#sexist writing

[marveltaughtmetoread]

One of the things that is just wild to me is the intersection between sexism and homophobia in so many action stories

Like the sexism results in none, or basically none of the female characters being interesting or anything but card board cut outs, these female characters have basically no effect on the story, and as love interests they're frequently the end goal, so MC is always striving to be with them but never gets to be until the end, so what you get is a couple that spends no time together, where one half is the most bland half baked character you could ask for but we are somehow supposed to still be routing for them

In contrast, the male characters are constantly surrounding each other, lifting each other, supportive or at least always there whether that be antagonistic or not, recognising and treating each other as equals because the sexism means that only male characters are valid, yet cause of homophobia they're never gonna let two male characters end up together

And with this cocktail of bland and uninteresting straight love, and intense and passionate male "friendship" people dare to be shocked that the ships are gay

My guy you wrote the sexism, you made the female characters trash and the males ones amazing, you are the reason we don't care for the straight ship, yet you come out and say that the gay ship is wrong

Wild

#the sexism is really propping up the male romance and the homophobia is really nerfing it #this has literally nothing to do eith anything I have reblogged today and everything to do with the comic I read today #the female characters are actually interesting but it ain't the female characters that take up most of the page #it's the males #look me in the eyes and tell me the mc wouldn't be great with his best friend and ally #or the guy who has a complicated relationship with being his ally #over the female character he has spoken to three times #the female character who is just out for revenge and hemostly works with via proxies #and the female character who just doesn't care about him #like seriously how do they write such strong male romance and then decide that no the not fully fleshed out straight romance is the way #sexism #sexist writing #homophobia #homophobic writing #the irony of it all #bad writing #writing #stories #comics #action comics

[theotterpenguin]

there’s a post floating around here claiming that sokka is the only person keeping the atla kids alive and it very much reminded me of how the labor that women perform is often undervalued and overlooked. (and this post is not meant to be targeted towards op at all, but rather is speaking towards a general trend that i’ve noticed in the atla fandom)

i recently rewatched atla and it’s surprised me that the fandom interpretation is that only sokka is worried about the group’s lack of food/money, particularly in book 1, because katara worries over the exact same things and is usually the one backing up sokka. in “the warriors of kyoshi,” sokka reminds aang that they need to make it to the northern water tribe soon and stop making pitstops, and katara agrees with him. when they stop at kyoshi island, katara reminds aang multiple times that it’s risky to stay in one place for too long. in “the waterbending scroll,” sokka worries over how little money they have left after aang wastes money on a bison whistle, so katara takes charge of keeping track of the money instead, and she also reminds aang that they need to practice waterbending, not focus on having fun. in “the storm,” katara realizes they’re out of food and says they need to go to the market, then sokka gets a job so they’ll have more money for food. in “the king of omashu” and “the deserter,” sokka worries that aang will be discovered, and katara agrees so she suggests that they wear disguises. in “the cave of two lovers,” sokka says they need to focus on getting to omashu without getting sidetracked, and katara agrees. in “avatar day,” sokka and katara buy food/supplies together while aang waits for them. 

despite sokka being seen as the pragmatic sibling, both katara and sokka are pretty united in their practicality and trying to keep their mission on track. katara only makes exceptions on a couple occasions when she values standing up against injustice even more than sticking to the plan, such as freeing the imprisoned earthbenders or helping the fire nation village as the painted lady. and the way that i've seen people use katara’s passion for social justice as a way to argue that she’s “irresponsible” seems a bit disingenuous considering that she sees it as a moral duty to help people in need (and let alone everything else she does on the day-to-day to help the group).

