Bloke in the Disney store...

[CaptainMarvelBunting]

I was in the Disney store, gazing longingly at the most gorgeous Captain Marvel hoodie that I simply can't afford. It was a thing of beauty.

Man next to me says "I'm still debating whether to see it."

Me, full of enthusiasm, "Oh, do, it's really good!"

Man replies, "Oh right, I was expecting a boring female and lots of SJW preaching. I think superhero movies need less of this feminist rubbish."

Me, mindful of it being the Disney store, and that loud swears are not the way to go, "Its not that difficult to see women as heroes, too, is it?"

He, eyebrows lifted at a woman actually forming a sentence of reply, "Oh, you're one of them are you?"

Me, sweetly smiling while taking the hoodie off the rail, "Why yes, yes I am."

And I walked away, feeling like I was wearing the damn thing.

Left it on another peg full of them elsewhere, though. I'm not made of fecking money.

Might Prefer This?

Well he wasn't being at all goady was he?
Handled beautifully.

I went yesterday to see CM and the adverts before were all gaming advertisements rated 16 or over. Most to all were violent shooting, fighting all male characters. I said to my DH at the time if the demographic for this type of movie is buying these games (probably sitting in dark rooms on their own) it's no wonder so many of them have trouble with a female hero. It was really eye opening.

It was also disturbing that they were all rated 16 or 18 for a 12a film!

And I walked away, feeling like I was wearing the damn thing.grin

Too right! Well done.

CourageCalls, yes, you're not wrong. Even my preteen boy co-viewer noticed. It was a bit relentless at one point.

There's a bit in the movie where Captain Marvel is challenged by the bad guy who begins a grand spiel about her 'proving' herself in hand to hand combat, you know the type of monologuing willy-wanging speech? And she stops him mid sentence with a blast of energy from her hand and says "I don't have to prove anything." I kind of felt a bit like that today. So many times before I may have just nodded meekly and let the man spout unopposed opinions.

I’ve seen it and it was great! Loved it! Sick to the back teeth of whiny fan boys who can’t cope if the hero does not have a penis. Men may be stronger than women on average, but when we’re talking mythical beings, radioactive accidents, aliens etc all bets can and should be off.

The trailers I saw were for avengers endgame, shazzam and the new Spider-Man movie. Plenty of willies for your Disney shop man to get his teeth into.

Just wear a plain hoodie. You need no more #yourwordsareyourcape 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

@CaptainMarvelBunting. I thought that bit was great too! “Cmon, prove to me you can do it without the shiny weapons!”
Pause. Bam! Blast of shiny weapons!
“ I don’t have to prove anything to you” (paraphrased) Loved it.
Went with DD, DS, their friends and DH. Great success.

And I walked away, feeling like I was wearing the damn thing.

< wild applause >

CaptainMarvelBunting I loved that bit, me and the niece had a good snigger at that.

I know someone who is a big Marvel fan who didn't like Black Panther because it was 'too PC' .

Brilliant! that made me laugh - especially the last bit.

Well done, OP; normally I think of smart retorts 4 and a half days later.

Classy OP, very classy!

Man goes fishing. Gets bitten on the arse by a frickin shark.

Can I just ask something (and this is totally genuine interest). I keep seeing reference to "female hero" or even "Shero" but never "heroine".

Has the word heroine dropped out of favour or is there something about it that is offensive? I ask because I've always loved Greek myths and grew up with Gods and Goddesses / heroes and heroines.

I just want to make sure I'm on the same page as everyone else!

@Hornets That's an interesting point. I'm not sure if the word 'heroine' is in itself offensive, but we seem to talk about " super heroes" in the male form only. Funny that...

I'm not sure either @Hornets. I wondered whether it's because 'heroine' has come to have associations with being rescued, rather than doing the rescuing. I think we should reclaim it personally. I don't like shero - it reminds me of shewee.

Thanks both FrauleinF and LatinforTelly.

I was just curious really. I thought I might have missed something as to why no one was using heroine, and I also dislike shero (seems like an add-on to something referring to a man, rather than using a term that is only used in reference to a female).

See what you mean about sounding like shewee LatinforTelly

Not deliberate on my part. I don't really like shero particularly. I tend to use hero for men and women. Hang over from my mum having a weird quirk that meant she was oddly prudish about saying heroine because it sounds like drugs. She wouldn't say cigarettes either.

Which is pretty bloody idiosyncratic, I grant you, and probably not the best grounding for a decision about feminist language...

Why does hero need to be a gendered term at all?

CaptainMarvelBunting it wasn't your post in particular that caused me to question it, it's just something I've seen a lot on MN and I just wondered if I'd missed something about the word heroine.

I didn't want to hijack your marvellous story I'm sorry if I have.

I don't necessarily think it does need to be gendered. I was more wondering why heroine seems to have fallen out of favour (plus the rise in the use of the term 'shero').

Hornets, ne problem. I'm happy to make women laugh and hopefully inspire them, but I've got no issue with giving space for interesting questions about things like you've raised.

There's a bit in the movie where Captain Marvel is challenged by the bad guy who begins a grand spiel about her 'proving' herself in hand to hand combat, you know the type of monologuing willy-wanging speech? And she stops him mid sentence with a blast of energy from her hand and says "I don't have to prove anything."

I saw it last night and that was actually my favourite bit in the entire movie.
Yes, there were a gaziilion ads for violent games, I've never seen that many before a movie yet.