No fictional character in the history of media has ever consented to their own role or usage within that media. It is ludicrous to declare that such impossible “agency” should be a prerequisite for depiction of any kind. Consent requires consciousness, and fictional characters are incapable of possessing such sentience. To demand such a thing is nothing less than demanding the total eradication of all storytelling. In fact, expecting consent from inanimate and non-sentient objects is like refusing to drive a car because it didn’t agree to be driven.
Feminists only deploy this retarded argument against a very narrow range of content. No one cares that the fictional soldier didn’t consent to being shot dead. No one cares that the fictional white man didn’t consent to his participation in the on-screen KKK. These objections would be appropriately mocked into oblivion. The only reason such an argument “works” against sexy depictions of women is because a bunch of leftists have adopted a very simple premise: that heterosexual male desire is inherently wrong. That the biological drive to propagate the species, manifested as an unprompted interest in the primary and secondary sexual characteristics of the opposite gender, is problematic.
This assertion is dysgenic. You would only inculcate such an idea within a population that you wish to make extinct.
Another few words on the concept of agency: leftists are deliberately conflating two very different ideas here. A fictional character can never have true agency. He or she can only possess a convincing depiction of agency. The author will always control the behavior of the characters, from the sexualized hot girl with no other character traits to the main protagonist who appears in control of the trajectory of the entire story. The concept of real-world agency is very different from the literary concept of agency. Having control over your own life, making decisions about your own future, is a power that fictional characters can never have. Suggesting otherwise is honestly a huge red flag for dissociative mental illness.
No fictional character in the history of media has ever consented to their own role or usage within that media. It is ludicrous to declare that such impossible “agency” should be a prerequisite for depiction of any kind. Consent requires consciousness, and fictional characters are incapable of possessing such sentience. To demand such a thing is nothing less than demanding the total eradication of all storytelling. In fact, expecting consent from inanimate and non-sentient objects is like refusing to drive a car because it didn’t agree to be driven.
Feminists only deploy this retarded argument against a very narrow range of content. No one cares that the fictional soldier didn’t consent to being shot dead. No one cares that the fictional white man didn’t consent to his participation in the on-screen KKK. These objections would be appropriately mocked into oblivion. The only reason such an argument “works” against sexy depictions of women is because a bunch of leftists have adopted a very simple premise: that heterosexual male desire is inherently wrong. That the biological drive to propagate the species, manifested as an unprompted interest in the primary and secondary sexual characteristics of the opposite gender, is problematic.
This assertion is dysgenic. You would only inculcate such an idea within a population that you wish to make extinct.
Another few words on the concept of agency: leftists are deliberately conflating two very different ideas here. A fictional character can never have true agency. He or she can only possess a convincing depiction of agency. The author will always control the behavior of the characters, from the sexualized hot girl with no other character traits to the main protagonist who appears in control of the trajectory of the entire story. The concept of real-world agency is very different from the literary concept of agency. Having control over your own life, making decisions about your own future, is a power that fictional characters can never have. Suggesting otherwise is honestly a huge red flag for dissociative mental illness.