Cora is an expression of love and altruism who emerged from witnessing others' pain. He's actually kinda violent himself, but just because he's so protective. He cant stand seeing others hurting, especially the weak, and will come out when Law is faced with injustice or grief.
Law feels complicated about him because this empathy and self sacrifice thing is seriously nothing but trouble. Every time. Law wants to do things Cora's way, he really does, but it's never good. You get involved in stuff you dont wanna.
Cora has a bad habit of taking over if Law is being resistant, and making him stop the bullies, punch the cop, or worse, offer a shoulder to someone in need.
Which is great, except that these things usually lead to Law being faced with violence or second hand trauma in turn, which then leads to... doffy coming out.
The fic is about Law navigating daily life with all this happening in his head. But the tension doesn't come from like, "will doffy win and make law do all kinds of crazy stuff" because all of the alters, doff included, are just there to keep law safe.
The tension of the story is about Law navigating the shitty everyday of late capitalism, and learning how to be vulnerable safely, and finding balance between his fight or also fight coping mechanisms, and maybe finding love...
I mean, definitely finding love.
And since this is a fight club au, at the end of the fic he definitely still blows up some credit card company together with his lover and they hold hands