#meryl had a SUPER compelling dynamic with vash that regardless of how you interpreted it does seem to often be written out of the story

[crowlore]

been seeing some posts about meryl lately, and some unrelated bigger posts about female characters that got me thinking about her. gonna ramble about it for a second. probably gonna bleed into the tags

meryl stryfe was always a solid and interesting character with promise who filled a very clear and necessary niche in the narrative of the manga, and just because i think she should have more of an active role in some parts of the story doesn’t mean i think she was maligned by it. i do however think a lot of fans are quick to say she was done dirty by the source material to cover for the fact that they’re too lazy to go to the lengths to invest themselves in her character that they would have without thinking had she been a man. not that they say this knowingly, or maliciously! just that it’s easier for many to blame the author than it is for them to examine their own bias against women when it comes to how they interact with stories. i say this fully aware that i have been guilty of this, because it’s so easy for me to say something like “oh, no, it’s that as i’ve come into my own as an adult man i just resonate more with male characters than i once did female characters when i was a teenage girl,” but no. even when i was a teenage girl i put more thought into male characters. i’ve seen it happen for years. nobody is immune to this mindset, and it’s okay to challenge yourself to do better when it comes to really engaging with the women in the stories you love as they were written. really, get passionate about them! dig into their strengths and flaws and really relish in them unapologetically the way it’s naturally assumed of you to do for the guys. trust me it’s good for you

#this is without even touching on how the shipping aspect of fan spaces can malign female characters #meryl had a SUPER compelling dynamic with vash that regardless of how you interpreted it does seem to often be written out of the story #entirely by fans who view her bond with vash as a threat to his bond with wolfwood. few even consider meryl and wolfwood’s relationship too #she’s often rewritten/mischaracterized just to have her existence in proximity to them justified which is a shame #because meryl was always interesting and endearing as she originally was. victim of yaoi..😔