Character Bashing
There's a Reboot Kirk/Spock fic. Every time I see a post to my flist that it's updated, I have a brief moment of excitement (ooh, that's a good one!) followed by a moment of sadness, because I have decided not to read that fic further.
The writing is good. The writing is excellent, even, and the fic was hitting all my fannish switches. But I cannot take the Uhura-bashing any longer.
I don't want to read about how Spock's sudden and irrational annoyance at Uhura comes from his attraction to Kirk. I don't want to hear about her "shrill voice", her "neediness", or any other traits that are coded as feminine and horrifically annoying and which she does not even possess in canon.
I don't want to read about how Spock is jealous when someone flirts with Kirk but not when someone sexually harasses Uhura.
I don't want to read a Sentinel fic where Blair's AU girlfriend turns out to be clingy, cruel, needy, and psychotic.
I don't want to read a SGA AU where Rodney's wife somehow managed to avoid being clingy, cruel, needy, and psychotic only because she is dead.
I don't want to read any AU where an OFC exists to provide the male character with a child and then die, angstfully, at some point before the story proper even starts, because god forbid she should be a real character, and not just a plot device with a womb.
I don't want to read a Torchwood fic where every character is always thinking about how annoying Gwen is whenever they talk to her. Or Doctor Who, sub in Rose/Martha as needed.
In fact, I don't want to read fic of any kind where a female character is torn down to prove how much more awesome slash relationships are. I don't want to read fic where a female character is made to bear the brunt of the fannish hatred that I can generally avoid in non-fic-related online fannish activities.
I know I've posted on this before. I know other far more eloquent people than me have posted on this before. All of the fics I mentioned above are real. All of them are well-written, well-plotted fics that I would have enjoyed fully if it wasn't for the fact that I kept getting blindsided by the badly-disguised hatred for female characters.
I used to be able to ignore it, because I was reading from a place of blind privilege, accepting the messages I wanted and ignoring the problematic parts. But we can do better than this. We can do better.
And we should.
(This post brought to you by summer holidays giving me more time to read fic.)
The writing is good. The writing is excellent, even, and the fic was hitting all my fannish switches. But I cannot take the Uhura-bashing any longer.
I don't want to read about how Spock's sudden and irrational annoyance at Uhura comes from his attraction to Kirk. I don't want to hear about her "shrill voice", her "neediness", or any other traits that are coded as feminine and horrifically annoying and which she does not even possess in canon.
I don't want to read about how Spock is jealous when someone flirts with Kirk but not when someone sexually harasses Uhura.
I don't want to read a Sentinel fic where Blair's AU girlfriend turns out to be clingy, cruel, needy, and psychotic.
I don't want to read a SGA AU where Rodney's wife somehow managed to avoid being clingy, cruel, needy, and psychotic only because she is dead.
I don't want to read any AU where an OFC exists to provide the male character with a child and then die, angstfully, at some point before the story proper even starts, because god forbid she should be a real character, and not just a plot device with a womb.
I don't want to read a Torchwood fic where every character is always thinking about how annoying Gwen is whenever they talk to her. Or Doctor Who, sub in Rose/Martha as needed.
In fact, I don't want to read fic of any kind where a female character is torn down to prove how much more awesome slash relationships are. I don't want to read fic where a female character is made to bear the brunt of the fannish hatred that I can generally avoid in non-fic-related online fannish activities.
I know I've posted on this before. I know other far more eloquent people than me have posted on this before. All of the fics I mentioned above are real. All of them are well-written, well-plotted fics that I would have enjoyed fully if it wasn't for the fact that I kept getting blindsided by the badly-disguised hatred for female characters.
I used to be able to ignore it, because I was reading from a place of blind privilege, accepting the messages I wanted and ignoring the problematic parts. But we can do better than this. We can do better.
And we should.
(This post brought to you by summer holidays giving me more time to read fic.)