I never indicated that people should go easy on female characters. I believe female characters should be given the same leeway as male characters - and often aren't.
As to portrayals, there are plenty of things are portrayed on TV in questionable and derogatory ways - queerness, bisexuality, and disability are ones that roll off the tongue. And for the most part, fans are willing to expand upon them - to become the new PTB, so to speak, for these aspects. Yet it's so much harder to find fans who'll expand on the unexplored aspects of female characters.
Interestingly, your comments reflect something I've noticed in fandom lately: anything less than sassy, outspoken, and spirited is 'personality-less'. If a character doesn't snark, snap, or riposte with witty repartee, they're considered boring. Teyla, Sam, Ronon, Gwen...they're all characters for whom still waters run deep. Their reserve isn't because they don't have personality, it's because they don't wear their hearts (or their emotions or tempers) on their sleeve. That makes them an enigma - a chameleon based on the situation - and I love an enigma!
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As to portrayals, there are plenty of things are portrayed on TV in questionable and derogatory ways - queerness, bisexuality, and disability are ones that roll off the tongue. And for the most part, fans are willing to expand upon them - to become the new PTB, so to speak, for these aspects. Yet it's so much harder to find fans who'll expand on the unexplored aspects of female characters.
Interestingly, your comments reflect something I've noticed in fandom lately: anything less than sassy, outspoken, and spirited is 'personality-less'. If a character doesn't snark, snap, or riposte with witty repartee, they're considered boring. Teyla, Sam, Ronon, Gwen...they're all characters for whom still waters run deep. Their reserve isn't because they don't have personality, it's because they don't wear their hearts (or their emotions or tempers) on their sleeve. That makes them an enigma - a chameleon based on the situation - and I love an enigma!