"Eeew! *Girls*! They get in the way of twuuu m/m lurrrv!"
by Mythdefied
December, 2003


I've seen this touched on in other people's rants here, but so far it's been fandom specific. I'd thought that this was a problem that only cropped up in my fandoms (Hercules, Xena, and Buffy), but now I see that the plague has spread throughout all fandom, apparently. From anime to Lord of the Rings, right through Harry Potter and comic book fandom.

I'm a slasher. I like reading about the guys boinking the guys. Actually, let me rephrase that. I love reading about it; I even write about it. I really enjoy stories wherein my favorite pairing overcomes obstacles in order to be together; conflict makes a good story. Usually. But can someone tell me at what point women became an obstacle?

I can't go a single day anymore without opening my inbox and finding a story where one of the main plot points consists of the female character(s) doing her damnedest to break up the guys. And usually it's a female character from the show(s), one I'm very familiar with and who would never act in the manner in which the author has written her. Suddenly good, strong female characters I know and love, are turned into scheming, manipulative, cold-hearted bitches who go out of their way to hurt the guys and make sure they never find love with another man. WTF? These days it seems like there can't be a female character in most stories without her being transformed into the Wicked Witch of the West ("I'll get you, my pretty, and your little boyfriend too!"), simply because she's, well, female.

What goes through these authors' minds? What on Earth would ever have given them the idea that female = evil? I can't read a Spike/Xander fic (Buffy fandom) without Buffy and Willow being uber-bitchy, Xander-abusing jerks. I sure as hell can't find a Cupid/Strife fic (Hercules fandom) without Psyche being an impossibly evil, unloving bitch. What's going on?

If the supreme OOC-ness of the whole thing isn't scary enough, there's the fact that most of the authors doing this are women themselves, and not just teenagers. Do they really hate themselves that much? My god. If they really do think women are the root of all evil -- and that's what so many of these fics read like -- then I can only pity them, and hope they find some serious professional help.



mythdefied@gmail.com

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