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[x_forgetromeo]

Alright, so, I had to write a paper for my English Composition 102 class about an ideology shared by a community that I am part of that I would like to see change. I chose the Criminal Minds fandom as my community, and the way that female characters are viewed as my topic. I sent out a request for people on livejournal and tumblr to let me know

Comments

[thebitterend327]

I love criminal minds and all of the female characters on it. Criminal Minds has some of the best female characters on television. I completely agree that women should be happy to see these intelligent, strong women out in the field defying traditional gender roles. It certainly makes me happy. This is a very well-written essay and I find it disturbing the amount of people who commented and said that the women should be more submissive. This isn't the 20's.

[shamir_26]

I see your point in this essay and I agree

[eiko82]

Great essay! *applauds*

I'm really glad that you addressed the unfair comparison between JJ and Seaver that fans make. It drives me nuts that some fans hate her simply for being 'a blonde white woman'. IMO JJ and Seaver are completely different characters. They're nothing alike. So it really annoys me when people say that if JJ and Seaver stay on the show, they wouldn't be able to tell them apart. WTF?

I have to say that I feel sad after reading your essay. I already knew of the unfair hatred towards Seaver but I wasn't aware that fans only approve of JJ as a nurturing mommy or Prentis as a big sister. If fans really do react to CM's female characters like that, then that really is sad.

[ginny214]

I can't tell you all the ways I agree with this. I think you've captured the general opinion of fans toward the women -- and pointed out the troubling nature of it -- quite well. You've seized upon what's really problematic for me: that the sheer hatred of some female characters and blind support for others are both rooted in the SAME sort of thinking that forces women into stereotypical roles instead of celebrating the fact that this show does a very good job of subverting those stereotypes in both its male and female characters

[liliesandglory]

Fandom misogyny is interesting to me, because it seems like most evidence points to a lot more misogyny in women than in men. I'm curious as to why you think that is. One theory I've heard floated is that women tend to think of male characters as objects of their affection and female characters as competition, which does explain the "die for our ship" phenomenon pretty handily. I'm not convinced that's the only reason why, though.

I've been in fandoms that were completely awful to all the women in their particular series, so I was really bracing myself for the worst when I decided to get involved with CM. Really, though, this fandom is better than I've anticipated. I've seen the occasional bad comment about Prentiss and plenty about Seaver and Haley, but there are also a lot of really reasonable fans. Misogyny is a society-wide problem and therefore pervades every fandom, but CM is far from the worst. (That would probably be Supernatural

[la_loony]

I remember being a little mad for divorcing Hotch and Haley cause I feared Hotch being more robotic than before without her and Jack. It got way better when I realized that it was not a 'I don't love my husband anymore' decision (yeah grwoing up makes you understand things betterxD) and I think I'll never be able to watch the ep again where she dies. Broke my heart.

[infinitlight]

LiveJournal (and Criminal Minds fandom) are mainly made up of women. I think this is why you're seeing more misogyny in women in fandom.

I don't think there is "more misogyny in women than in men", although I agree it's especially disheartening to see misogyny in women. We've come to expect it from men, after all.