#911 fandom stop the woman hating challenge (impossible)

[treestomeetyou]

fuck off eddie didn't abandon chris because his disability was too hard for him and then proceed to refuse to contact his son for years. shannon diaz is an ableist and a bad mother, die mad about it

I’m here to dispel the woman-hating fanfic myth that Shannon left because of Christopher’s CP. Let’s take off fanon goggles and look at the facts:

She met Eddie at 14 and by the time she was 18 she was pregnant and alone with in-laws who treated her like garbage. She (based on Eddie’s recent dialogue) married out of obligation and Eddie left for the army. She struggled immensely and was constantly scrutinized by her in-laws. Scrutiny that Eddie himself couldn’t deal with and believed to be unfounded when he was the target.

It’s true that Eddie did this out of a desire to take care of them (although Shannon offered to work part time and he said no), but he also re-enlisted immediately after Christopher’s CP diagnosis out of fear, by his OWN ADMISSION. This fear was about a lot of money things, about the state of his and Shannon’s relationship, and about his ability to parent. Shannon left because her mother was dying (recall that she asked him to come with her multiple times but he didn’t want to leave his family!!) and the failing state of her marriage. She didn’t come back immediately because she was afraid that it was too late. That she had irrecoverably fucked up. Yeah that’s a very immature response to fear. But she died at 26. She was so young and never had the time to grow. Eddie’s hesitation about letting her back in was about her leaving again. If he thought she was abusive or ableist he wouldn’t have even considered it.

Her and Eddie had very similar rationales behind their mistakes, but this whole fandom likes to pick out the cruelest most uncharitable interpretation of her character because she’s a woman who’s in the way of their ship or whatever. Why are Eddie’s fuck ups always due to inexperience or how he was just trying his best but she’s an evil woman who hates her son? Why are Eddie’s parents the bad guys when they say he can’t parent, but y’all like to assume they were right about Shannon? It’s a double standard that’s why. Let the woman rest in peace for the love of God.