The Radical Notion That Women Are People Too: Sexism Among SPN Fans

[chasingtides]

Sexism in Supernatural, and its ensuing debate, is old news. I wrote my own meta, drawing on my experiences as a hardened horror fan, about it in September, Why Supernatural Is Like The Evil Dead. However, today, in light of what has happened with Misha Collins and his character, Castiel, I might revise that original opinion, I regret to say. More on that later.

Despite the talk about the show itself being sexist, I've never seen anyone look specifically at the sexism and misogyny present among the primarily female fans. Taking a number of things into consideration, from what has happened with Misha Collins and Castiel to the recent wank about an actor's girlfriend daring to exist, I think it's high time that someone did.

If you watched the embedded video above, you watched three actors from the show (Misha Collins, Jensen Ackles, and Jared Padalecki) and their interviewer discuss the blatant sexism in the fandom. I, for one, am embarrassed that I fall, broadly, into the same category as these misogynists.

A quick perusal of Fandom Wank (a source, which, while wanky, is a great place to find an overview of the worst of any fandom) shows us people in this fandom getting upset over (and at) women for years. We get gems like (2007-2-19) fans going after women (ex girlfriends) associated with the actors, (2007-7-12) fans getting angry that two women (Bela and Ruby) would appear in season three, (2007-11-16) people getting angry that an underage actress dares to drink and put the show into disrepute, (2008-1-21) someone is called out for bashing (literally) women in her fanfiction, and (2009-3-31) people getting angry that an actor's girlfriend exists.

Television Without Pity and its associated forums also carry their own anti-female baggage. Ruby is known as Gluby (a name smush, I have been told, of Glinda - of good witch fame - and Ruby). Of Ruby, people write things like, "I'm not going to cheer just because the character wore an expression, for once," "She tries to tell us that she is into the method acting. I wish she wasn't. You really need a talent to transfer it from your mind to outside, in her case she only stuffs her head with wild ideas," "That scene gave off way too many Ruby is too speshul to kill vibes for me," and, "What I saw was that they know about her and are waiting for her to have enough rope to hang herself." It continues with the other women. Anna gets, "It's the casting and the acting that makes Anna into such a wasted opportunity," and Jo gets, "I think if she'd been played by someone who actually looked like an adult, the character would have been far less irritating." although one fan adds, "if she were to come back as a hunter, an ally and possibly kill Gluby once and for all, I'd throw her a parade."

I debated naming names, but why should I hesitate? If you think I have interpreted your posts/language/fanfiction/meta wrongly, feel free to let me know. I am only human. If we have a discussion and you show me that I am wrong, I will change this.

The fans on LiveJournal aren't any better than the TWoP fans.

huntress69 bashes, sometimes literally, the female characters in her fiction. I remember, quite vividly, being new to fandom and reading the fic in which Sam drugs Cassie and buries her alive to keep her away from Dean. Cassie appeared in one episode in season one and was never mentioned again. I don't mean to suggest that huntress69 is unique by naming her. She is not, by any means. She is merely someone I remember clearly. Consider her an example of a genre, rather than a unique outlier.

dean_sam gets more than its share of misogyny, one of the reasons I took it off my flist. spnstoryfinders periodically gets requests for fics bashing female characters. There's the impression, in many communities, and even in personal journals, that one must clarify why or how one likes a female character. "I like Jo, but not as a love interest." "I like Ruby, but not when she was snarky."

In addition, Misha Collins threw a monkey wrench into our sexist habits. He, in my mind, takes away our excuses, negates our ability to turn a blind eye to our own internalised hatred. Before, we were able to say, "Oh, they hate anyone who takes away from Sam and Dean." If Misha is to be believed in his interviews, the Powers that Be said the same thing. They warned him that, as a guest star, he would be reviled. Instead, he has become beloved. I know. I co-mod mishaland, a rapidly growing caplock community devoted to him. And yet, we continue to revile the female characters and actresses. TPTB listened to our hatred and to our outcries. Misha Collins will be returning next season as Castiel, something that no female guest star has done. Yes, this is sexism on the part of TPTB who shouldn't do this. But the blame falls to us - we are the ones who raised the hue and cry. We are the ones who demanded to be heard.

Do I blame Misha Collins for this? No. No more than I blame Alona Tal for the fact that Jo, my personal hero, has not returned to the show. No more than I blame Kate Cassidy for being replaced by Genevieve Cortese. This blame falls to us.

This also creates a problematic binary in the fandom. Either you are for the women or you are against the women. It becomes difficult to dislike a character or an actress and not be painted with the same brush as those who have Cassie buried alive. I, for one, am not a fan of Genevieve Cortese and her Ruby. However, I greatly hesitate to say that, though I love many other female characters who have graced the screen, for saying that I find Cortese's acting to be flat is tantamount to misogyny.

This false binary is just as unfair as the great misogyny. We are, contrary to popular belief, allowed to dislike characters based on what their characters do and don't do. (I, for one, find the whole demon blood drinking bit to be more stomach turning than anything else in the show, probably for cultural signifiers.)

