#asksbln

absofuckinglutly

some anon said to me that Catwoman is supposed to be Bruce’s “femme fatale,” and I genuinely had to pause bc the level of misunderstanding there is wild

and that’s where the problem really is: they don’t understand Selina or Bruce. they project this image of Bruce that’s eerily similar to how certain male Batman fans see him : this hyper-masculine, “alpha,” pro-cop, emotionally closed-off figure. THATS NOT HIM.

Bruce is a romantic, a hopeless one at that. he wants what his mother and father had. and that’s the tragedy of his character. he wants connection, softness, love but he can’t allow himself to have it bc he’s convinced he’ll hurt the person he loves. if anything, that doesn’t make him cold or unlovable, it only makes him more human!!

but yh, i totally agree. they don’t really understand Batman’s appeal as a lover. like i said, Bruce isn’t meant to be this emotionally unavailable “alpha” fantasy; he’s compelling because he’s a lover boy at heart : romantic, soft, yearning, and deeply afraid of hurting the people he loves. ignoring that flattens his character just as much as reducing Selina to a one-note femme fatale.

I also genuinely enjoy several of Bruce’s other love interests : Silver St. Cloud, Julie Madison, Jezebel, among others. I like them for different reasons. I’m not a Batcat fan ( duh ) and I’ve already explained why ( at length, honestly … like I could make a whole podcast episode about it )

THAT SAID, I don’t actually think the perfect Batman love interest has been introduced yet. as much as I love Talia, I don’t realistically see them lasting long-term… maybe in an alternate universe, sure, but not in main continuity ( 😔 ) or maybe they could if they had the right writers …

anyways, i love your stance and your comments 🫶 you keep talia alive seriously

thank u sm !!

and yh, I completely agree … I want to be clear that I’m not belittling Selina at all. When I talk about the racism Talia faces and how it’s handled badly by certain Catwoman writers or fans, Selina is always dragged into it for comparison. It’s always : “Well Selina went through this too,” over and over, as if that somehow cancels out what Talia experiences.

When you point out the fact (which is still true today) that Selina is far less subjected to this kind of treatment, people get angry. They immediately jump to, “You don’t understand her character,” or “She’s not like that anymore,” even though I’m just stating facts that are still reflected in canon.

The real issue is that they can’t stand any criticism of their ship because they see it as flawless. I’ve already been blocked by multiple pro-Selina accounts simply for stating my opinion. What’s worse is that they reply without even fully reading the post, then argue against points I already addressed.

Honestly, that behavior just makes me dislike the ship even more. And sometimes, it even makes me resent Selina — even tho I know she’s not the problem. When I read her actual comics, I like her. But her fandom is soooooo toxic and dismissive that it genuinely ruins the character experience.

the way I was flabbergasted when they said that

They always do this tho ( oop 👀 ) it’s always Talia’s fault, never bad writing. At the same time, they try to victimize Selina by making up things that simply aren’t true, framing her as some constant victim when she’s not.

Two things can be true at once, but they refuse to grasp that. For them, Selina is always right, always the victim, always the perfect choice for Bruce, and every other woman might as well not exist. That mindset is deeply misogynistic, toxic and disgusting.

That comment in particular had me rolling my eyes so hard it deserves scientific study. The claim that a Talia fan supposedly made an entire Selina account just to insult Selina’s other love interests is genuinely absurd. Like… sure, yh, totally believable babe 🙂

What makes it worse is that even Catwoman fans on Twitter have called that account an embarrassment to their own fandom. She’s known for being toxic, for sending her friends to harass people who aren’t BatCat fans or who criticize Selina. That behavior is vile and yet somehow it always gets excused…

This is their pattern: invent facts to force Selina into a victim role, no matter how detached from reality it is. One of the most ridiculous claims is that Selina has faced widespread racism. Yes, I remember a very small number of people complaining about Zoë Kravitz being cast but that was isolated and never representative of fandom at large.

