Here’s the thing: Maybe I tweeted about Captain Marvel because I’m truly tired of people, mainly men, picking apart every aspect of female-led superhero movies and either a) comparing them to each other or b) claiming that a male superhero is better or c) dissecting every last detail, from her smile to lack thereof.
So I tweeted a joke out of both exasperation and a little bit of anger. What I didn’t expect was over 700 replies all calling me sexist. Clearly, they don’t know me because all I do is talk about men and praise them for doing the bare minimum.
DEAR MEN,
KEEP YOUR FUCKING HOT TAKES ABOUT CAROL DANVERS TO YOURSELF. THANK YOU.
— rachel leishman (@RachelLeishman) December 4, 2018
The funny thing is that all 700 replies are telling me that they won’t be silenced, as though I actively went onto their pages and silenced them myself. (News Flash: I didn’t. In fact, I barely engaged with the responses. I cannot, in actuality, remove their ability to Tweet—but I did hope to give people pause and think about why Carol was subject to their knee-jerk criticism.)
It’s hard not to conclude that these folks just don’t want anything different from what they’ve known for the last 20 plus years of superhero movies. So they dislike being called out for their unasked-for hot takes.
Why can’t they let us have Carol?
White men coming out with “captain marvel trailer shows it’s going to be black panther levels of bad” like we get it you’re racist AND you hate women
— gayvery (@rhodeytony) December 4, 2018
You don’t like Carol Danvers or T’Challa? That’s totally fine. Bashing them because they’re not your Wonder Bread superhero you remember from youth isn’t. The reason I did the tweet was because, a mere two minutes after the trailer dropped, men dominated the comment section on YouTube, talking about how ‘bad’ they thought the movie looked.
Remember when they told Carol to smile more after the first trailer dropped? It’s just all rooted in this sexist idea that women can’t be superheroes and that, when we do get a superhero movie, we’re supposed to let men trash it because they’re nervous over the idea of inclusion.
So sure, I told men to keep their hot takes to themselves. Should I apologize to all men? No, because I believe that there are men out there who realize I’m not referring to them. It’s not an ‘all men’ tweet but is one that refers to a specific group of men who are currently calling me an ‘idiot’ and responding to all my tweets with dumb comments.
Maybe men should learn that if you’re offended by a comment asking men not make sexist comments, chances are it is because you’re one of the men doing it.
If you’re the kind of man who responded with “oh yeah, you’re a fan of Captain Marvel? What sci-fi series is she obsessed with then?” like I don’t know that her cat is named Chewie, you’re definitely who I’m referring to. It’s 2018, if you don’t like something, you’re allowed to talk about it. But bashing a movie because it has a woman in the lead? That’s stupid. Not recognizing that I’m calling you out for having that take is equally as stupid.
When I say “keep your f***king hot takes”, I’m referring to those who sit behind their keyboards and just wait for moments to trash women. That’s not you? Great. It is you? Maybe go outside, read a book, watch the sunset.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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