I'll ramble, and I'll rant, and I'll blow your house down

[lyras]

You know what really winds me up? People reading fic so they can gloat over a woman not getting the guy because (OMG!) he turns out to fancy Sirius or Draco or whoever. And other assorted instances of misogyny and sexism in fandom - of which I've seen plenty recently, both in fic and in people's behaviour. It really disturbs me the way some

Comments

[such_heights]

So much this! I mean, Lord, I thought HP was bad and then I discovered Torchwood fandom, ugh. The female lead on the show, who dares to have chemistry with one half of one of the most popular boyslash pairings ever? Clearly she must die. Bleurgh. I could write essays on the hypocrisy and bollocks of fandom's continuing attitude towards Gwen Cooper, seriously.

[lyras]

I saw the edges of the Gwen hate on my flist, but am pleased that I was clueless enough not to understand it (although I must admit that after that video you posted the other day, Torchwood has shot to the top of my list of Things to Watch!).

It just freaks me out so much. We should be on the same side here, given our battles in real life.

[snowandsunshine]

Gah, pet hate. For God sake, I mean I have issues with the way Tosh and Gwen were handled by the writers in series 1 (and that's a whole different of kettle of fish), they were fab in series 2 , but bashing them in stories because they get in the way of your favourite pairing , well I throw my hands up in despair. What's more, when you attack the looks of the actress because the character gets in the way of your man lovin' ? Well, we've gone beyond the ridiculous.

I've also noticed this in several Supernatural reviews last night - either complete denial about a female character getting one of the boys, or bashing both her and the actress because she got with one of the boys. For further examples see Cuddy, Cameron and Amber in House

[lyras]

It's comments like these that make me very glad I only have one fandom to deal with! I'm not sure I could stand to see this sort of stuff all over my flist instead of occasionally around the edges of it.

[snowandsunshine]

It's my own fault- I am a curious and voracious reader and most of the people on my my flist are wonderful , sane , rational individuals who don't mind if I degree with them.

The only fandoms I am at all active in are HP (though to a much lesser degree than previously) and DW/TW. I lurk in a dozen more, mainly because they are so wanky and I don't want to be dogpiled, but also because I just don't have the energy to argue with everyone.

[used_songs]

I agree with you on Gwen. The character improved greatly in season 2 and, as a result, I started to be really bothered by the level of Gwen bashing.

One thing I worry about for season 3 is that we may not even have another female character besides Gwen.

[snowandsunshine]

Yes, that's definitely a concern, but I wonder whether that's due to the constraints of the plot and time, rather than due to sexism, conscious or otherwise. I'm also not sure what's worse- a token female character for the sake of it, who is underdeveloped and then fridged, or no woman at all.

[lokifan]

Martha is coming back as a regular - Doctor Who made that very clear. And she's awesome.

I can't bear Gwen, but I actually tried to like her better purely because I got sick of the hate.

[lothy]

Martha is coming back as a regular

I wouldn't be too sure of that - Freema's got a role in the new Law & Order: London.

[ext_90760]

I don't know, I can't stand Gwen and it has everything to do with the actress and how Gwen's written and nothing to do with Jack (who I don't find interesting at all).

Tosh FTW though. And Rhys, bless him.

[julygreen]

I'm not in TW fandom, but it's worth pointing out that many people don't like her for other reasons. I don't like Gwen because to me she comes across as an unlikeable, inconsistently written character. (And I'm not a Jack/Ianto fan ... I don't get the appeal of that pairing at all).
But yea, I have heard about the Gwen-hate in the fandom and from what I know, it seems pretty excessive.

[such_heights]

Oh no, don't get me wrong, I haven't always been Gwen's biggest fan myself (although now I LOVE HER LIKE PIE), and I'm not saying that everyone who dislikes the character is a raving misogynist, obviously. Just that the people who get so madly, character-bashingly, hate comm joiningly enraged by her often have the most disturbing reasons as to why.

[julygreen]

Gotcha. And yeah, I totally agree.