Shimmy shimmy Kokobop I think-

Fandoms don't like female characters. Y'all really don't.

Let me tell you a little story before we jump in. I've made a comment, about a female character, that I don't give a fuck about, and said, if she was male, she would be aggressively shipped with this one male character. I've said it because she looked so hot as a guy (fanart) that I belive the ship would be popular. Mind you, I didn't watch the show. I just know she doesn't like the guy and always banter with him and that's a dynamic shippers eat it up only when it's M/M.

Someone came and said the popular M/M of that show would still be popular if one of the character is female therefore, I'm wrong.

Mind you, I didn't watch the show so I did a quick search on WHEN does the character dies (lmao) and that's all I needed to know to fucking say NO, IT WON'T. It won't be popular if it was a girl.

The ironic part? I'm aware that, statistically, M/M dominate in ships and in so many other areas. But that's not why I said it won't be popular. Rather because female character are NOT relevant in fandoms. They are not! There is no way, a female character, will play a big importance in ONE arc and dies in that same arc.... that would make a fandom sob, cry, hyperventilate the way it did to this fandom! It never WILL! The man dies too quickly. If it was a female, she will not be relevant. Female characters will never make any big impact the way male character do even if they are written the EXACT SAME WAY.

Hell, they can't even making it to the top 10 rankings of favorite character in their OWN series. You usually see 1 female then the rest of the 9 be male. And it's usually a character who is the main female with the rest of the cast. A side male character will always beat the side female character in these shows.

One of the things I've noticed with the way people treat female character is, if she have a crush/love interest and y'all would act like it's the biggest ICK about her character and she suddenly loses all support while simultaneously, thirsting, salivating, over the same character she likes and behave like animals.

I learned, by being in fandoms, that a female character should never show interests in males. That's the only way she can remain in y'all "good favor" otherwise, it's not going to work. Males can do bare minimum and we gonna dkride them so hard.

How many female characters, if they were male, would be MORE liked than they are now? How many male characters, if they were female, would be LESS liked than they are now?

Liking a female character is a fucking BATTLEFIELD while liking male character is the smoothest ride ever (except for Sanji but he doesn't count for obvious reasons).

Having a male character favorite is just easy if dumbasses aren't power scaling. I might find someone who hates my favorites once in a blue moon and all I can think about is, "THANK GOD someone hate him. I thought he doesn't have haters." I can move on from it because he gets an overwhelming love that it doesn't matter if someone dislike him.

The female characters, on the other hand, you need to get the gun ready to start shooting because you will defending her for days. The hate would show up on your FYP out of nowhere, there is a long discussion about why she suck, they are debates, there are people who don't think she is that great, people who undermine her importance to the plot, people talking about, "I don't care about her. Her story arc is not bad, she is just not it. (aka not a male) I just don't feel her, blah blah. I won't be saying this if she was male, blah, blah, blah."

So in conclusion, y'all hate females.

Or to be accurate, they are not relevant for y'all. Fandoms don't care about them.

Let's just acknowledge that and move on with our lives because I don't want to hear shit from someone who likes over 100 male characters but will struggle to pick 10 females they really like. If the number of females don't even make 20% of the amount of males you have liked, don't fake outrage under my post talking about how it's not true. I don't care if y'all don't like them. Just don't lie.

I know you gonna say, there is more male characters than female which is true but if we consider the overall medium, you have OPTIONS. I'm literally saying to not limit it. If you can't name 50 female characters across an ENTIRE medium but can for males? Don't bother arguing with me.

Anyway, it's a real shame to see that female characters aren't written that much in archiveofourown. There are so many female characters that could have made it to the rankings of the 2023... but like I said, female characters aren't relevant so I shouldn't be surprised they struggling to make the list for that too.

Feel free to tag if you think it applies. It doesn't matter if they are from other mediums like Harry Potter, Star Wars or anything like that. If it fits, it fits. I'm going to tag a few random anime fandoms because chances are, it's not your fandom (maybe it is) but I'm still tagging because it's common here.

Literally.

As far as I'm concerned, I stopped considering them as relevant a long time ago.

