Stop Acting Like Girls Don’t Like Superheroes. It’s Exhausting
The Daily Wire‘s Matt Walsh loves to have bad takes. At this point it’s more or less an inevitability, like taxes, or President Donald Trump making some off-the-wall comment. However, that doesn’t keep it from being exhausting and making us wonder, “Does Matt Walsh actually have true joy in his life, or is it just a series of perceived wrongdoings?”
Recently, his ire was directed at the upcoming Supergirl film–which, to him, was pointless because girls “don’t really care” about superheroes, which is false. Go to any comic con and you’ll see that Walsh’s views are just myopic and sexist.
Said Walsh in a post on X, “What is the audience for ‘Supergirl’ exactly? My sons like superheroes but they want to see Superman, not a girl. My daughters dont really care about superheroes generally. So who’s watching this slop? Seems specially designed to appeal to no one.”
When I was a kid, I didn’t like dresses or girly things, or even the color pink. Does my experience encapsulate the experiences of girls as a whole? No, so why should the preference of Walsh’s kids matter? Sometimes girls like Barbies. Other times they like Pokémon. It may come as a surprise, but the experience of the human race is varied.
How did this dialogue start?
Walsh’s reaction comes as a direct response to Milly Alcock’s recent comments about the criticism of her upcoming film Supergirl, where she plays Kara Zor-El. The movie is still weeks away, with little information being given, but it is still being mercilessly criticized online.
Speaking recently with Variety, Alcock referenced her previous interview with them where she said that “simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on. We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women’s bodies.”
The comment sparked a flurry of backlash online. All of it was so targeted that Alcock brings it up again, saying, “I didn’t even say ‘men’ — I said ‘people!’ And they got so angry. I was like, ‘You’re proving my point. You’re proving my point!'”
On X, a user quoted Walsh’s post and helpfully pointed out the following:
“1. Supergirl has been around since 1959.
2. Men have no issue watching women in action roles in film. That only recently became a problem because of how Hollywood started using them as vehicles for woke politics.
3. Women also enjoy superheroes. Tons of women went to see Wonder Woman (the movie), and the show was on for three seasons in the 70s. Xena: Warrior Princess was on for six seasons in the 90s. Just as a couple of examples. Or look at the massive sucess[sic] of Kill Bill.”
Number 2 should be emphasized as much as possible. We are only in this predicament because the internet has made men like Walsh feel safe in pushing their agendas. So go out there, subvert the expectations, and like whatever superhero you like. They are not–and have never been–only for “the boys.”
(Featured image: Parisa Taghizadeh/James Gunn on social media)
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