Lowkey wanna talk about this, cause this deserves more attention.
I agree that Armin is tortured unfairly more than almost any other character, at least in the physical way where he's meant to endure trauma such as rape, abuse, torture, etc. And while this post mentions this under the guise of primarily torture porn and not just pieces that involve such happenings, I think it's an important mention.
Genuinely, as a huge eremin fan, the feminization of armin holds roots in the patriarchy. He's "more feminine" in appearance and behavior, which has over the years led to lots of femboy jokes and such, and whatever, harmless in a vacuum. An odd amount of the fanfics that exist of eremin hold some form of armin-pain (outside of canon, outside of simple emotional angst). While these are still disproportionately low compared to other fanfic topics, it's disproportionately high compared to other aot characters. I don't know, the only other character i've seen so much torture of is Eren (the alarming amount of eren being groomed/raped by levi or zeke), and honestly I don't know where to begin with that one. And even then, I'd say there's a larger ratio between no eren torture and eren torture, whereas armin torture seems more prevalent.
I myself enjoy some dark topics and write my fair share of my favorite characters in pain. As a writer myself, I like to put the characters I connect with through similar things that I did, as some way of coping or shedding light, or telling a story, with as much respect to a topic as I can provide, and I like to believe that is the intention most others have (i'm an optimist), but there is something odd about what Armin attracts, or rather, what people who see femininity as an exploit see in Armin, which is femininity.
Like consider the amount of omegaverse armin fics where it's just armin having no consent, whoever the partner is, it's genuinely an insane amount. I think things like these are important to address because they need to be acknowledged and thought about first to then be dismantled. These habits of putting Armin in positions faced by many fems is rooted in misogyny, rooted in patriarchy which dictates that the male is the highest form, and therefore any man who is remotely feminine is purposefully devaluing themselves, because why would anyone want to step down the rungs of social hierarchy? Are works like these a reflection of the punishment of femininity? In a patriarchal society where even mainstream feminism revolves around men, is the product of that a subconscious or conscious punishment of femininity? Is it so internalized that the punishment of femininity is unchecked, produced without a second thought? I don't like to believe that most people are evil, so I'd like to not believe that the majority of people who post such things in regards to Armin and other androgynous or feminine characters don't have mal intent for pleasure, to fetishize a topic solely and leave it at that. But the implications of that would be that there's something drawing about punishing femininity to a subconscious level, if that's to reflect one's own self-punishment (as in an internalized issue now externalized via fanwork) or the punishment of someone who is "other." Both of these thoughts need to be interrogated on a deeper level.
And I hope the trend declines. I hope there's more accepting of androgyny and femininity in a way that does not relate to patriarchal values, whether that's the intent to stick to those values or to oppose it purposefully (as in when the lack of masculinity still revolves around masculinity, think things like "i hate men" being focal point in a feminist narrative, how that still allows the topic to revolve around men, but not the adoration of them but the hate of them. regardless, still leaving men and masculinity as the topic at hand). And also I hope for more fluid perceptions of gender, let gender just be a big bowl of oobleck that's fluid and solid.
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