kalpurna

This is such a wanky post to make. HOWEVER.

I find it incredibly troublesome when people, well-intentioned though they may be, try to combat negative generalizations about [group X] by substituting "good" generalizations about said group. My mom does this a lot, and I guarantee she means nothing bad by it. "Oh, at first I was scared by traveling to a third-world country, but the people are so friendly!" Yeah... except not all of them are. And they shouldn't have to be just to alleviate your fears. (And "third world" is a problematic term to begin with.)

Now, I don't bring this stuff up with my mom, because she's, well, my mom. It's not worth it, and it'd hurt her feelings, and she wouldn't learn from it. But fandom is a lot younger than my mom. Fandom's better-educated. And when fandom does stuff like that, I kind of feel like I should point it out.

So... Lyn-Z. What do we know about Lyn-Z? She's a mediocre bassist and excellent performer in a self-consciously edgy band that makes music influenced by many genres including hip-hop and punk. She has tattoos. She doesn't write music or lyrics. She's a talented visual artist who was accepted to one of the most prestigious art schools in the country. She's smart, articulate, from Connecticut, lived in New York, wears pigtails, doesn't mind smelling bad, used to be chubby. There's plenty of person there. That's a whole lot of canon.

And yet we persist in thinking of her as "a real musician, who plays a real instrument, not someone looking for attention." Guys. That is not who she is. That doesn't in ANY way mean she's not deserving of respect, but then again, I think Pete Wentz deserves your respect, so there you go.

The other bizarre thing that seems to happen in fic and meta, the other weird transformation, is the way that Victoria becomes a badass dominatrix and Greta becomes a shy sweet angel. Vicky-T was unpopular in high school. She doesn't think of herself as attractive. She never talks on stage, and she cried over FBR_Trash being mean to her. Meanwhile, Greta was in the homecoming court, joined every club in school, and has never shown anything but wicked glee at any shenanigans her band or audience have gotten up to. She's a genuinely nice, smart person, but she's also the popular kid. She's also the one cracking jokes at her bandmates' expense.

There's this constant trend in bandom to talk about "acceptable" women as being the girls who don't sing, the girls who don't have myspaces, the girls who don't "cause drama" with fans, the girls who support their men to the point (in fic) of accepting their gay romances, the girls who are chubby (or formerly chubby) and nerdy and brunette and worshipped by everyone around them. They're people who fangirls would like to hang out with. And when it comes down to details, we all know that Vicky-T is a femme fatale, Greta is a shy smart sweetheart, Jamia is some sort of perfect zen goddess, Lyn-Z is a badass Musician with a capital M, Haley is Brendon's innocent BFFL, and so on and so on down the line.

I'm not saying that anyone who has written fic with any of these characterizations has written bad fic. I have adored fics about each and every one of these characters. It's just that I feel like while Hyperactive Five Year Old Brendon is annoying, at least he doesn't have quite the same tinny collection of implications clattering along behind him, you know? I'm tired of feeling like genderfucked male characters are richer and better-developed than characters who were born female and are actually out there in the world living a woman's life. I'm tired of people ascribing more complexity to Pete Wentz's little finger than Victoria Asher's entire body.

If I never see the phrase "so and so is a real woman" again it will be too soon.

I truly don't mean to be insulting to people who joined the write-in campaign to support Lyn-Z and let her know she's appreciated. I think that's awesome. I just also think there can be more complicated problems than simple Mary-Sueing going on in the background when we fangirl women.

Context: 1|2|3