dipenates

Title: The Truth About Her Life (Flickering Firebrand Remix)
Fandom: West Wing
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3500
Characters: CJ Cregg, Toby Ziegler, Andrea Wyatt, Sam Seaborn, Josh Lyman, OFC
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Source material: Based on The Truth About Her Life by andchimeras. 
Summary: Six Qumari women are in need of an intervention. CJ knows that she has compromised, but she has only bent and never broken.
Warning: Deals with the subject of violence against women. Contains passing non-explicit references to sexual assault and a passing, more explicit reference to female genital mutilation (FGM).
Author's note: Written for remix_redux. In episode 3.8 "Women of Qumar", the viewer is left in no doubt that CJ has moderately feminist sensibilities when it comes to violence against women. The original text by andchimeras does a beautiful job of telling a story of CJ's early political engagement, contrasted against the immigration struggles of a group of Qumari women. (For those who don't know, this is a fictional West Wing state, presumably so the show could highlight the shocking human rights abuses thereof, without causing an international incident.) I kept the basic structure, and delved a little more into the idea of CJ's awakening as a feminist, which is then compromised by things within her control, and things outwith it. Fact fans may wish to know that I titled this remix after the article on Catherine Mackinnon, and not the book by Christopher Hitchins.