Miss Representation

So, it's femslash February, which is a problem if you're in the MCU fandom.  Because when it comes to women... well, we really don't have any.  We only need one woman per situation, right?  We have Maria Hill for SHIELD stuff, Natasha for Avengers stuff, and Pepper for Iron Man stuff.  (I was actually surprised we even got Pepper, honestly.)

I will argue that the Thor franchise has actually been the most female-positive of all the recent Marvel movies. Aside from the fact that it is the only one to pass a Bechdel test, (Well, okay, Iron Man 3 passes. Yay!) it prominently features women as something other than sex objects.  If anyone is being objectified in Thor, it's Chis Hemsworth.

I'm just gonna leave this here.  For reasons.

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Meanwhile, our women are dressed like normal people-- sweaters, jeans, and nary a low-cut top in sight.  I haven't been so pleasantly surprised since the last Superman movie.

(And before you say anything, yes, that movie was a train wreck, but we got a female villain in normal armor, not weird boob armor, and Lois Lane walking around in overalls instead of some one's Naughty Office Girl cosplay outfit.)

I think this might be another reason why we like Darcy so much, because she has her own agency independent of being a romantic interest.  (Well, and she's Kat Dennings.)

Ahem.  But today, we're not here to talk about Darcy, or Chris Hemsworth with his shirt off.  Today, I want to talk about the only woman we've really been able to get to know in the sausage-fest that the MCU has been.

Take a good look, because this is all the woman you're likely to get for a while (since they've pushed back the Captain Marvel movie... AGAIN).  I say this as someone who has a lot of love for Widow:

This is a problem.  Sure, she's tough, she's complex, but the Black Widow is a very sexualized character.  She's in charge of her sexuality and uses it as an asset against men, but being a sexy woman is a huge part of her character. Even her name defines her this way, the predator that will mate with a male and then devour him.

She is constantly portrayed as being sexually available.  She uses it to her advantage to manipulate men, certainly, but I think this just reinforces the idea of woman as some sort of 'other', relevant only in their association with men.  I don't think there's a better example of how the MCU thinks about women than a post that went around tumblr a while ago where the representatives of Marvel's Canada twitter asked their fans who they were more excited to see:  Iron Man, Thor, or Captain America.  Why these three?  Well, they're the ones with their own movie franchises, so they must be the most popular, right? (Hulk had his own movies, but I guess no one cares about Hulk.)

In an embarrassing plot twist, everyone voted for Black Widow.  But do we love Natasha for Natasha, or do we love her because she is almost literally our only option?  Are we just hungry for more female lead projects?

No, I think we actually like Natasha.  I have never read a fanfiction that has Natasha as the villain.  Sometimes she's cold, or scary, but she's never portrayed as some kind of soulless automaton.  She's a best friend and a protector.  She loves deeply.

So, in honor of Natasha and femslash, I suggest I've Suffered Shipwrecks. It features some femslash, although not Natasha/Pepper (which I am always a fan of because I think that Tony needs as many relationships with women that don't involve sex as possible).  It's a coffee shop AU, and has some pairings that I haven't seen that often (such as Steve/Thor).

I'm still searching for a longer fic with Natasha/Pepper, and I'll certainly post it when I find it, but I have also enjoyed Not just a river in Egypt.  This is more of a Steve/Tony centered piece, because longer Natasha/Pepper fics are not thick on the ground, but it's a nice read and leaves me, at least, feeling satisfied.