It’s been a couple days, and I have read this scene a couple times now, and I’m sorry, I am just astonished that at no point did someone say “this reads a little offensive actually”. Like, if you substitute to pretty much any minority mutants are an analogy of it’s bad

“Because you are not gay. According to what I’ve observed, you never were gay. As a child, you dreamed of being different, special and so you acted and dressed up and acted as though you were gay, but you’re not really...You’re not welcome at our gay bar”

Content warning, this next substitution is especially painful as it’s very common right now and very disrespectful, but I want to show just how bad and painful this scene reads to some people

“Because you’re not a woman. According to this birth certificate, you never were. As a child you dreamed of being different, special and so you decided to be trans.” - like, this shit gets thrown at queer people in particular A LOT. There are parents who say this to their kids.

Now, if they wanna make Franklin not a mutant, fine. I personally dislike that retcon, but it’s been done before & not as offensively (IIRC) as this. It did not have to be worded this way, this is just hurtful, because this is actively how some minority identities get attacked

Now, is there a place for representing this because it is an actual problem some marginalised people face? Sure, but that doesn’t seem to be what was planned here, given how the writer has reacted to the valid criticism and concern surrounding it.

Now, maybe the people involved in this decision, which appears to be just Sl*tt, but this went by an editor too remember, didn’t intend to open up some very raw and for some fresh wounds, but that is exactly what it did. For him to act like a rude, petulant child about it is what

Makes this especially egregious. You may not have intended offence, but offence has been caused and instead of reacting and lashing out at those who have been hurt, how about listening, taking on board and doing better in the future?

Instead, all I’ve seen is a bunch of gaslighting, hurtful mockery, and completely fabricated mischaracterising of the valid criticism and concern, which does no favours to the writer, the publisher, the fans or the communities

Another thing I hate is how Sl**t in particular has used the “it’s just a story” defence (he also did this when he was really dismissive of a parents concern at the upset their child felt when S**tt killed Peter Parker off) - he’s more than happy to talk about how important these

Stories and characters are, raving about how he gets to work with them and what they mean to people, but as soon as there’s criticism or even just mild concern, he gets dismissive and defensive and tries “it’s just a story, get over it” etc.

You can’t have it both ways: either these stories/characters are important and mean a lot or they don’t.

And I’ll remind: words have power. They have heft. Myths and legends are words that have gained more weight. They can hit hard, for good or ill

Now today, I’m learning that Sia has made a similar error in judgement in her reaction to valid criticism in a film she’s done in regards to the autistic community.

Stop reacting defensively and lashing out to valid criticism from marginalised voices! Just listen!

It’s not hard, it’s not even a personal attack, especially if you didn’t mean to cause offence. That just means that your privilege has created a blind spot, and you become a better person when you see those spots and work on them.