scarletwitching:

Secret Empire #4 by failed politician/nightclub owner/DJ Nick Spencer & Leinil Yu

*clears throat* Alright, let’s do this.

Nick Spencer has taken time away from harassing sex workers and “not” tweeting about politics to give us this gem. To point out the obvious: this makes no sense. Chthon is an omnipotent sadist whose whole shtick is that he can’t be controlled. He’s not a lackey for the worst Villain Sue this side of Ramsay Bolton. And yes, whatever you think about Regular!Steve, Nazi!Steve – or Nazteve, if you will – is 100% a Villain Sue, and Sansa should feed him to dogs.

But that’s not what I want to talk about. Saying “this doesn’t make sense” about a superhero comic is the lowest hanging fruit. No, I want to talk about metaphorical rape and specifically the fact that Wanda spends so much time having her body being overtaken at the hands of white male writers who haven’t thought at all about the implications of this.

Wanda has turned into the Kwannon to everybody’s Psylocke. Except, of course, that Pyslocke didn’t do it on purpose. How many times can white male writers strip a woman of color of her bodily autonomy so that some man can do whatever he wants with her before we collectively go this is sick? How many times do I have to be subjected to laser focus on Quicksilver’s feelings when there is no attention paid to how Wanda feels during or after? How many super hilarious victim-blaming jokes and callous remarks from random white women do I have to read?

Because a WOC’s body being colonized by a Nazi is the right time to throw in some Siq White Girl Quips™, isn’t that right, @jimzub? I’m sure you’ll be giving us more of those in the future.

Here’s the thing: I don’t give a fuck about how Quicksilver feels about Wanda being metaphorically raped. When this inevitably happens again, I don’t want any focus on how he feels about it. I don’t want him to suddenly be treated like he’s the only person who cares what happens to Wanda. I don’t want to see his ass.

I don’t want any more unfeeling remarks from white women. I don’t give a fuck what they think either.

These stories of possession and use by men are not free of thematic or symbolic baggage. Wanda’s history as a Roma woman is not free of baggage. 500 years of slavery and the state-sanctioned rape that went with it is a hell of a lot of baggage. When you take away Wanda’s autonomy over and over and over again and act as if she had no interior life anyway, so what’s the difference, you are saying something. Using her like this is not neutral or free of meaning.

So that’s my request, White Male Writers: If you’re going to use her like this again (and you are), think about what you’re saying.