dcwomenkickingass Dropping truths about the problem with comparing Black Widow and Supergirl.
black widow
I’m not actually a monster, but it sure feels that way sometimes. Fertility is a funny thing. It’s not generally a topic of polite conversation because it makes people uncomfortable. But sterility has been a topic of wide conversation lately thanks to the latest Marvel mass installation, “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” In the film, Natasha Romanoff, better known as Black Widow, the trained assassin played by Scarlett Johansson, gets both a new love interest in Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk) and an expanded back story that delves into how, at a young age, Natasha was broken down and trained to be a killing machine. The process culminated in forced sterilization, an occurrence she still mourns.
THANK YOU.
I have more to say about this, because it gives me a lot of feelings.
I’ve gotten the impression – and feel free to correct me on this, because it’s 100% just an intuition – that the majority of women writing negatively about the “monster” comment aren’t actually infertile.
Now, I’ve gotten that impression because none of them are writing about the very real, very valid feelings infertile/unwillingly sterilized women have about their bodies and lives.
And every time I read something forgiving of this scene, it’s always been from the perspective of a woman who can’t have kids. I know this because they’re all incredibly explicit about it, either feeling empowered about the subject or just feeling the need to justify their opinion that the scene wasn’t offensive.
So, feminists and social justice types tend to talk a lot about respecting the words and perspective of minority groups and not telling those groups how they should be feeling.
Thus far, the voice of infertile women seems to be saying the same thing: this scene spoke to me, I related to it, and I don’t think it lessened her character. It wasn’t about baby lust, and it wasn’t even really about how infertility made her less of a woman (though that is a real and valid feeling many infertile women share).
So maybe some of these very vocal writers need to quiet down for a minute, and listen to the group on whose behalf they’re so offended.
I am by no means a Whedon apologista – I would actually consider myself not much of a fan, having not enjoyed Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse much at all (though I am a Firefly fan) but –
This.
One of my best friends has struggled with infertility for over a decade and this scene reminded me so much of the pain and self-blame and anguish she’s expressed over the years. I understand about different interpretations of text, etc., but I was very taken aback to find out later that people walked away from that scene thinking that the film had condemned Natasha as “a monster” for being unable to conceive.
To me, that scene was about two people who had faced a lot of anguish over having their choices stripped from them (I haven’t seen a lot of people mention that Bruce cries out that he’s a monster first, because gamma radiation made him infertile) and see themselves as monstrous because of it. Tragically, that is a perception that people who are infertile often come to form about themselves. There is nothing in the film to suggest that the narrative agrees with it.
I’ve been feeling like a lot of people shouting about this scene miss this: That Natasha was able to move past that damaged self-perception she’d been programmed with – that she was broken, a freak and a monster not meant for more than killing – enough to reach out to the one person in her life who abhors violence, make herself vulnerable and try to forge a connection was, to me, an extremely empowering and healing moment for the character.
Not to mention terribly brave.
Some great responses. Thanks.
Hey, it’s Age of Ultron fic! Featuring the most minor of minor characters, naturally. And spoiler-tagged to heck.
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My Hero, By Lila Barton
We are not allowed to write this essay about a family member and I think that is stupid because my dad is an actual hero and my mom looks after me and my brother and my baby brother which I think is good. [Lila, it is not nice to call anything stupid – Mrs A] Anyway I decided to write this essay about my aunt. She is not my real aunt, although I have a real aunt who lives in Canada, she is my dads best friend. She is also my moms best friend. When Mom thought her baby was going to be a girl she was going to name it Natasha but it turned out to be a boy so she called it Nathaniel. I like my new brother a lot but he doesn’t do much. Mr Rogers (not that Mr Rogers) came with Auntie Natasha and gave him a bunch of toys and I thought that was silly because he won’t play with them. When I said that Mom told me to show some respect but Mr Rogers just laughed and said I had a healthy attytude [attitude – Mrs A] to grown ups and that was nice.
Auntie Nat brings people to the farm a lot to talk with Mom and Dad. Sometimes she brings Mr Wilson and he is my favorite because he always has sweets and he plays video games with me and Cooper and I think he lets us win which is good because Cooper gets mad when he loses. Anyway one time Auntie Nat came she had another lady with her, who had brown hair and a red jacket, I didn’t know who she was but when she saw the baby she started crying and crying and crying and Mom and Dad and Auntie Nat were nice to her until she stopped crying and she had dinner with us and she left.
Mom says she is the sister of the man who died saving Dad. I forgot to mention that happened. Anyway that was sad but Auntie Nat was nice.
Another thing I remembered just now is when Jessica made fun of me for not having Dad at the father’s day show and we had that fight and Mom had to go to the principal’s office but she had to work and Dad was in England I think because of Thor so Auntie Nat went to see the principal and [this sentence is way too long, Lila – Mrs A] he was really scared of her and she told him Jessica was bullying me and everything was all right. Then she took me to get ice cream and she said that though getting back at people who hurt you feels good it‘s not good and she quoted lots of Star Wars at me and I laughed.
Also she was at the Battle of New York and saved a lot of people. [Maybe this should have been in your opening sentence – Mrs A] She has super abbilitys [abilities – Mrs A] and can kill monsters and robots. That is very good. Mommy says some bad things happened to Auntie Nat in her life and she is honest about them even to newspapers and I think that is good too because people should always tell the truth. But she is mostly my hero because she is nice to me and my brothers and lots of other people and she did not have to be because lots of people who have bad stuff happen are not nice. But she is. That is my essay. Signed Lila Nicole Barton aged 6
trans natasha
Sometimes I think really intensely about Natasha being trans.
And it’s not that she’s ashamed of being trans, but it’s a conversation she doesn’t really want to have with her new coworkers, so Nick Fury promises to keep it under wraps.
But then when she’s in a meeting JARVIS identifies her as “biologically male” in front of all the others for some reason and she’s like fuuuuuck and prepares herself for a really shitty time but like
Steve’s all, “Well, ma’am, if you identify as a woman that’s all I really need to know.” She keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop there because he’s from the forties for God’s sake, but it never does.
Thor doesn’t understand why this revelation is a big deal, because in Asgard trans people are embraced and accepted, like there are special magic/science reassignment procedures that require no gatekeeping or fuckery, just self-knowledge, and he tells her that she should have been born there, “for not only are you a mighty warrior, but I think my people would have been able to spare you much pain.” She does not cry about that, but she thinks about it for a long time.
Bruce acts awkward but when she calls him out on it he’s like “I just realized that you have more of a right to be afraid of violence than any of us, and I’m so sorry I contributed to that,” and she ends up buying him a latte so he’ll stop looking so damn anguished.
Sam doesn’t say much, but quietly lets her know that he runs a support group for trans folk that meets every Wednesday, and she doesn’t realize what that means until a day or two later and can’t stop smiling.
And Tony? Tony disappears for like a week, and she thinks it’s because he’s finally revealed himself to be a complete asshole, but then he reappears on her doorstep and, without preamble, says, “I’ve recalibrated JARVIS so it’s got a more nuanced understanding of gender identity and biology, I’m so sorry it outed you, also I built you this new gun as an apology gift.”
(Clint already knew, obviously. Because Clint knows pretty much everything about her.)
I will probably need to write this eventually because it is literally my very favourite headcanon.
you honestly expect me to believe that natasha fucking romanoff got thrown into a cell and didn’t find a way to break herself out and she had to wait for a man to rescue her??
Thank you.
But she singlehandedly built herself a morse code system (in a CAVE, from a box of SCRAPS…) and telegraphed for someone to come get her? That is finding a way to break yourself out!