An illustration inspired by wirrow's post on tumblr (not sure how it connects though, i just had this random brain bubble :|) and hearing Neil Gaiman's discourse about Sandman, American Gods and all his wonderful ideas about dreams on WITS. feel free to do anything with it :D

A young girl, her body still tender from childhood, yet her on her chest are the soft swells of her small, growing breasts, her hips starting to widen, her body curving, all roundness and softness, and hair sprouting abover her sex and under her arms. Her red cloak, the color of blood, symbolizes menstruation, and upon putting it on she embraces womanhood, accepts the blood smeared on her inner thighs as part of her life from now on.

As she sets off down the road to her grandmother's house she also sets off into the road of life. She was given instructions to stay on the path that leads specifically to her grandmother's house, made and followed by generations before. These aren't just instructions, these are conventions, one that she must follow to be a functional and productive part of society. As a woman she must follow the approved decorum of a woman, she must never stray from the path, deviate from what she is supposed to be. 

But on the way she meets the wolf and its feral nature is alluring and exotic. But it isn't the danger she must stay away from. It is a danger, or a danger like her elders and her society says. But it is her sexuality and in engaging in a conversation with it, she starts to embrace it. She gradually becomes a sexual creature, as strong and independent, and certainly as uncontrallable, as the wolf. 

The woodsman, her saviour from the big, bad wolf, is the patriarchal society that Red lives in. He is the convention, the lawmaker, the  big man in charge of what things should be. By saving Red, he prevents her from embracing her sexuality and he convinces her that the wolf is bad for her, that being sexual creature isn't something she should be. The wolf dies an undignified death, all guts and offal exposed and it's blood spilt on the ground.

But that's in the old tale. REd knows she cannot always follow convention, that she doesn't need any saving and the wolf doesn't really pose as a danger. But the wolf will try to consume her, as it is in its nature. So Red will take matters into its own hands and tame it, be the master of her own sexuality.

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I love all the little red riding hood reimaginations here on hitrecord and I just wanted to play upon it with something my university English professor (who was very brilliant) discussed in class. We were reading "The Politically Correct Little Red Riding Hood" ( i may have the title wrong but these were very amusing and makes you really think about what the old tale missed and got wrong)  and he got into this really long discussion about feminism and the symbols in the story, which really got me interested in feminism in the first place.