There are poorly written characters. Some of these characters are female.

Criticizing them is not inherently sexist.

(thread)

Two things can be true at once:

Some criticism of female characters is rooted in misogyny,

AND,

Criticism of genuinely poorly written female characters is often deflected with accusations of misogyny.

I'm just annoyed with the lack of nuance on this.

Like, YES, there are sexist undertones to the way some people dislike some characters!

AND some characters are just bad! It's not sexist to say so!

I've NEVER liked Captain Marvel, and I'm empathetic to criticisms of Rey. I don't think either of these things is rooted in internalized misogyny.

I just think they're flawed characters.

To prove my point, here are some female characters I think are PERFECT:

Zoe from Firefly
Kailee from Firefly
Ripley from the Alien franchise
Wonder Woman from the latest movie
Katniss Everdeen

It's a short, incomplete list, but you get the idea. All these characters come across as real people, with vulnerabilities and strengths, and skills that build in believable ways.

And none of them received the level of backlash that characters like Captain Marvel and Rey did, because... GET THIS... this is a list of better written characters! There's very little, if anything, you could criticize about them!

Some of them are stoic but still three-dimensional. They feel like people you could know in real life.

Many also have a mix of feminine and masculine traits that make them feel less like archetypes and more like PEOPLE.

Because news flash: That's what makes a good female character. It's the same thing that makes a good male character.

You make her a person.

(/end)