In any case, there is no doubt about the fact that male characters in any fandom are more loved than female characters (not all, but to tell the truth we are on a ratio of 90/10 )

some will tell you that it's because many of them are poorly written or simply relegated to the background, which is true to a certain extent but I also know MANY male characters who have these problems and who are nevertheless adored SO…

Afterwards, we are not going to force people to love anyone, they do what they want and love who they want. However, stop degrading female characters for the reasons you adore/will adore male protagonists would be appreciated.

but just because both sakura and naruto chased after sasuke and were obviously both obsessed with him doesn't mean that the impact of a female character's almost entire premise of wanting a guy (especially in the context of a shonen) is the same as a male character, unaffected by misogyny pursuing another male character, within either romantic or platonic contexts. nor did they have the same reasons for doing so, neither would sasuke have seen both of them pursuing him in the same way

i got into thinking about this because someone responded to one of those 'which female character are you defending like this' post with sakura

i immediately replied saying it was nuanced to me because yes, they're alot of cishet men who only dislike her because they think she's weak and useless, which is obviously misogyny, because while she's underdeveloped (especially in comparison to naruto & sasuke, which just makes her pale in comparison) as well as underused, there's still been more than one instance of her displaying her capabilities. it's just unfair to dismiss someone who is a healer with super strength entirely

however, i went on to say that there's not much to defend wherever else she's concerned, since she was written by a man who made her almost entirely consumed with receiving the affections and attentions of a guy, from the moment she was introduced. this type of character formation, especially written by a man is just factually misogynist. but alot of her fans; other girls, just immediately bring up the fact that naruto was also consumed by sasuke

it's just laughable to make that response to me, because not only is it glaringly obvious that the impact of an otherwise very fleshed out, detailed male character's intent (no matter how immense that intent is) to pursue another male character could never hold the weight of a female character, who has been from her conception stripped down to leave very little but romantic impulses that by far overshadow what could be any of her other defining characteristics doing the same. it's not and will never be synonymous, i'm sorry. the misogyny here is not thinly veiled, it's blatant

and not only that, but it can be argued (whether or not you see the notion of naruto and sasuke as romantic or simply platonic) that they weren't pursuing sasuke for the same reasons, because of the misogynistic make-up of sakura. whether or not naruto had feelings for sasuke, he wanted to bring him back because he was his friend that he wanted around, first and foremost

sakura, on the other hand, was very obviously only ever written to put her romantic viewing of sasuke first. i am not saying she never ever felt any platonic comradery for him, but it canonically never took precedence. that only sets her decision to bring him back to konoha apart from naruto's decision to do so

several people, in their attempts to deem it unfair that only sakura gets the flack for wanting to bring sasuke back and being so devoted to it, failed to recognise this, and also another layer which differentiates this from naruto's actions: this is the fact that almost entirely up until they were married, sasuke had turned down sakura's every advance

this is another reason why sakura's obsession is unhealthy. and yes, naruto's obviously is as well but i think most of us narusasus can admit that, but not very many sakura stans. someone even flagrantly replied to my tweets saying "is the unhealthy obsession in the room with us now?" i CACKLED. cause i fear that's the only thing in the room

alot of people in the qrts of the original poster continued to bring up the fact that naruto also tried constantly to change sasuke's mind so he could come back to konoha. and yes he did. they were both out of line for not immediately considering how sasuke's trauma connected to the village warranted him leaving

however, it's not the same for the same reasons i've detailed but i think this other one is especially important: the fact that sasuke acknowledged naruto as his ONLY friend, and called sakura annoying more than once

and no, i'm not saying that he never experienced any comradery at all with her either, since he did thank her before he first left the village, and said he thought one time that he could've chosen a life with that connection between him and team 7

but it still remains that he obviously was uncomfortable with the majority of their previous interactions since they were coloured with sakura's advancement on him, whereas he and naruto had their rivalry, yes but also a blooming genuine bond they both admitted to on several accounts. i don't see how that's not inherently a stark differentiation

Sakura, in that scene, was so complex and nuanced that this fandom, to this day, can't comprehend the layers behind it. 90% of this fandom watches the show from a surface level. Now, of course, you would say she failed so her efforts didn't matter. You are right but the question wasn't if Sakura can beat Sasuke (we all know she can't). The question was if she was obsessed with him to a level that was unhealthy and the answer is no.

