#but realistically … should she have been here? somewhere in the 40k?

[comphetkoncass]

at a certain point in fics, sexism based off negligence (aka, “it’s been 40K and not a single female character has mattered at best or has even been mentioned at worst”) is just straight up ooc to the guy characters you’ve included. bc unless you intend your protagonist to be sexist, he would have cared about a woman within the last 40K and 3 months.

because tim wouldn’t just forget about cass. he loves her. kon wouldn’t disrespect ma by ignoring her. he loves her. dick would have called donna to ask her how she’s doing by now. because, yep, he loves her. damian would have thought about his mother by now. because yes it’s complicated but he loves her. clark would have recalled lois’s pragmatism by now and thought about how her thoughts might be valuable. because. he. loves. her. (and her opinion is indeed valuable). and even outside the realm of love, bruce would have asked barbara for her expertise. bruce would also ask diana for advice over clark on most matters. and dick would defer to kory or donna on emotional matters. and stephanie was good at making damian feel safe to be a kid. and so on. and so on.

like it or not, these women matter to these men. if you think these guys don’t seek out the women in their lives’ expertise, assistance, comradarie, friendship — you’re missing out.

and, if we’re keeping score, on a purely pragmatic level, they’re capable. and if you want to write capable men, you need to write them taking advice and cues from capable women. and sometimes, having their asses kicked by capable women is also what makes the story realistic.

so ma would have better parenting advice than alfred. and barbara would have solved tech issues faster than tim. and diana would have more wisdom than clark. and talia would have won that fight. and kory would also have won that fight. and cass DEFINITELY would have won that fight. do you get it?

like it or not, these women matter, and are skilled. not including them and not allowing the men in dc to see utilize their value makes it seem, ultimately, like you’re intentionally writing sexist guy characters for overlooking them.

because… seriously. do you really want someone reading your fic to be wondering, in the back of their mind, if this version of tim is just sexist and that’s why he doesn’t think about his girl friends at all? because at this point that’s what i wonder when i hit 40K and he hasn’t even briefly wondered how cass or stephanie or cassie are doing, let alone his civilian girl friends and female mentors.

the men in this fiction know the women around them have rich inner lives, and amazing skills. you could at least try to acknowledge them too, fandom.