In MJ’s case I find the backlash against female characters who are coded as traditionally feminine to be particularly gross since — well, since she’s a favorite character and I’m biased, obviously, but also because Mary Jane struggles in-story against people who objectify her, slut shame her, and make snap judgments about her intelligence, skills, and personal character. Why does she get treated this way? Because she’s a beautiful woman who dares to work in the supposedly frivolous, feminized, and sexualized world of entertainment and fashion, dares to have an active social life with people she may or may not want to have sex with, and not only doesn’t apologize for her choices but actively revels in them.
What makes Mary Jane Watson such a great feminist role model, even if she’s not out there taking down supervillains with a baseball bat (not usually, anyway), and even if she does pose in lingerie for a living on and off, is that she will never apologize for who she is, no matter how many people try and shame her for it. And no matter how many readers sail right past the point.
While cleaning up my meta tag I noticed I’d already written one of the topics on my to-do list as part of a longer conversation, so I decided I’d tweak it a bit and repost solo.
Image from Amazing Spider-Man vol II #45 by J. Michael Straczynski (writer) and John Romita, Jr (pencils).