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I absolutely despise it when female characters with genuinely good potential, who are so very complex, are reduced to being love interests or comedic reliefs or killed for a male character's development, because that's so, misogynistic and also, hella boring!! I can give numerous examples of it happening and it's so disappointing!
• Stephanie Brown : In fanon, I've often seen her get portrayed as the love interest of Cassandra or Tim, with no actual personality, likes, dislikes and interests! Stephanie's character is based on her anger towards her father and her strong sense of justice. She's a great student, I personally head-cannon her to have ADHD, she's canonically a painter, she plays sports, she loves hard, she definitely has attachment issues and she's overall an extremely flawed and realistic character!
Her character focuses on serious problems such as teen pregnancy, family issues, how young girls are often preyed on, etc. Yet, all I mostly see is her being golden retriever person with no flaws whose just reduced to a love interest? Downright awful, however there are multiple really excellent analysis and fanfictions about her. However, like always, misogyny has destroyed so much of her character already.
• Cassandra Cain : Unlike Stephanie, Cassandra's character deals with racism. She is a firm believer how killing is extremely wrong, and YET, she understands when it is necessary. Cassandra isn't illiterate, and is not completely mute. She isn't some emo goth child killer who can't speak! Her character is extremely expressive, and she's alot more than Bruce 2.0 or Stephanie's love interest. Cassandra has quirks, she's weird, she has her own personality, likes, dislikes and interests and it's about damn time we acknowledge and appreciate that.
• Talia Al Ghul : Don't get me wrong, as much as I adore the character of Damian Wayne, it often overshadows the character of Talia! She's often reduced to either a pawn in her father's game, a love interest of Bruce or a mother to Damian, there's barely any information about her which doesn't include the men in her life! What about her childhood? Her likes and dislikes? Her life in the LOA? Her experience and her loyalty towards it? She's not some cold-hearted dragon lady whose yandere towards Bruce unlike how some ffs portray her! She's an anti-hero, she's her father's daughter yes, but she is also herself, I personally believe that she doesn't need or require a love interest but i dont have any hate against any particular ship which includes her. She likes animals and she's girly, she has her own personality that doesn't revolve around her father, Bruce or Damian. She's a doctor and a healer, she's an assassin and an excellent businesswoman! She's kind and she's cruel, she's a diverse and extremely complex character who deserves good writing and respect!
Before she's a mother, daughter or an ex, she is herself and considering how all of her romantic interests (except Bruce in some comics), I think it's better that she's single or find someone way way better than Bruce Wayne, however, that doesn't mean i hate any ships involving her, I just hate how it often overshadows her actual character.
• Natasha Romanoff : She's a fictional character who revolves around issues such as human trafficking, abuse and so much trauma, yet most of the time she's a love interest or a sexualized tool in the movies (Huge respect to the movie Black Widow for actually making her wear appropriate spy suits <3).
It's about damn time, we actually explore and focus on these characters according to their trauma and the issues that revolve around them instead of using them as objects for male characters and their character development cause that's just, that's just disappointing. There are so many, so many female characters whose character has been overshadowed just to make a male character look better! There are tons and tons of female characters in different fields such as comic books, anime and even TV series which have to deal with so much misogyny and racism because they are flawed while men who have the exact same traits are praised for it! It's about time we accept that females are humans too, female characters are people too and they are imperfect, they have flaws and that what makes them who they are!!
No hate to any particular fan fiction, writer or comic. This is just my personal opinion, and that's all! <3 :D