(“the library” is in fact the only episode in the entire show that i can remember where katara disagrees with sokka and says there’s no harm in having some fun in their downtime. and as soon as sokka finds out about the existence of the library he’s also fine with taking a break from their mission lol. despite what the fandom thinks, it’s not the norm).

and while there’s a lot of focus on sokka’s mapping/planning skills, there’s also so much that katara does so much behind the scenes that isn’t as explicitly acknowledged. “the chase” tells us that katara, aang, and sokka all contribute pretty equally to setting up their camp while traveling. in “jet” they all help pack up camp, in “the great divide” sokka sets up their tent, katara collects firewood, and aang gathers food. and yet even though they all seem to contribute pretty equally to setting up camp, we are shown so many scenes of katara doing extra chores while the others are preoccupied with something else. in “the southern air temple,” katara packs up their supplies while sokka is sleeping, then again packs up everything while sokka’s eating the food momo gave him. “the warriors of kyoshi” episode implies katara is the only one mending everyone’s clothes, and while sokka is getting his ass kicked training with the kyoshi warriors and aang is entertaining his fan girls, katara is shopping for food and supplies.

in “the painted lady,” the group all goes shopping for food together, but it’s katara who cooks dinner for everyone (shown twice in this episode). in “the runaway,” katara’s at camp cooking for everyone while they’re off tricking a gambler to make more money. sokka, aang, and toph buy food/supplies, then leave them with katara to sort out while they go have fun in the village (and sokka gets to buy his messenger hawk). and katara’s the one seen as a “buzzkill” for worrying about their safety. this pattern continues in “the western air temple” and “the firebending masters” where we see katara cooking and serving food to the group, but there aren’t scenes of them doing other chores.

and of course, “the desert” is an entire episode dedicated to katara keeping the group alive. and that’s not even to mention the countless amount of emotional support that she gives to her friends, often putting other people’s needs above her own. sure, katara might not be the person with the map or the master plan, but that doesn’t mean her contributions are any less important.

sokka’s character arc involves growing into a strong leader and strategist, so it makes sense that the fandom often likes to focus on the moments that go into building this arc, the moments where he does take the lead and is responsible. but for katara? it’s just something required of her and of most female characters. taking on extra responsibilities is something to be admired in men, but just expected of women. 

and to be clear, i’m not saying that sokka is not responsible, he definitely is. i just find it interesting that some parts of this fandom have a skewed perception of katara’s role in the group, often claiming her to be the “irresponsible” or “immature” sibling while poor, exhausted Dad!Sokka™ is the only one keeping these silly kids alive. sokka and katara both had to grow up too fast, they’re both kids who are very mature for their age and took on adult responsibilities far too young (though in different ways). acknowledging the sacrifices katara made and the labor she took on to take care of others isn’t diminishing sokka’s character arc, it’s something he even admits in the show himself. and i love their relationship because even with such a complicated family dynamic, it’s so clear how much they love and support each other.

#sokka #katara #katara analysis #atla #atla fandom critical #“katara is the silly irrational girl while sokka is the mature dad who stepped up” do y'all even hear yourselves #i have a lot of thoughts about how the way that the fandom misinterprets sokka & katara's relationship #as like a reactionary mechanism against the potentially sexist writing of the source material #but that'll have to wait until another post #my post #my meta

[stardustdiiving]

The way some people talk about “misogynistic writing” with the female genshin archons—specifically Nahida & Furina— kills me a bit, because while i do feel there’s valid criticisms of genshin’s writing to be made (especially regarding Ei, who I do feel was done a massive disservice writing wise), often I see people seem to come from a place of not understanding the writing/characters well, and/or leaning into like…very reductive ideas of what makes a female character “good” that honestly says more about their biases than Genshin’s

For example, a common complaint I see against Nahida & Furina is about them being made to be “weak/unserious” and how this is bad writing because genshin is unwilling to take their characters seriously—but the way this is argued seems to suggest Furina & Nahida would be better characters if they were more physically powerful, mature, or “cooler” in some way. But I really dislike the notion of girlbossification being seen as the one standard of good writing for women. A girl being strong and independent and able to punch things really hard isn’t a marker of inherent good writing

