#Take That Sexism

[throesofincreasingwonder]

Dean would not be femme as a woman because his hyper-performance of gender is entirely based on the deification of masculinity send tweet

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Fire Emblem has a very strange Misogynic issue I've never seen in any other franchise. There are very few female units I can point at and go "This woman was written by a misogynist" , but The plot, gameplay, and male characters are all just weirdly casually misogynistic...? Like Idk. These women feel fully realized and complex, but then There's how Eirika is talked about/treated in her game, All the brainwashed girls through the series, 3Houses/hopes where Everyone's dad's and brothers are super super important to them, but Most character's we're not even sure their mothers are even alive with how absolutely irrelevant they are... Etc. It's all really weird. :(

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[agnisleftpec]

reblogs are off but i wanted this post on my blog

[ex0rin]

I really, truly think that all of fandom needs to have a yearly re-watch of the source material so that people don't start agreeing with stupid fandom takes as gospel:

like... are you KIDDING ME with that??? she's so clearly smitten with him you'd have to be blind or literally closing your eyes to not see it

[defnotkanyewest]

Hot take: 90% of the people who are complaining about the live action ATLA either went into it wanting to complain about it or expected a perfect adaptation which they knew would never happen

[shiraishi--kanade]

"People would care more about An if she was a boy-" listen you're probably right but you do have to recognise it would be so much more boring. Like An Shiraishi is literally every male protagonist in the shounen anime ever wrt to her and Kohane's relationship. The fact that she's a girl in an obnoxiously and obviously shounen-coded storyline makes her unique we have to recognise that also

[gingerswagfreckles]

Literally when was the last time that even one single post about feminism that wasn't a criticism of feminism got any traction at all. Like. 2015 maybe?

[autisticlancemcclain]

Could you explain your position on Shallura? Since Allura was established as a teenager when she started dating Lance and Shiro was very clearly an adult. I can understand the bi shiro headcannon but the shallura thing worries me

i am going to remind yall that i have been in this fandom since 2016. and in the early seasons, allura was not established as a teenager. in fact she was coded as older, as closer to shiro's age -- there was a specific divide between her and the younger paladins that she did not have with shiro. they made her younger (both explicitly and in mannerisms) as the show went on. and i do not give a fuck about voltron like...post s4 and i didn't even watch s7-8. so like. especially with older fics, im going to enjoy shallura.

[pinbones]

There's two types of people who use transandrophobia to decribe transmascs' and trans mens' experiences:

- Simply specificity, language used to hone in on a specific way being trans affects people who just happen to be men

- As both the above and as a springboard to discuss how societal misogyny, radical feminism, gender stereotypes, and bioessentalism affect all people who can be pecieved as men or masculine by others, and how bigotries compound in meaningful ways with stereotypes and bigotry surrounding maleness and manhood

Like. Half of you are saying "maleness is a hollow experience which is standard, and exists in opposition to gendered oppression, and transandrophobia is therefore when dudes experience misogyny and transphobia"

and half of you are saying "Being percieved and/or transitioning towards male uniquely affects how I am treated, because, for example, how people perceive my blackness or mental illness or kinkiness or femininity is compounded with my manhood in ways that don't usually happen to gender conforming cisperi women"

Which are two fundamentally different approaches to transandrophobia as a concept. One suggests that maleness is a simple downy layer of privilege that coats a person through their male life, and the other acknowledges that a man (or somebody perceived as masculine/male) can experience oppression in ways that those NOT perceived male may not.

Only one of these interpretations is intersectional. Black individuals who are policed more hashly when interpreted as masc know they are risking dangerous experiences when transitioning to male, as has been discussed before on here (to no avail). Male or percieved male people with personality disorders are treated as more dangerous than women with similar symptoms, and are sometiems diagnosed with different disorders entirely based on percieved gender differences. This affects transmascs too, especially considering the already dire state of queerness in psychiatric institutions. Being a male birthing parent is a whole shitshow of transphobia because men are not supposed to give birth, and transmascs are lucky to access related healthcare at all, let alone access it without being ceaselessly misgendered and treated as a stigmatised 'other' to deleterious affects on parent and baby. These are just a few examples, there are many more ways maleness can screw a person over. And that's not to say that female privilege is a thing instead of male privilege, but rather to emphasise that men are not supposed to be minorities. Men are not supposed to be assaulted, men are not supposed to be outliers, men are absolutely not supposed to be trans.

