Fandom Misogyny Victim Tournament
Round One, Bracket 8
Betty Cooper (Riverdale) vs. Sera (Dragon Age)
Betty Cooper
Sera
Propaganda below the cut:
Betty Cooper:
Fandoms acts like her flaws make her a bitch that the show never examines her flaws when her flaws are a core part of why her character rocks.
She had her gay awakening at the serial killer convention. Need I say more? Betty forever.
Sera:
The classic example of "if she was a man you wouldn't be so mean to her". She's loud and it's a flaw. She's crass and it's a flaw. She's not kissing your main character's butt and that's an affront to the player personally (even tho a male character like, say, Fenris is beloved for his snark). She has internalized racism written into her story and isn't shy about expressing the effects of it, and that pisses people off so bad they kick her out. Mind you, male characters like Varric, Solas or, again, Fenris, who express just as much disdainful opinions towards their own race and the city elves/the Dalish in particular, are largely beloved again. (Yes, Solas is more complicated due to his plot, but nobody knew that for sure until Trespasser came out, so don't give me that excuse). On top of that, of course, people are classist about her (claiming it's impossible to understand the way she speaks when even someone with English as their second language can do it. But it's a poor dialect full of street slang and somewhat of a cockney beat to it, so obviously it's bad.) And that's not even mentioning the additional lesbophobia. I could go on for a damn essay and someone will still show up in the comments with "Well I!!! don't like Sera 'cause she's annoying". Point me to a male character who ever got so much hate for being "annoying". Even Oghren doesn't get that.
She's literally the only character (besides MAYBE the one you romance if that's not also her) who cares about you beyond your power and symbol. She willingly ditched an inheritance in favor of staying with the "little people" and frankly risking her life for their sake, regardless of what you think about her methods. She's incredibly attentive and her main drive is always to help the underdog. When she stands up to you she's usually RIGHT about it, at least from where she stands. If you romance her, she treasures you incredibly, keeping locks of your hair and notes from a song you danced to. She reads to know more about your culture even when it's a culture that makes her head hurt. She checks in on you (as a friend, too) when you're going through crap. She cares more about whether you're hurt or not than she does about your grand world-saving power or symbolic significance. She's funny. She has the best genuine laugh. She grows out of most her prejudices if you give her a chance to. She's still so young and she's doing so much. And inbefore someone brings up the post-Well scene (if you know you know): she does not break up with you. You break up with her. And depending on how you play it it's either a tragic incompatibility of beliefs and trauma, which is actually true to life, or you're actually the bigger asshole there. I said what I said. I love Sera and you should all love her too, if not as a lover then as a sister.