Nahida and Furina not being physically powerful or completely sure of themselves is the point. Their lack of life-experience-based maturity and overpowering physical strength are intentional and points of strength for their character writing, not flaws or weaknesses:

Nahida is the God of Wisdom—her primary source of strength is her intelligence, which comes from her curiosity about the world that is intrinsically linked to her being very caring by nature. The reason Nahida is at a disadvantage in physical strength with the antagonists—Scaramouche and Dottore—and doesn’t have an epic moment where she brute force overpowers them, isn’t because Genshin is treating Nahida like an incompetent joke, it’s because her character highlights the overall theme in Sumeru’s AQ that power isn’t everything and strength/wisdom comes from many places.

She outsmarts both Scaramouche and Dottore through her ability to strategize—if you’re trying to sell Nahida as a character who embodies wisdom, it’s far stronger writing wise to have her use her wisdom and mind to overcome narrative conflict than have her be all powerful. If you don’t think Nahida revealing she’s trapped Scaramouche in a dream loop after he tries to rip her gnosis from her, or her standing her ground against Dottore and forcing him to bargain with her when he attempts to intimidate her into giving him what he wants doesn’t make her “cool” or interesting….idk ! Maybe it’s not the writing and just your personal preference for character appeal

Furina —without getting too deep into 4.2 spoilers—has an arc revolving around the loneliness & conflict of needing to mold yourself into a performance for a greater purpose, and grappling with personal identity and autonomy in the aftermath of performance and repression shaping your life. I really don’t understand how people watch how she’s handled and come away with the conclusion her character gets bent around Nuevillette’s man pain/the fact he’s just so ~much more competent than her unless you’re just really not interested in trying to engage Furina’s writing or taking it in confusingly bad faith

Her struggling with lacking the physical power/competence a god “should” have is, again, the point of her character and they are very clear where that lack of ability comes from within the writing. Her narrative actions follow an arc that revolves around this internal conflict she has—she feels very established to be her own person and they certainty don’t shy away from expanding on Furina’s emotions without it only being done as footing for other (male) characters

I think Nahida & Furina were just not what people were expecting the Dendro & Hydro Archon to be like, I also see a lot of complaints that neither of them “act like gods” or “seem very godlike” but see, in my opinion, one of the central themes to genshin overall is to examine the relationship between humanity and the divine. Part of this also includes calling into question what a god should be, especially in relation to humans/having a sense of humanity

The center conflict within Nahida & Furina’s characters is that their sense of humanity is at odds with being held to what being a god “should” be. Nahida is imprisoned by the Sages who treat her with disdain for being a child and not being inhumanly perfect enough to be useful to them as a deity. We see Furina try to engage with her people earnestly in a more human way before realizing she needs to put up the performance that proceeds to shape her life & state of deep loneliness for the next 500 years to be taken seriously and fulfill her duties. You aren’t supposed to look at Nahida or Furina and think they’re all powerful otherworldly divine beings. You’re supposed to view the, as people—people who are young and inexperienced regarding their position in life. Venti and Zhongli act like people in the same way—the only difference is they have more experience and have had the time to accomplish more feats as original members as the Seven

Again, it’s not that I don’t think there’s criticisms to be made. Genshin to me sets up Ei to be a character who requires a lot of self reflection/growth and thought with handling her moral dubiousness, and then out of desperately worrying she won’t be likable enough, seems to bend over with trying to insist on Ei being palpably appealing while not following through on a lot of what her character really needs to feel well handled. (I feel they barely even address Ei needing to rebuild trust with her people and it’s only more clear when you now see Furina spend a lot of time handling something similar despite doing less um, government oppression thsn Ei did for instance HDJNDJDJ. But I guess me pinning where my personal dissatisfaction with her writing comes from is another post in of its own and more based in general issues with Inazuma vs viewing it as misogynistic writing alone) The trend of not letting a female character grapple with her morality and try to push her being livable at the expense of addressing her complexity does honestly feel it falls into a misogynistic writing trends. I am really bummed out with Ei’s execution when genshin has proven through other characters along with Nahida and Furina they are capable of handling a character like her writing wise imo