When a man is autistic, he's not just autistic, he's an autistic male, and that makes him more likely to be killed by cops (especially if black). When someone says "you claim you're not ableist but you're scared of the homeless x on a bus talking to xself", they always say the person is a man, because that sounds more significant (and cops think so too). Consider when a person's rape/abuse is considered to not be all that serious due to the victim being male, or when a man's attraction is considered to be more exploitative than a woman's, or when a fat man is considered more creepy/sexist than a thin man or a fat woman. Consider why so many caricatures of evil and creepiness are men with deformities. Consider the fact that men's bathrooms don't have baby changing tables, and that a man may get less support from others after their child's death than the mother might. Maleness can negatively compound with things like minority status, vulnerability, aggression, sexuality, etc. in ways that screw that person over, both in social spaces (such as queer communities that dislike/distrust maleness and masculinity, or how isolation affects men harder), and in more tangible ways, like their rates of suicide and being murdered.

There are tangible ways in which transitioning to male can negatively affect a person's life even if you remove (hypothetically, not really possible) the transphobia element, and these also constitute as worthwhile topics of discussion. If you think maleness is the lack of gendered oppression, then you're not intersectional in your feminism at all. If your life as a male is genuinely sunshine and rainbows (apart from the transphobia if trans), then good for you, genuinely that's great, but not everyone lives in a radfem fantasy world.

Being unable to tell the difference between men talking about mens issues/liberation, and right wingers talking about oppressing women more, isn't feminist. It's ignorant and antifeminist. (MRAs don't care about actual mens lib, and are actively worsening it because they are sexist and opposed to gender lib. You guys know that, right? That male and female liberation aren't oppositional or binary, but the same gender liberation that is entirely oppositional to patriarchy?)

These men and mascs talking about issues facing men aren't ignorant womanhaters who deny misogyny and want ultraprivileged men to be coddled, they are good faith members of your community with experiences just as varied and valid as yours. Treat them like it.

[nyaskitten]

I really do just gotta ask why Chima fans always be saying some shit about "Ninjago is so weirdly pro-war it should rot already!!!" like no I think an action show for kids, which wants to tell you these people are bad and we should fight against them, is NOT super pro-war like you say it is. I think we SHOULD maybe wanna fight bad people who wanna kill everyone and cause mass destruction. Maybe.

[sweettsubaki]

Ok I like characters getting better as much as the next person but every time a fic tries to tackle Sanji's sexism problem it just takes me out completely.

Like not every time obviously, but so many people seem to like...Not understand it ?

For one thing, part of it is linked to Oda's own sexism and the general sexism of the series (highly lessened in a lot of places thanks to Oda being an actual good writer who cares about his characters but it's still there) which means most characters are somewhat sexists (yes even Zoro king of I'll cut up anything and my childhood girl best friend could have been the greatest swordsman). So the fact that they usually just focus on Sanji but keep the rest kind of weirds me out.

Then there's the common "the girls don't like you back because your special treatment makes them uncomfortable" often answered with something along the lines of "but I respect them, I think they can do no wrong".

Which is so wrong on so many levels. Not the idea itself, but its application to Sanji. Like, he doesn't want to get anything out of those women (except seeing them naked and being stomped on but we're not getting into his kinks here). He does believe women are better than men...which includes him. So at no point does he want or expect anything other than being able to serve them which is part of why Oda focuses his development on his own self worth rather than anything else.

That boy does not have the self worth to actually try to flirt with anyone with the expectation that something could come out of it.

So like...Not wrong per se but this advice is very much a "missing the forest for the trees" kind of situation. He also does consider them to be people with their own wants and personalities.

Then there's the Nami/Robin part of it. Because people seem to think that they aren't close and that it's because of Sanji's behavior ? So first things first, they are close. They can have conversations and have fun even if Sanji will put them ahead of everything and everyone including himself (I'll touch on that bit in the part after this one). And like while he always agrees with the ladies BECAUSE they're ladies and it is an issue, he still like...listens to them ? And does think they're right most of the time (he'll also say it when he truly disagrees with something, like he did in Water 7).

- Let's start with Robin who behaves toward him the same way she behaves toward the east blue crew + Chopper, aka all the kids (yes, again, including Zoro, just because he's calmer doesn't mean he isn't also just a dumb kid). She entertains their excentricities in a way different to the way she treats the other adults. Sanji and her are actually fairly close because thay have a similar personality (and now they both know they also have similar backstories too). While he puts a big horny and romantic flourish over everything, he basically just treats her similarly to how he would have treated Reiju (how he did treat her in WCI) had they not been on different "teams".

