![]() Example: Many terms for a woman actually serve to infantilize women because they literally refer to young animals or children's things: baby, chick, doll. We don't mean a lot of things in a sexist way, but they have the subtle effect of reinforcing sexism in society when they're steeped in gendered language and implications. Debbie downer, negative Nancy, doubting Thomas. There are lots of gender specific terms that are used to determine seemingly negative traits. It really doesn't and shouldn't matter whether it's a female name or a male name. I use the term for any character that deserves it. I for one have never cared what gender a Mary Sue was. Batman, Mara Jade, Michael Bluth, Mulan, Spock) and see how they do in the Mary Sue litmus test.īy now, the borders of what makes some character a Mary Sue have expanded so far that they encompass everything, and so the concept is useless. Or b) take well-known, even culturally iconic characters that many people recognize to have complex, compelling characterizations (e.g. take a look at the different categories of things that make you "Mary Sue-ish," and then eitherĪ) compare them to each other, and see how contradictory opposites will both make your character score higher apparently the test's idea of the non-Mary Sue is the person who strikes some impossible balance of flaws and strengths and pity and perseverance and power and weakness and so on ![]() ![]() Then again, that Mary Sue litmus test is itself evidence that the entire term "Mary Sue" has degenerated to utter uselessness. it's something you can improve, as i hope to do (since that post itself is evidence that i need to do so) It's also worth pointing out that while you might use "Mary Sue" as some catch-all term for an assortment of grating and obnoxious tropes that make your story suck, you don't really have to, and you can in fact talk about all those aggravating story-suck-making tropes if the fanfic you're reading blows over the rules of the established story just for the sake of making the whole thing be about a thinly-veiled self-insert character, you don't need to resort to gendered language with implicitly misogynist assumptions to get your point across. It's worth pointing out the deep-seated sexism that seems to be inherent in the whole concept of Mary Sues
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