#i can't believe Shiv stans are making me defend Tom of all characters lmao

[abla-soso]

People actually believe an upper-middle-class outsider, a nobody, can baby-trape the liberal, pro-abortion billionaire who has way more power than him in the relationship??? Is it crack??? Is it the crack talking???

If Tom believed he can trick Shiv into being pregnant and then manipulate her into keeping the baby, then why the fuck would he gleefully admit to it to her face??? Why not keep his mouth shut and precede with the plan in secret??? You know, like he's always done when he's being his scheming, conniving self??? Because there was no trick here. The moron thought he can sweet talk his wife into having a baby by showing her how eager and ready he is to have a baby ("I'm tracking your cycles, honey! See how badly I want this?!"), and when she expressed disapproval he gave up without a fight. He wanted a baby for utterly selfish reasons, yes, but how would anyone view this as Tom abusing Shiv's body and agency and treating her as a sex slave is beyond me. It's laughable.

This is a major issue I've noticed in the Tomshiv discourse. A lot of fans are weirdly determined to analyze the Tomshiv relationship through a Redfem worldview (where sex dynamics trumps the dynamics of class and race), when it's plainly obvious how the writing portrays class tension as the source of conflict, not sexism. Not saying that Tom can't be sexist towards Shiv, but his "inferior" class greatly hinders his ability to be effectively sexist. It's no coincidence that the typical gender dynamic is often switched between them. Tom is a nasty bitch who loves lording his power over people who are beneath him, but he constantly acted as the submissive, servile, silently suffering partner to Shiv. Just like he did with Logan and any people who have more power than him. And yet some people don't take this massive power inbalance into account and claim that Tom not only had the ability to be equally terrible and exploitative towards Shiv during the marriage but that he already did!! What?!! Then how did the Tomshiv dynamic drastically change as soon as Logan died and the marriage ended? As soon as Tom was able to social climb closer to Shiv's level? Why was he finally able to be a cunt to her and fight her as an equal?

This is not subtle writing, what's not clicking???