- Then we have Nami. And I find it the funniest because she also has a bias toward women. A slightly different one sure (because they don't have the same issues) and it's also something I'll go over in the next part but it is a parallel between them that's pretty important and people often act like it's non existent and does not play a role in their relationship. Now they're both friends and before they met Vivi they were the most "mature" of the crew, the caretakers, and this is something that bonded them pretty early on. So yeah they're not the closest and Nami doesn't understand Sanji perfectly (that's part of why she needed to be in the WCI part as opposed to most of the Dressrosa/Wano crew) because they have basically similar symptoms but different reasons for these symptoms to exist, one of them being their self worth. It does not mean that they're not close or even friends. And because of Nami's own bias she has no problem taking advantage of Sanji's simping even if she can get a bit annoyed during serious situations and she has no problem telling him off when she wants to. So she actually encourages him and plays with his simping. And most of the time they're both fine with it. It's not one sided ! They're basically in a symbiotic relationship at this point....

Now let's talk about double standards and lack of them. Nami and Sanji both treat women better than they treat men (tho Sanji goes pretty girls first then other women, then boys while Nami just generally prefers women). Nami would give girls her treasures while making sure the men are indebted until even after their deaths.

So like...way better. That's why it's not just "treat them less like goddesses, more like people" or "this is the way to get girls to like you" problems.

Sanji's relationships with other men aren't "better" than those with the girls, and especially not because he treats them more "equally" than he does women. Like...Sanji is a brat, an asshole. He's closed off and emotional at the same time. He believes no man deserves women and especially not himself. He's kind but he's not particularly nice. He'll still protect and feed other men and just generally take care of them but he'll be mean about it.

And that's the thing, he's generally different in his overall words and attitude, but not really in his actions with a few exceptions. Like in chapter 700, he'll still make Onigiri for Law who doesn't want bread aka doesn't want sandwiches and he'll cut tiny sandwiches so Momo's tiny dragon hands can eat them normally despite being an ass toward them half the time.

Women aren't the only ones who get tailored help. He just does it with heart eyes for women and for the men he does it while insulting them.

His level of closeness is the about the same between men and women and the difference depend more on how the others chose to take him at face value than their gender. Because he hides from everyone and feels empathy for many others (event if he often won't admit it). It's the main difference between his relationship with Nami/Viví and Robin. Because Robin and Sanji have clown to clown communication.

I've reblogged this post recently, about how Sanji's empathy is directly linked to how he treats women, how "Sanji has an understanding that sometimes a woman has to lie." is linked more to his trauma and empathy than sexism tho that's how it manifests. You can add that the way he treated Usopp in Water 7 was actually fairly close to those too.

Also generally you have people who are either team "he's sexist because of his mom and sister" or "he's sexist because of Zeff" and it's kinda...weird ? Like it's both. Zeff offered him a way to channel his trauma and the way his sister and mom play into it plus because Sanji doesn't do things by halves, he went ahead and ran with it way too far.

So yeah Sanji has a sexism problem but so many fics (and fans in general) tend to see it as the cause of his behavior and not just a symptom of a different problem which is that his self worth is worse than that of a twig and his sexism is part of a coping mechanism for his trauma.

[danyseastar]

link

“Baela shrieks with her father’s anger.”

“Jace the closest to Aemond in age —”

“Aemond puts his hands around Luke’s throat, throttling him.”

“You will die screaming in flames just as your father did.”

“…comes at Aemond, who readies the big rock.”

“He counters, smashing Jace’s face in with the rock.”

I’m gonna knock some teeth out ‘closest to Aemond in age’ and he was canonically 6 to Aemond’s 10. Jace and Luke were the only ones really involved with the fight in the book, and it’s stated multiple times that Aemond had the clear advantage over them and was beating them ruthlessly. It was a clear power play on his part that quickly turned sour because the younger brother feared for both his and his older brothers life (as he should, the kid was 5 fucking years old).

I know why they added the Dragon Twins to the fight, and it was solely to infantilize Aemond even further than they already had (and demonize the girls and the Velaryon boys in turn). Sure, I’m supposed to feel sorry for him because he was bullied for not having a dragon (boo fucking hoo); but I’m not supposed to feel sorry for the twins after they just lost their mother, considering how quickly that storyline was left in the dust to further Aemond’s. I’m not supposed to feel sorry for the woman and kids who were targeted purely due to their blood/gender (but that doesn’t matter ofc just that they’re bastards and harming poor helpless trueborn baby Aemond how dare they).