But I really think, again, if someone thinks none of genshin’s women are engaging or interesting, or that Nahida and Furina aren’t taken seriously enough narratively while seeming to not really understand the intent of the characters’ writing, or want to take them seriously unless they’re cool/girlboss-y enough, I feel it may say more about their ideas of handling women in fiction than it does about genshin. I get personal preferences and not being really into a character, but people so frequently frame it as a possibly misogyny pattern with how genshin writes the female archons and I can’t help but disagree. I think sometimes people don’t consider what the story is trying to say with the characters vs what they think is cool or want (and of course what we all think is cool or may want/expect narratively is always informed by our own biases). There’s a level of subjectivity in how you can interpret writing and narratives of course but they’re just not interpretations I feel fit into what’s presented in the text !

#fern.txt #nahida #furina #Genshin #archons #THEY DONT GET MY GIRLS GUYS #fandomferns #slight 4.2 spoilers for thr furina bits #I keep it mostly vague tho #smh it’s not like I see genshins writing as the holy grail but sometimes I think it’s solid #I enjoy nahida and furina a lot and feel people just don’t get it a lot #and yeah some of the ways ppl don’t get it…does feel kind of like. damn. misogyny.png #which especially kills me a bit when it’s funneled through a lens of insisting their issues w the chars r bc of sexist writing

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Much has been said about why Jon sacrificing Dany a la Nissa Nissa is horrible, sexist writing (in addition to being completely useless because Dany already fulfilled the prophecy herself)…but no one ever mentions how this literally doesn’t make sense for Jon either? Like the very first chapter in the series, Bran I, tells us what Jon would do if he ever had to make a choice: he would choose to sacrifice himself over anyone else. You mean to tell me that very same Jon who is unwilling to deprive his younger sister of her birthright would deprive a would-be lover of her very life?? That’s just so diametrically opposed to who Jon is. Plus it’s thematically inconsistent because Jon always gets rewarded for sacrificing himself, which is very different from the established Azor Ahai lore given to us by Salladhor Saan.

#I’m always so surprised when I see jon stans supporting this theory as a means of softening the blow from objectively sexist writing #like nooo this not only sucks for dany it sucks big time for jon #why would anyone think this is good for his character?? #or even thematically coherent with his arc?? #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #also like jon might be getting aa mentions but he’s also a last hero parallel - the last hero story is all about self sacrifice fam #which imo makes him a thematically different entity from azor ahai but i don’t wanna argue about that today

[torchwood-99]

Imagine complaining Eloise isn't a full fledged intersectional feminist (at what, 19?) when she's the only damn feminist in this show and her actual attempts to get out into the world and learn about feminism were torpedoed by Penelope, the same character all Eloise anti stans.

#Eloise Bridgerton #Eloise is a feminist and has been trying to learn more about it #Penelope and her writing is full on sexist #Bridgerton #anti Penelope Featherington #Penelope Featherington

[allgremlinart]

everyone always talks about how in The Beach Zuko is so misogynistic its gay but no one EVER talks about how in The Beach MAI is so misogynistic its gay....

like... oh sorry is pookie jealous...?

#mildly sexist 2005 writing you are not safe from my yuri goggles... #mailee #mai atla #love this episode. The Bitch.

[sga-owns-my-soul]

this is a blurb from a fic i'm working on but honestly this is also just how john handled taking teyla and ronon to earth imo

Just then four cops rushed in, shouting over the commotion.

"Fuck, okay, you two remember what I told you about dealing with cops?" John asked Teyla and Ronon as he shot a nervous glance at Rodney, who hadn't spoken a word since his father hit him. Teyla and Ronon both nodded.

"Lawyer," they said in unison, and John breathed a sigh of relief. At least he shouldn't need to worry about them while he waited for the SGC to come bail them out.

