So, I just saw
The Avengers: Age of Ultron and I was a little upset about something. If you
know me and you saw the movie, you probably have an idea of what it was.
The black widow tells Bruce Banner that they are perfect for each other because neither of them can have children. Because she was ritually sterilized as part of her assassin training.
They did a similar thing on Doctor Who, which is the love of my life, but I didn't mind it (clearly I'm biased). I thought (as a woman with fertility issues) that the infertile character's reaction was valid: she (Amy Pond) felt that her femininity was invalidated and by no longer having a viable uterus she was no longer good enough for her husband. Is it lazy writing, somewhat. Does it accurately represent a possible emotional reaction? Yes. It is hard to express to men how many factors there are constantly waiting to tell you that you're not a "real woman" and infertility is a biggie. If you can't bake a bun in your oven, why even call yourself a woman? In the Who storyline, there was a positive message to be taken from a shitty situation (one that many women find themselves in) when Amy's husband declares that he knew she was infertile and he didn't care. She was worth more to him as a person than just a baby making oven. And we women need to believe that those men exist in order to ever stop drinking.
I honestly don't know why they thought this tripe (this was a typo, I meant to say "trope," but you know, it holds up so I'm leaving it was necessary for the Black Widow. But more importantly, they missed an opportunity to make that moment about a woman's agency and not about something that was done to her. You mean to tell me Natasha Romanoff would ever be happy settling down with Banner and a little green-skinned, Crimson haired brood (tiny baby Christmas hulks do sound adorable)? That is definitely not how I read that character.
Would it have killed noted ambivalent pseudo-feminist Joss Whedon to actually give his strong female character a mind of her own beyond MUST HAVE BABBY. OH NO I CANT. BETTER BANG BANNER. The one man she can't disappoint with her barrenness.
I find it much more ick than the boneheaded comments made by frat boys Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner that got lots of tongues wagging during the press tour. Though Renner's casual implication that differently-abled women are laughably unfit for the touch of a man (fuck you, dude) deserved more noise and a better apology.
The black widow tells Bruce Banner that they are perfect for each other because neither of them can have children. Because she was ritually sterilized as part of her assassin training.
Because bebbehs slowly you down. NO SERIOUSLY.
I find the whole sterilization trope to be just as annoying as its inverse, the
magical pregnancy trope. Both are thematically pretty rapey.They did a similar thing on Doctor Who, which is the love of my life, but I didn't mind it (clearly I'm biased). I thought (as a woman with fertility issues) that the infertile character's reaction was valid: she (Amy Pond) felt that her femininity was invalidated and by no longer having a viable uterus she was no longer good enough for her husband. Is it lazy writing, somewhat. Does it accurately represent a possible emotional reaction? Yes. It is hard to express to men how many factors there are constantly waiting to tell you that you're not a "real woman" and infertility is a biggie. If you can't bake a bun in your oven, why even call yourself a woman? In the Who storyline, there was a positive message to be taken from a shitty situation (one that many women find themselves in) when Amy's husband declares that he knew she was infertile and he didn't care. She was worth more to him as a person than just a baby making oven. And we women need to believe that those men exist in order to ever stop drinking.
I honestly don't know why they thought this tripe (this was a typo, I meant to say "trope," but you know, it holds up so I'm leaving it was necessary for the Black Widow. But more importantly, they missed an opportunity to make that moment about a woman's agency and not about something that was done to her. You mean to tell me Natasha Romanoff would ever be happy settling down with Banner and a little green-skinned, Crimson haired brood (tiny baby Christmas hulks do sound adorable)? That is definitely not how I read that character.
Would it have killed noted ambivalent pseudo-feminist Joss Whedon to actually give his strong female character a mind of her own beyond MUST HAVE BABBY. OH NO I CANT. BETTER BANG BANNER. The one man she can't disappoint with her barrenness.
I find it much more ick than the boneheaded comments made by frat boys Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner that got lots of tongues wagging during the press tour. Though Renner's casual implication that differently-abled women are laughably unfit for the touch of a man (fuck you, dude) deserved more noise and a better apology.
I'm certainly not suggesting that anybody not go see
The Avengers, hell, I'm probably going to see it twice. But damn, I am bored
with this trope. Not all women have the exact same uterus feels, and if brave,
smart writers would let their characters actually make choices, I think those
characters could take us to amazing places.
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