The agenda being pushed in the show is obviously full of microagressions against these kids — the Velaryons were made into POC just to make certain the audience knew that Rhaenyra’s first three children were bastards, and Baela and Rhaena were added to the fight to show them as the ‘true’ aggressors to the entire situation. It didn’t matter that they had lost their mom recently, it didn’t matter that they didn’t even know who Aemond was. They had one of the last living relics of their mother stolen out from under them by this random kid who immediately insults them to their faces for having the audacity to be upset, but HE is the victim here. Jace had just found out about Harwin being his bio dad and then lost him within a short amount of time. He was being openly mocked and told he and his baby brother were going to die in the exact same way at Aemond’s hand. But no, no! Don’t jump to the obvious conclusion; AEMOND is the victim here.

Four grieving children reacted on their extremely volatile emotions, with one acting on fear alone, and it ended poorly for all parties involved— who would’ve thought?

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

The FE fandom is unfairly criticized for their treatment of main women leads because not enough people factor in how sexist the writing is. Edelgard would get less hate if she was held more accountable. Micaiah would get less hate if she didn't get written out of the final part and awful blood-pact device. Celica and Erika would get less hate if the writers didn't hand them the idiot ball. Female leads are often awful units compared to male counterparts. The male leads always upstage the female ones or are written overall better bc they were unconcerned with making them a sellable waifu. There's definitely sexist people in the fandom, and male characters everywhere get cut more slack, and I'm not denying an element of sexism in all of this, but holding the writers accountable something that needs to get brought up more.

Edelgard is held accountable and punished for her actions by literally dying in 3 out of the 4 routes. Like the Agarthans are not blamed for what Edelgard did. She takes complete responsibility and suffers the consequences for starting a war.

Erika giving the Sacred Stone to Formortis because she believes Lyon, an extremely skilled healer and magic user who has been studying the stones will get rid of him through using it is a smarter decision than Ephraim attempting to kill THE DEMON KING ALL BY HIMSELF. Like at least Erika's plan made sense and could have worked if Lyon was able to resist Formortis. People who call Erika stupid for her scene while not doing the same for Ephraim's are hypocritical in this regard.

While SOV is quite sexist in how so many of the women are damseled, Celica sacrificing herself for Mila makes complete sense and is not rooted in sexism because at that point in the game most people believe that they still need the gods to survive and a single human life is worth less than the life of a god. Celica trusted Jedah because to her that was her only choice. What is sexist is her having to be repeatedly saved by men while nothing similar happens to Alm.

I admit I'm being extremely nitpicky with this point, but Erika and Celica both act completely in character when they make their mistakes and therefore are not Idiot Balled. Idiot Balling is when a character acts uncharacteristically stupid and out of character to serve the plot.

Idk about the specifics with Micaiah in Radiant Dawn but yeah it sucks how Ike takes most of the spotlight from both her and Elincia :/

The only female lead that is a substantially worse unit than her male counterpart is Erika. She is an outlier that should not be counted. Celica, Micaiah and Elincia all have utility that Alm and Ike Lack while Edelgard is literally just as good of a frontliner as Dimitri. And Lyn is just as weak as Eliwood.

Character writing is subjective.

You are severely overestimating the importance of waifus and underestimating the importance of husbandos to the franchise. Straight and Bi women play Fire Emblem too.

Also characters who have depth tend to be more popular regardless of their gender. It is profitable to have waifus with layers.

I am not denying that sexism was and somewhat still is a thing in the writing and gameplay of this series; However, the fandom is just as guilty in how female characters are treated - perhaps more guilty in the newest two games where these issues rarely rear their ugly head in the story and the gameplay. The fandom should be held accountable too instead shifting most of the blame on the writers.

Anyway if you read all of this, have a heavenly creature i found recently <3

[nero-neptune]

idk how much stock i put into those "gen z is more conservative than past generations" think-pieces from a few years back. but it's very possible for a person: to believe that climate change is a problem, to support (or be part of) the LGBT community, to believe in universal healthcare and social services, to support religious tolerance, to fight for expanded housing and labor rights, etc etc etc, and still, like, unabashedly hate women on a level you wouldn't believe existed

[queerbauten]

The way Joost called out the EBU’s heavily-charged “incident with a female crew member” statement… chef’s kiss, five stars

[lgbtlunaverse]

Half the internet talking about how we just need to be more niceys to men and misogyny is the fault of mean internet feminists and the other half going "Let's try seperatism again!" I'm so tired. I want to be in community with men, especially marginalized men whose political goals align with mine, while trusting that any critique of misogyny won't immediately turn them into fascists. Is that too much to ask?