Historically, Selina was a white woman and only in more modern interpretations has she been given Latina roots or portrayed as Black — which is great and adds depth to her character. But as someone who’s been a fan since childhood, I’ve NEVER seen sustained racism directed at Selina in comics or films.

The woman who has consistently faced racist abuse is Talia and most of it came from Batcat fans. They reduced her to racist stereotypes, falsely labeled her a rapist, attacked her for being Ara/Chinese and stripped her of any nuance.

Somehow, they still pretend Selina is the one being oppressed here

It’s honestly insane. atp the entire ship discourse feels less about canon and more about fandom entitlement and refusal to engage with reality

calling my posts “weird” “condescending” or “unhelpful” doesn’t actually address anything I said. you’re reacting emotionally bc the criticism hits close to home, not because it’s baseless. I’m allowed to analyze patterns, call out racism and critique ships without being accused of bad faith

im not gonna stop how I tag simply bc im quite literally talking about Selina ???? like hello???? I put anti-batcat because I’m anti that ship. that does not equal being anti-Selina and I’ve been very clear that I actually like her character.

now, to your points:

first, I’m not “harassing” anyone. I’m making meta posts and critiques about a ship, its fandom culture, and how Selina is often framed within it. If seeing criticism in a public tag feels like harassment to you, that’s not on me. Tumblr tags aren’t safe spaces from disagreement, and I’m not targeting individuals or sending hate to anyone’s inbox.

second, yes, Selina originated as a femme fatale trope. that’s not the debate. the issue is how that trope gets flattened and weaponized by parts of the fandom to reduce her to “Bruce’s sexy counterpart” while ignoring her autonomy, politics + moral framework, ESPECIALLY when those don’t align with Bruce’s. so saying she subverts the trope doesn’t mean the trope isn’t still being projected onto her by fans.

third, I have read Brubaker. I have read Ram V. I’m VERY aware of Selina’s best runs and funnily enough, those are the runs that actively pull her away from being defined by Bruce. so telling me to “actually read her comics” bc I disagree with fandom behavior is condescending and lazy oop

fourth, I never said all Selina fans or all Batcat fans behave this way. I’ve explicitly said multiple times that it’s some fans and those “some” are VERY loud, aggressive and disproportionately hostile toward Talia and other non-Batcat pairings

fifth, saying “most comic book women are oversexualized” is true but it’s not really a counter-argument. It’s exactly the problem I’m pointing out. acknowledging it doesn’t magically make criticism invalid and it doesn’t mean fandom reproducing that framing is above critique.

finally, if you don’t like my posts, mute, block, scroll. but don’t demand I censor myself in tags that are directly relevant to what I’m discussing

DO PPL ACTUALLY LOVE THAT FIC ? 😭

Honestly, I mostly posted it because I had way too many fics just sitting in my drafts.

But really, I’m glad you liked it — thanks A LOT. I was trying something a little different with Tommy this time, so it means a lot that it landed :))

I mean, seriously …. why does everything in fandom always have to turn into romance? 😭 Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely love romance. A well-written love story? I’m all in 🫡 But sometimes it really frustrates me when people take two characters ( who were clearly meant to be just friends, or even straight-up enemies ) and force a romantic connection between them.

Not every meaningful relationship has to be romantic.

Some friendships are powerful because they’re platonic. And rivalries? Sometimes they’re compelling simply because they stay as rivalries.

I adore a good friends-to-lovers or enemies-to-lovers arc when it’s done right and feels natural. But forcing that dynamic onto every single pair of characters just… sucks the depth and originality out of their actual relationship.

That said, I totally get that fandom is a space for creativity !!! People are free to ship whoever they want — that’s the fun of it ;) And I’m ngl, I’ve read some of those fanfics and even enjoyed them. It can be entertaining to explore the “what ifs.”

But what really gets me is when people start insisting that their ship is canon, or act like it’s the only valid interpretation of the story.

Like, noooo

It’s one thing to enjoy a ship; it’s another to rewrite the whole narrative and ignore the actual character dynamics or creator intent. That’s when it starts to feel a bit delusional and honestly, it ruins the discussion for everyone else.