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Holy Fappin' Fandom Misogyny, Batman!
[ETA: Kritik has edited his blog post in as a result of the discussion in the comments here. Ergo I now withdraw my objections to his post in light of the fact that his edit is a) directly addressing and challenging the sexist stereotypes that were in his original post and b) kind of awesome. However, in the interest of preserving the discussion itself, I'm leaving my original post unedited and intact below. I stand by everything that I wrote about prostitution and stereotypes thereof, even if I retract any specific accusations against AnimeKritik for repeating said stereotypes. Anywhoo, original post is below.]
Y'know, I'm used to seeing and hearing a fair amount of sexism in the Soul Eater fandom. The amount of misogynistic poo that gets flung at Maka on a regular basis just for daring to be a girl in the starring role of a shounen action series doesn't surprise me anymore.
But Animekritik?
Dude, I seriously thought better of you. I mean, I respected you so much. Until this morning.
I mean, Jesus Christ, dude, what the hell are you smoking?!
http://animekritik.wordpress.com/2010/09/25/soul-eater-78-salvage-the-future/
Opening quote: "There is one advantage to being the child of a prostitute: you don’t have to go through all the trouble of disabusing yourself of the illusion that you are anything other than an accident." AND IT GOES DOWNHILL FROM THERE.
I was kind of expecting some misogyny to start coming out of the woodwork ever since Ohkubo revealed that Liz's mother was a prostitute. But I'm still flabbergasted that AnimeKritik, of all people, would be the first and most spew-worthy source of it.
For the record:
Liz states explicitly that she resents her mother for abandoning her. Not for being a prostitute.
Liz ended up on the street because her mother abandoned her. Not because her mother was a prostitute.
We don't know whether Liz's mother wanted children or not. We don't know why she abandoned Liz, whether her reasons were selfish or selfless, or what the whole story behind that was. We don't know why she became a prostitute. We don't know whether or not prostitution was the only thing that she did. We don't know whether she engaged in sex work out of choice or out of desperation.
We don't know.
But to simply assume that Liz's mother was a shallow whore who a) only got pregnant by accident and b) abandoned her children because of purely selfish reasons, and to make these assumptions simply because of the fact that Liz's mother was a prostitute, IS INCREDIBLY FUCKING SEXIST. It buys into the myths about prostitution that have real-world, harmful impact on women both within and without the sex industry.
Sex work can be a choice. Sex work might not be the only thing that a woman does - it doesn't have to define her. Many women who do or have ever prostituted themselves for whatever reason are loving, devoted mothers. Many women who want to quit being prostitutes are unable to do so because of the sexist attitudes toward prostitutes that permeate society and that are espoused by the likes of Msr. AnimeKritik and company.
Misogynistic attitudes and sexist myths about prostitutes make it easier IRL for sex workers to be abused, and harder for them to fight for legal rights and protections. Edumacate yourselves. No, really. Google Mariko Passion, The Prostitutes Education Network, or "sex work advocacy." You'll learn something new and probably get to see boobies while you're at it. It's a win-win.
And stop saying stupid shit about Liz's mother.
Really, fandom. Really.
Y'know, I'm used to seeing and hearing a fair amount of sexism in the Soul Eater fandom. The amount of misogynistic poo that gets flung at Maka on a regular basis just for daring to be a girl in the starring role of a shounen action series doesn't surprise me anymore.
But Animekritik?
Dude, I seriously thought better of you. I mean, I respected you so much. Until this morning.
I mean, Jesus Christ, dude, what the hell are you smoking?!
http://animekritik.wordpress.com/2010/09/25/soul-eater-78-salvage-the-future/
Opening quote: "There is one advantage to being the child of a prostitute: you don’t have to go through all the trouble of disabusing yourself of the illusion that you are anything other than an accident." AND IT GOES DOWNHILL FROM THERE.
I was kind of expecting some misogyny to start coming out of the woodwork ever since Ohkubo revealed that Liz's mother was a prostitute. But I'm still flabbergasted that AnimeKritik, of all people, would be the first and most spew-worthy source of it.
For the record:
Liz states explicitly that she resents her mother for abandoning her. Not for being a prostitute.
Liz ended up on the street because her mother abandoned her. Not because her mother was a prostitute.
We don't know whether Liz's mother wanted children or not. We don't know why she abandoned Liz, whether her reasons were selfish or selfless, or what the whole story behind that was. We don't know why she became a prostitute. We don't know whether or not prostitution was the only thing that she did. We don't know whether she engaged in sex work out of choice or out of desperation.
We don't know.
But to simply assume that Liz's mother was a shallow whore who a) only got pregnant by accident and b) abandoned her children because of purely selfish reasons, and to make these assumptions simply because of the fact that Liz's mother was a prostitute, IS INCREDIBLY FUCKING SEXIST. It buys into the myths about prostitution that have real-world, harmful impact on women both within and without the sex industry.
Sex work can be a choice. Sex work might not be the only thing that a woman does - it doesn't have to define her. Many women who do or have ever prostituted themselves for whatever reason are loving, devoted mothers. Many women who want to quit being prostitutes are unable to do so because of the sexist attitudes toward prostitutes that permeate society and that are espoused by the likes of Msr. AnimeKritik and company.
Misogynistic attitudes and sexist myths about prostitutes make it easier IRL for sex workers to be abused, and harder for them to fight for legal rights and protections. Edumacate yourselves. No, really. Google Mariko Passion, The Prostitutes Education Network, or "sex work advocacy." You'll learn something new and probably get to see boobies while you're at it. It's a win-win.
And stop saying stupid shit about Liz's mother.
Really, fandom. Really.