Now back to your main point, I agree with your points about misogyny but I don't agree that romantic feeling = misogyny. I don't know why so many fandom, as a collective, decided that wanting to save someone you love romantically make you a worse character than someone who wants to save the person they love platonically. I would say you are entitled to this choice. If you think saving someone as a friend makes them more solid, you do you.

However, during the rescue, she behaving like a NORMAL teammate. The fact she still wanted to save him despite him "turning down her advances" (quotation mark because this is another topic) should make her seem honorable? She is not saving him to have him return her feelings but because she actually is concerned about him? Also him calling her annoying... the first one was out of annoyance but the second and third were out of care.

In conclusion, Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura and Sasuke didn't have the same bond. We can all acknowledge that. If they had the same bond, it would be boring. Plus the main character is Naruto and of course, he is male so he is supposed to save the day, save the friendship and save the world otherwise he would suck major ass, from a writing point of view, if he wasn't. He was meant to have all the good scenes and save the day while the girl gets pushed in the back because of misogyny. The only reason Sakura fans bring up the argument that Naruto is "obsessed and chased Sasuke too" because they know Naruto had the biggest unhealthy obsession here and not Sakura but we have to mention Sakura because we know everyone mischaractize and hate Sakura and the only way for points to go across, is to drag her ass down too so it would seem like an even field for the incels.

She regretted it the second after Sasuke rightfully called her out and even opened a therapy center for war orphans.

Ino fatshamed Choji, Shikamaru was a misogynist, Neji misplaced his anger at Hinata, but no one ever calls them out. They were all kids, they all made mistakes.

“Sakura is abusive because she constantly punches Naruto–”

She only hit him in the manga when he did something perverted or disrespectful, it was heavily exaggerated in the anime.

It's called slap stick comedy. If you think it's aBuSiVe, I hope you have the same energy for Jiraiya who peeked at the women's bathroom without consent and gets brushed off as ‘comedic purpose’, double standards much?

“She has Stockholm Syndrome because she loved Sasuke after he tried to kill her–”

They're shinobis. Unlike our real world, it's the norm there to fight each other to death and then make up. Don't get it mixed up.

Naruto forgave every single villain in the series, including Pain who killed his master and destroyed his village. Obito, who killed his parents, started a war, was the reason for the deaths of countless people such as Neji, and Shikamaru & Ino's fathers, formed a terrorist organisation (which was responsible for multiple war crimes) yet no one bats an eye. Lee forgave Gaara who attempted to kill him, Hinata forgave Neji who tried to kill her for something which wasn't her fault. It's the norm there, deal with it.

Sasuke also tried to kill Naruto, Kakashi & Karin and they all forgave him but for some reason only Sakura gets shit for it? Double standards again.

“Sakura is a bitch who loves Sasuke and ignores Naruto who loves her–”

Sakura cares for Naruto, as a friend and her teammate. She's not obligated to return her feelings if she doesn't want to. Naruto doesn't ‘love’ her. He had a childhood crush on her, and it used to be mentioned less frequently than in the anime. SP exaggerated his feelings.

Kakashi didn't return Rin's feelings. Sasuke didn't return Ino, Karin and Sakura's feelings (until ch. 699 in Sakura's case). Naruto didn't return Hinata's feelings until The Last. Tsunade didn't like Jiraiya back. Then why is Sakura hated for something so ridiculous? She's allowed to make her own choices.

“She is shallow, she only liked Sasuke for his looks–”

If her feelings for Sasuke truly were shallow, she'd have moved on after he left the village, she'd have moved on after he became a criminal, like Ino did. She saw Sasuke at his worst and still chose him with all his flaws.

