The way to insult a demon is to call it a woman
cereta just posted on her disappointment with the charterization of Dean in this season of Supernatural, which led me to this series of posts by trollprincess tracking gendered insults across season one, two, and three. Her conclusion:But basically here's what it looks like:
Season one -- Dean or Sam refer to a woman by a pejorative three times in twenty-two episodes.
Season two -- Dean or Sam refer to a woman by a pejorative three times in twenty-two episodes.
Season three -- Dean or Sam refer to a woman by a pejorative eighteen times in sixteen episodes.
Maybe they were making up for the shortened season?
She tracks a lot of other related stuff too, but that's the executive summary, I think.
Since I pretty much gave up watching SPN sometime in November, I can't confirm any of this, but it seems pretty well documented and I really can't doubt it.
I think I first realized that season three was going to hurt me when a black man was forced to drink gasoline. I'm not sure why I have the perception that this crime has associations with racial-hatred, but google does not seem to immediately disprove me on the first page of results, and I can't stomach looking any further. I think I stopped hoping when a six year-old referred to women as 'bitches,' and it was supposed to be read as a cute reflection of Dean. Dean hadn't, at that point, ever referred to women as a class as bitches, but I was supposed to find it both in character and endearing.
People have argued that this is a difference merely of degree, and Dean's lack of respect for women has been apparent from season one. This is true, but the difference between lack of respect and contempt is one of degree, and I can tolerate the first, but not the second in my entertainment. I understand that other people draw their lines differently.
To clarify, I don't blame Dean: Dean's not real. I blame the writers, executives, and producers who decided that the demographic they needed to pursue was one which identified with woman-hating, one which couldn't identify with female characters, and one which saw nothing wrong in killing off every woman and character of colour who appeared in more than one episode. (Is Missouri Mosley even still alive? I hope TPTB have forgotten about her.)
So trollprincess' findings don't surprise me, but I really wish that I had been wrong about where this season was going.
ETA: via coffeeandink, marinerusalka's summary of female characters in S3 is also interesting and depressing.
Season one -- Dean or Sam refer to a woman by a pejorative three times in twenty-two episodes.
Season two -- Dean or Sam refer to a woman by a pejorative three times in twenty-two episodes.
Season three -- Dean or Sam refer to a woman by a pejorative eighteen times in sixteen episodes.
Maybe they were making up for the shortened season?
She tracks a lot of other related stuff too, but that's the executive summary, I think.
Since I pretty much gave up watching SPN sometime in November, I can't confirm any of this, but it seems pretty well documented and I really can't doubt it.
I think I first realized that season three was going to hurt me when a black man was forced to drink gasoline. I'm not sure why I have the perception that this crime has associations with racial-hatred, but google does not seem to immediately disprove me on the first page of results, and I can't stomach looking any further. I think I stopped hoping when a six year-old referred to women as 'bitches,' and it was supposed to be read as a cute reflection of Dean. Dean hadn't, at that point, ever referred to women as a class as bitches, but I was supposed to find it both in character and endearing.
People have argued that this is a difference merely of degree, and Dean's lack of respect for women has been apparent from season one. This is true, but the difference between lack of respect and contempt is one of degree, and I can tolerate the first, but not the second in my entertainment. I understand that other people draw their lines differently.
To clarify, I don't blame Dean: Dean's not real. I blame the writers, executives, and producers who decided that the demographic they needed to pursue was one which identified with woman-hating, one which couldn't identify with female characters, and one which saw nothing wrong in killing off every woman and character of colour who appeared in more than one episode. (Is Missouri Mosley even still alive? I hope TPTB have forgotten about her.)
So trollprincess' findings don't surprise me, but I really wish that I had been wrong about where this season was going.
ETA: via coffeeandink, marinerusalka's summary of female characters in S3 is also interesting and depressing.