Excellent explanation of spanking scene. This scene did not bother me when I read it or saw it in the film for a number of reasons: 1. The structure of the culture in all of Europe, not just Scotland, considered women property (arranged marriages, unwed daughters sent to convents, etc) 2. Claire does not listen to…

I'm just going to throw this out there because I don't think it's been mentioned. If you read the comic version of Outlander (I don't recommend it...not at all) that's from Jamie's perspective, the author includes a scene that's not in the original book. Basically what I remember is Dougal threatening to beat Claire…

Yes! This is exactly what I was thinking. Sure, it pisses me off to see an otherwise sympathetic protagonist hurt and humiliate his wife, but you can't expect a man from the 1700s to magically know otherwise. The beauty of this book/series is that he figures it out, despite all culture and history saying the…

I think the closest we have to 18th century Scottish Highland today is among the Pashtun tribes of Afghanistan and Pakistan. And Westerners run into a lot of trouble when they try to interpret this culture through our own lens.

THANK YOU. I am seeing all these 21st century pearl-clutching responses, and I don't understand how anyone could read the books/watch the show and not stick their heads into the appropriate time period.

Absolutely. As someone who goes into blackout rage everytime I hear phrases like, "...for a girl" or "girls can't...", this is exactly what I came away with reading the book. It took a while for me to get there until I realized that I needed to stop looking at it from my 21st century "that's not what you're supposed…

I replied on another blog about this, but I have been having more thoughts and want to expand further.

Okay can I get some feedback on something that kind of bothered me? First off, I read the books and knew this was coming and was curious to see both how they'd handle it and also the response it would get. That said, here's what irked me: during the fight of all fights in the glen, Claire hit Jaime twice and kept…