A ‘shallow crush’ wouldn't last for so many years. If her feelings weren't strong or deep, Sasuke wouldn't choose her in the end. If her feelings were superficial she wouldn't risk her life to save him against Gaara. If she didn't love him, she'd not be able to stop his curse mark. If they were superficial, she'd have moved on to date some other handsome man instead of crying over Sasuke.

“Sakura is useless as a main character–”

That's not her fault. That's a criticism for the author. None of the female characters in the series have as much complexity, fight scenes or power as the male characters. It's a shonen centric more to the male characters.

Sakura IS a main character because she contributes more in the manga than other female characters but she's not going to contribute as much as Sasuke or Naruto because the series revolved around men more than women.

Take Attack on Titan for example, it's a shonen where the contribution of male and female characters were distributed equally. In Naruto, it simply wasn't distributed equally.

“Sakura is selfish because she tried to lead on Naruto–”

I can agree here that she was entirely in the wrong and made a very stupid decision. But that's exactly what makes Sakura a realistic character. She's flawed. She makes mistakes. She can be irrational. And that makes her human. She didn't lie to him because she thought it would be fun, she did it to protect. She had good intentions even if she took the wrong approach.

Sasuke, as another of the main characters, did more harm to Naruto than Sakura's confession did but everyone understands and forgives him. Obito started a war and killed people and was forgiven. Itachi killed his entire clan and traumatised Sasuke but the fandom forgives because of his reasoning. Nagato killed people, and was still forgiven.

Then why can't you all be more understanding of Sakura? She did not even half of the terrible things which other characters did but gets more hate for it.

“Sakura is a bad friend to Ino–”

Sakura was SEVEN when she announced Ino as her rival. I'm sorry y'all are morally uptight who's never made a single stupid decision as a kid that you feel the need to accuse a child of being a villain for acting like a child. And it has been implied very clearly Sakura wanted to get out of Ino's shadow and only used Sasuke as an excuse to do so.

And if Sakura was this horrible bitchy friend you guys think she was then I don't think Ino would immediately jump to protect her during chunin exams. Sasuke did more terrible things to his best friend than Sakura did but once only Sakura gets shit for it.

And they never stopped being friends, only their dynamic changed, it included friendly bickering and rivalry. Ino never was mad or bitter with Sakura and even proudly told her she bloomed into a beautiful flower, this doesn't sound like a person who's been unfairly betrayed by a best friend over a crush?

In short, Sakura Haruno is fucking amazing and maybe if y'all didn't hold female characters to such a ridiculous high standard and bothered to understand the manga instead of watching filler episodes, you'd know.

Sakura: simps for Sasuke and ignores Naruto

Naruto: simps for Sakura and ignores Hinata

and only one is hated

Sakura: hits naruto

Naruto: hits konohamaru/younger kids

and only one is hated.

Sakura: says Naruto is lucky to not have anyone to boss him around, and acknowledges her mistake right away.

Naruto: makes fun of Sasuke’s dead clan

and only one is hated

Sakura: fights ino about Sasuke

Naruto: fights Sasuke about Sakura

and only one is hated

Sakura: shows courage even though not being strong enough to try and fight her enemies

Naruto: shows courage even though not being strong enough to try and fight his enemies

and only one is hated

Sakura: is emotional

Naruto: is emotional and irrational.

and only one is hated.

Sakura: forgives Sasuke for trying to kill her in self defense

Naruto: forgives Sasuke for trying to kill him for being jealous of him

Sakura: is a girl

Naruto: is a boy

Like I'm not a sakura fan, but at least she actually showed growth and a fondness and kindness for naruto with in the first 100 chapters. (Protecting them in the forest of death and wanting support narutos dream of being hokage to the point where she was willing to forfeit in the chuninn exams and take the fault for the team not advancing)

And as far as I'm concerned she didnt bully naruto she was annoyed by him. She and bkg are produced of their environment. I'm not arguing with that. But at the same time sakuras growth is way more visable yet shes constantly dragged by the fandom.

Where as bkg is praised for the slightest shreds of decency and him attacking and acting violent w other characters is seen as humor but w sakura its abusive.

Sakura is that asshole friend that cares about your health. Bkg is not.