Color me shocked that men on the internet are angry about women in Star Wars. To be fair, it is currently a top comment on an announcement for Star Wars Outlaws that has nearly 500 likes, but it’s not an uncommon statement among fans of the franchise. And it is common among male gamers as well. In their minds, playing as a female character isn’t what they want to be doing with their free time. As if women haven’t been playing as male characters for decades.
The trailer for Star Wars Outlaws introduced fans to Kay Vess, the hero in a new open world Star Wars game. It looks absolutely beautiful, but of course a man with the username “Cinema Shogun” asked what is probably the most idiotic question I’ve ever read: “Are there any men left in the Universe?”
Now, let’s take a little look back at the most recent Star Wars properties to come out. The last show that dropped was The Mandalorian, which has a male lead. Before that was Andor, and another man. Before that? Obi-Wan Kenobi. What I’m seeing is a pattern and that pattern is a lot of men! So the upset that one game (and to be fair, one upcoming show—Ahsoka) has a female lead? Ring the alarms! The men are losing all their representation!
It’s so disappointingly predictable at this point. Whenever a woman gets anything in the world of Star Wars, the angry men bring out their pitchforks to scream about women ruining everything (and then complain that no woman wants to date them). Every single time there’s a new woman in Star Wars, the fedora-wearing men come out of the woodwork to scream about how men have nothing anymore.
It’s like clockwork
This is an argument that doesn’t work in any regard, for a number of reasons, but it especially doesn’t make sense with Star Wars. Right now, there have been exactly three projects led by women. The sequel trilogy with Rey (Daisy Ridley), the upcoming Ahsoka, and now Star Wars Outlaws. And to be clear, these are the same men who were probably pissed that Obi-Wan Kenobi included Leia instead of Luke.
Time and time again, the angry dude bros log on to Twitter, push up their glasses, and say “But what about the men?!” out loud and we’re supposed to nod along and say, “yes yes, rightfully so.” This comment in particular is incredibly annoying because almost every recent Star Wars property has had a male lead, front and center.
It is yet again a reminder that these male “fans” of the franchise don’t actually know what they’re talking about. They think that Star Wars was never about female characters? Luke Skywalker and Han Solo would have been dead without Leia Organa. The same goes for Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker with Padmé. Women have always led this franchise and now we’re actually getting to lead stories of our own instead of playing a part in a man’s story.
If you have a problem with that, maybe you’re just not actually a Star Wars fan.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
