umass ant major

My thoughts on how damian views gender vary a bit from DC- obviously there are women in the league and Ra’s let talia do things that arent Wife And Motherhood, it seems a little ridiculous to me and potentially even racist that he would be a Turbo Sexist Dillweed. I think ra’s is likely in some ways progressive with a lot of unexamined biases- talia can go to medical school, but when he, a man, calls her, she better come back. She was also sent in part because people were starting to sniff around regarding marriages to arrange a better status for themselves, and i think ra’s would expect to be asked for permission to marry her. At the end of the day i think he probably believes that women are capable of everything and anything and have their own capabilities that men do not, but at the same time somewhat believes that they are ‘owned’ by their father and until that tie is severed by father’s death (or husband’s, unless they were never married) the ownership remains. He is not aware that these thoughts are incompatible with each other or nonsensical. This sentiment is not expressed by him explicitly or out loud, moreso a vibe that he gives off when talking about talia and other women. This to me is largely based around his eugenicist beliefs as well as the concept of a womb and who has one- a woman needs a man (although i do think he would accept a mother also deciding this in a situation without a father to do so- i think it is mostly based around ensuring nobody is 'blinded by love') to decide whom she can procreate with, and it is the father's responsibility to make sure that the man has "superior or equal genetics" before marriage and/or reproduction in order to ensure the future generation is an improvement. (<- he had some big feelings about talia suddenly becoming pregnant and refusing to tell him who the father was, which likely resulted in some deep dives and stalking of talia and what she had been doing and with whom in the last 2-3 months, and held some deep reservations about damian until he started showing his capabilities. Bruce was passable to him as a doctor from a prestigious family but i don't think ra's has ever been Happy about damian's parentage in the way he was in canon. i also think ra's probably pushed him harder in this universe than in canon due to being an unknown whose genetic makeup he was not able to vet prior to conception.) He called Talia back in part to train anton, but also because Ra's (without a bruce to compare anton to) believed that Anton was the best match for her to procreate with and was hoping they would hit it off and create a new generation. IDK, there's ways to make him weird and creepy and sexist without resorting to flagrant and out of character sexism. these are beliefs a lot of men have all over the world, including ones who claim to be feminists. it would be weird if he was 500 years old with NO weird views on women, but i think dc is deeply overblown with it in a manner that is deeply out of character for a man who is and always has been a radical

I think he would also be fine with transgender people as a concept (there is a non binary character that he genders correctly in ch2 of exodus) but if talia or damian transitioned i think he would have some opinions on it a la “transition by committee” which is a very funny and too real article on daniel lavery’s substack. He at the end of the day is a radical who would like the world to change, and i don’t think he would or should care overmuch about who loves who or what gender someone is as long as they can Keep Up and do what needs to be done physically. I would argue that his ableism would probably be more of a problem than his sexism or homo/transphobia, which dc doesn’t agree with obviously lol. i don't think he'd be some kind of ally or anything, i just don't think he would mind or think about it beyond asking if a person is physically capable. Ra's will use whatever pronouns you want but you're only going to survive his ecofacist reset of the earth if you can kick ass and move weights.

Anyway, regarding damian’s view of gender- being trans isn’t any kind of big deal to him, although i think his education about it culturally is somewhat limited as he has yet to be approved for trips out of the compound where he will Meet People, and therefore has not had a full education as to what the world outside the compound is like. this is part of raising someone in a cult- you want them fully boiled in your culture before you introduce another one, in order to keep them fully on your side and to make the outside world seem both dangerous and alien (and in the league's eyes, worthy of destruction). He’s probably somewhat aware that it is taboo as he has seen people get up in arms about it at the league and duke it out on the training mats, because ra’s does not care if that woman has a penis as long as she can throw hands and will go on and ask her to demonstrate that fact to whoever is having A Problem. I also just dont think it makes sense for damian who is aware of how deadly and capable women are (particularly his mother) to be misogynistic, but likely there will be a lot of deconstruction happening about ableism and eugenics and power, and perhaps one day will be like "do i need to ask for someone's father's permission to marry them if they are also a boy" and someone will be like Permission??? (<- i also had this happen to me but in a "we are both girls" way. my dad is one william years old.) I just am not sure there's much to deconstruct, gender wise. damian was taught to respect power and ability. women are powerful and capable.