It also grows difficult to separate the characters from the fandom. Is Castiel, and his actor by extension, a part of the clamor of fans who love him and slam the women, presumably on the value of what's between their legs? Is Ruby, and her actress by extension, a part of the crowd that labels you sexist if you suggest that you don't like her acting? Or can we accept the characters as separate from that? Are we able to separate the actors from their characters? Does it all blend into a giant ball of hatred, anger, and wank?

I don't know the answer to this. I know that I am becoming more and more selective in the communities I read and erring ever closer to going exclusively capslock, though it seems almost irrational to go to capslock communities to avoid hatred and irrationality to an outsider. I become hesitant in friending people. I also hesitated to write this meta. I know that it will cause problems. I've been planning this for months, but it was seeing the YouTube video that spurred me on.

Whatever the answers are, whatever reasons we have or don't have, this has got to have an ending point. We are women tearing down women. We are calling women whores and sluts and worse, for what? Daring to grace our television screens? Most of these women kick ass and take names. For the most part, they're awesome (Bela's backstory and Ruby's current apparent subservience aside). Why can't we, as presumably awesome women ourselves, appreciate that?

Comments

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

It's not Dollhouse that influences my statement (as I've not seen any of it yet - but I did pick up DVDs yesterday, and am going to give it a crack). Mind you, if we're talking about his body of work I'll admit that I'm slightly troubled by the recurrent theme of the damaged-crazy-hot-(and painfully skinny/fragile)-lethal-brunette in his work. I love the hell out of each incarnation of this theme, but taken as a whole the pattern does squick me a little. (I don't know whether Dollhouse continues to explore this trope, but my impression is that it kinda does). So there's that.

But generally speaking, I think Joss is certainly far and away one of the best bloke writers out there when it comes to gender (and certainly when it comes to writing in general - damn, the guy's witty and creative and has FABULOUS instincts and timing). Race I'd like to see him keep getting better with, but, hey, who isn't that true of in TVland?

No, mostly I'm simply not comfortable generally with men calling themselves feminist. Much as I'm not comfortable with white people calling themselves an 'anti-racist' or 'white ally'. I know other people have a different sense of the words, and are fine with it, but I feel PROFOUNDLY uncomfortable with labelling myself an anti-racist, or a white ally, because I pretty much think the best you can do is keep on trying, and questioning yourself, and trying not to be a dickhead about your areas of privilege, and not assuming that you're magically fixed and bigotry-free, even if you've been cluesticked, and are generally doing well. And if you start awarding yourself badges like 'anti-racist' (or 'feminist', or whatever), then I think right there you're making it easier to rest on your laurels and NOT keep on questioning your assumptions and your privileges.

Clearly YMMV on this one, but that's where I'm coming from. I like the quotation in your icon a lot, and I remember watching him give that speech on Youtube or wherever at the time and being all choked up and "Go Joss! Yeah!" and I still think it's good, but it DOES have a bit of a self-congratulatory note that makes me wince.

(er - it may be relevant that I'm British? Almost painfully so? In an over-the-top Gilesish kind of way? Because culturally I'm very uncomfortable about that whole pat-yourself-on-the-back thing, even when it's for something you DEFINITELY, absolutely, positively do deserve. So if it's for being a good white anti-racist or a nice male feminist, then it makes me squirm. Obviously I'm not saying that all Brits have this perspective, because that's clearly not the case, but I do think my wince-response is tied in with the whole cultural thing about being awkward and embarrassed by the whole "Go me!" mindset.)

[mresundance.livejournal.com]

No, that makes sense and some people are pretty obnoxiously self-congratulatory about their progressiveness. It's like, well, good on you, but that's not why you ought to be into it and all.

Interestingly, I was worried Joss' Equality Now speech would be self indulgent, but I didn't think it was self congratulatory or self indulgent. I thought he quite intelligently noted that what he was doing shouldn't be remarked upon. But that it should be remarked upon and questioned why other men didn't try harder with writing complex (or strong) women characters instead of being complacent. And why people should even ask him why, at all.

Yes. The crazycakes brunette girl trope he has going is maybe troubling. But I think a lot of creative people have their fixations - tropes or ideas which they identify with and explore repeatedly. But maybe he's just a little too into this one . . . ?

Yes on the race thing. Firefly had some issues, particularly with representation of Asian folk, but then, I wonder if that would have remained true had the series continued? Would there have been more Asian folk? Major characters? Etc? It's hard to say since the series was cut short.

Hehehe re: your Giles-esque Britishness. I lived in the UK for a couple years and really liked how reserved people were. As in, not rude and not asking me dumb questions when they didn't even *know* me. Americans can be so blunt and straightforward it's actually irritating to me at times, though, I would have to say I am pretty classic American in my own bluntness.

But back to your first point on men calling themselves feminists or white people calling themselves allies . . . for the longest time I hesistated to call myself feminist as a guy, but I guess I realized my beliefs were feminist and I shouldn't hesistate to say I am a feminist, if it helps to challenge the idea that men can't be a feminist or can't be for gender equality.

Plus, I think owning that reminds me I have to work harder to make sure I'm not trying to pat myself in the back or co-opt discussions or whatnot. That what I do is in the best interest of a whole and not because I want to be told "yay you" today. Not that I succeed all the time. But it's a work in progress thing.