#this is so fucking funny to me #john prepping teyla and ronon to go to earth: look there's only one thing you need to know about america cops #they're horrible and racist and sexist and if you ever have to deal with them the only word you know is lawyer okay? #teyla and ronon are like but- and johns like nope idc the ONLY WORD YOU KNOW IS LAWYER #this is canon to me idc #i think i'm funny #ar1 #john sheppard #ronon dex #teyla emmagan #my writing #sga

[tourdion]

#kept reading this as which one is sexist even while writing it 🤔 #britcom #wilty #would i lie to you #david mitchell #rob brydon

[variousqueerthings]

the nature of being a johnny lawrence fan, is that it is often indistinguishable from being a johnny lawrence hater, and I don't think I have that with any other character. usually I'm very protective of my faves (including in cobra kai, daniel, sam, kreese, and tsilver), but johnny, I very much enjoy reading all the reasons people dislike his character, nodding along like "yeah what an inconsistent mess, you're so right, carmen pls u deserve better narrative to work with, terry silver was telling the truth when he mocked his fatherhood abilities, but alas the writing will never support it"

#johnny lawrence fans 🤝 johnny lawrence haters -- wtf is going on with johnny lawrence's character in s5???????? #johnny lawrence #cobra kai #ck #i can write miles of text about the queercoding of johnny lawrence #and also about how terribly inconsistent the writing for him is due to a sexist notion that he must be a Badass #actually i think johnny lawrence is one of the most interesting case studies of this phenomenon #obvs most famously archetyped by dean winchester -- but i think jlaw is even More That #1. literal 80s character so all these people read him through a particular nostalgia lens #2. in a show that is possibly Thee most trope-filled nostalgia show i have ever seen be that way Accidentally #(riverdale was doing it on purpose -- stranger things... yeah maybe but i think cobra kai is even more on the nose actually) #3. played by quite a sensitive actor actually who deeply cares about the nuance of the character #which appears to be at constant war with the intentions of the narrative he has to appear in #4. and like. the writers Know about the queercoding because they've interacted with fans (nicely actually) #but they have literally no idea what to do with it but ALSO have lampshaded it occasionally #it's... it's fascinating.... #they want so badly for him to win but they're going about it the wrong way -- the narrative continues to be circular/an inward spiral #nothing has changed except for the reactions of other characters #jlaw must remain static because of our nostalgia but also be important to the story somehow #the Tension of it all is personally delicious to me but man is it frustrating as well

[hardtofindeggs]

Oh so we can write Sukuna fics but not Naoya fics? Oh okay!! 🙄🙄🫸🫸

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu sukuna #naoya zenin #sukuna #sukuna imagine #jujutsu naoya #jujutsu kaisen imagine #jujutsu kaisen imagines #naoya imagine #naoya zen'in x reader #sukuna x reader #naoya x reader #please write about my beautiful brown eyed prince 🙏🙏 #yeah he’s sexist but Sukuna literally kills children #please please please #fine i’ll do it myself

[motherjanerainy]

colleen hoover is the female version of a male author

#colleen hoover #anti colleen hoover #coho #november 9 #books #booktok #reading #does this make sense #has this been said? #probably #if so just know that this was my own independent thought while reading nov 9 #how is her writing literally so sexist #sexist men write better women than she does #it's like she gets off on objectification and low self esteem and exploitation #coho hate #LMFAO #it actually makes me physically mad

[marveltaughtmetoread]

As a fan of slightly feral characters, the writing of female characters frustrates me because it's like, I want a good character who is written to be both able and willing to kill, chaotic enough to be threatening it or just go off the rails at any time

And then writers will be like, oh, you wanted a good female character, well here you, she might be capable of murder but you'll never know because she's so morally and lawful good that you will never see it

And it's like, my guy I didn't mean morally, now give me back my chaos gremlin, and do not touch any more female characters, do not pass go and do not collect £200

