Something about this has been bugging me ever since I read it, and I think I finally put my finger on it.
First off, I don't want to suggest that we shouldn't criticize the way women are written (often badly written) in superhero movies. Of course not! And I do think there are often problematic elements in the way that female heroes' backstories are set up and the way their hero arcs play out. (These stories are mostly written by men, and it really shows a lot of the time!)
But I think that downplaying or discounting a female hero's accomplishments because she didn't do it all on her own -- expecting her to be entirely a self-made woman, saying it counts against her if she took a hand up here and there -- is unfair. It's particularly unfair if the same criticisms aren't leveled against male characters. And they're not.
I mean, look at the men of the MCU. Tony's father was the one who built his fortune and weapons manufacturing empire -- but no one says that Tony's accomplishments don't count because they were merely handed to him. Steve is only a superhero at all because of a drug that was given to him -- but no one talks about Steve being merely "allowed to be a hero because he was enabled" by other characters.
Rhodey, like Pepper, uses a suit that was designed, built and is (presumably) maintained by Tony.
And in a non-comics example, what about James Bond? Everything he does his heroing with, from his guns to his cars to his special gadgets, was built for him by someone else. Does that mean Q, not Bond, is the real hero, because he builds the gadgets that Bond uses?
The point I'm trying to make is not that Tony and Steve and Rhodey and Bond don't count as heroes, that they're deficient somehow. But I don't think Pepper and Maya are either. It's okay if Steve, Tony, et al don't have to do it all themselves. We don't celebrate Steve for being a technical genius ... because he's not! He's brave and dashing and caring -- and that's if that's enough for Steve, then why isn't it enough for someone like Pepper or Maya?
I would really, truly love to see more self-made female superheroes, more female supergeniuses, more women in positions of power and responsibility -- but I have a big problem with suggesting that they have to do it all themselves or it doesn't count, especially when we glaringly don't apply the same standard to men.
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First off, I don't want to suggest that we shouldn't criticize the way women are written (often badly written) in superhero movies. Of course not! And I do think there are often problematic elements in the way that female heroes' backstories are set up and the way their hero arcs play out. (These stories are mostly written by men, and it really shows a lot of the time!)
But I think that downplaying or discounting a female hero's accomplishments because she didn't do it all on her own -- expecting her to be entirely a self-made woman, saying it counts against her if she took a hand up here and there -- is unfair. It's particularly unfair if the same criticisms aren't leveled against male characters. And they're not.
I mean, look at the men of the MCU. Tony's father was the one who built his fortune and weapons manufacturing empire -- but no one says that Tony's accomplishments don't count because they were merely handed to him. Steve is only a superhero at all because of a drug that was given to him -- but no one talks about Steve being merely "allowed to be a hero because he was enabled" by other characters.
Rhodey, like Pepper, uses a suit that was designed, built and is (presumably) maintained by Tony.
And in a non-comics example, what about James Bond? Everything he does his heroing with, from his guns to his cars to his special gadgets, was built for him by someone else. Does that mean Q, not Bond, is the real hero, because he builds the gadgets that Bond uses?
The point I'm trying to make is not that Tony and Steve and Rhodey and Bond don't count as heroes, that they're deficient somehow. But I don't think Pepper and Maya are either. It's okay if Steve, Tony, et al don't have to do it all themselves. We don't celebrate Steve for being a technical genius ... because he's not! He's brave and dashing and caring -- and that's if that's enough for Steve, then why isn't it enough for someone like Pepper or Maya?
I would really, truly love to see more self-made female superheroes, more female supergeniuses, more women in positions of power and responsibility -- but I have a big problem with suggesting that they have to do it all themselves or it doesn't count, especially when we glaringly don't apply the same standard to men.