The world doesn't need more perfect female characters, they need more feral ones

#female characters #female character #writing #bad writing #sexist writing #you know they think they were being feminist but in writing only ever morally good female characters they were in fact not #if the only female characters you ever write are perfect angels or ones whose flaws are clearly not intentional #then it ain't feminism #you're still placing female characters on a pedestal above reproach and not to be touched #we need more representation of females who are messy chaotic and you know human #capable of fault and complexity

[tricoufamily]

no ok we finished episode 2 what they have done to katara is unforgivable. they have completed zapped every ounce of her personality away. why. why. look how they massacred my girl

#i haven't even GOTTEN to azula mai and ty lee i'm scared #why the hell they're even IN season 1 is beyond me but whatever #i cannot fucking believe the amount of exposition dumping. did a 10 year old write this #this actually would be a very good lesson for young beginner writers actually #if someone's like 'i don't really get the show don't tell rule' show them this. then show them the cartoon. THAT is show don't tell #all. they. do. is. TELL. it's INSANE #zuko is the best actor at least but that's kind of like winning a game of chess against a broom #it's statistically impossible that they could only find ONE actor who can deliver a line competently. it's impossible #i delivered better lines pretending to earth bend w my sister at age 7 #i'm so confused about katara though. #like yeah the 'sokka can't be sexist that's problematic (that was the entire point)' is stupid #but that is at least AN explanation for why he's different. why on earth would you make katara like that #i can't even make an ember island players joke. at least their katara showed emotion??? #really fun hate watch to do w other avatar fans 10/10 recommend #when gran gran started saying the intro and it was so awkward jdskfjdsfldsjfslkfjlkfs i was LOSING IT

[horrorlesbians]

one thing I really like upon watching true detective season 1 (again, bc I’m unwell) is the difference between how marty and rust hold emotion. half the time marty is barely able to contain uncontrollable rage and anger, sometimes turning red, besides that he’s either chewing on the inside of his cheek annoyed as all get out or holding all of the sadness and horror in the world in his eyes (the clip where he has to watch the vhs tape….his face afterwards…yeah). meanwhile rust goes through life with a seemingly permanent grimace and empty eyes. haha yeas

#🦌 #you’d think a character like rust on paper is the overly emotionally barley can hold it in person and marty being the normal one can control #didn’t write this well but shhh #not that I didn’t notice this all before I’m just paying more attention to marty as a character #the fact they somehow still made him likeable and still made him a super sexist asshole is beyond me. 80% has got to be the acting

[sixth-light]

When I become supreme ruler of the world, someone please remind me that the first thing I need to do is ban people from writing the “your magic powers stop working properly the second an embryo implants in your uterine lining” trope

#writing #tropes #sexism #yeah I get it it’s a metaphor but here’s the thing #it’s a very sexist metaphor and I’m tired of it

[evilkitten3]

one of the most frustrating things about reading naruto meta is that every now and then you'll run into a post that's absolutely brilliantly thought out, has stupendous points, and pulls out all the stops on almost every level....

and you just have to stop and wonder how someone can simultaneously be so good at media analysis and so fucking bad at accepting that sometimes authors just cannot and/or will not write female characters on any level

#naruto #naruto shippuden #fandom crit #like how do you manage to process so much multi-layered political ninja stuff #and yet fail to comprehend that sometimes media has misogyny in it #sometimes male authors are simply sexist #bc there are people in this world who can understand the intricacies of the political minefield #but not the concept of women being human beings with the same levels of complexity as men #how do you write so much genuinely incredible and well-thought out meta #and yet still manage to come to the conclusion that a fictional 12yo girl is responsible for how a real life adult man wrote her #like. ????????? #''why didn't [insert girl here] just do [insert thing here]'' bc the author fundamentally does not view women as people next question #like out of all the things in the world of media that are hard to understand #how is ''sexism exists and you see it sometimes'' so high on that list #like ok it's been a while since high school but i thought ''the author's views color their work'' was media literacy 101