People often misunderstand the statements that fans of complex morally grey female characters make. They think “vriska did nothing wrong” means… Vriska did nothing wrong
If we believed theyd truly done nothing wrong, then we wouldnt care as deeply as we do. Vriska, and female characters like her who have traumatized pasts and lash out or moralize themselves as a hero and try to survive as the twisted person trauma has made them, is complex–she makes bad decisions, she hurts the people she loves, she regrets the way she is but has no idea how to begin to change and digs herself further into the hole instead. Vriska contains multitudes, and she did many things wrong, and thats what we love about her!
Vriska is allowed to be complex and contradictory and hurting and hurt others and still be good, still do good. And in doing that she violates what a good female character is supposed to be. She is supposed to rise above all anger and hurt, be compassionate to others, and sacrifice herself and her ego for the men around her; but instead she does none of that and stays self-serving even as she does inevitably sacrifice herself to save the universe (but shes fine, terezi finds her i know it in my heart)
And for the crime of not being a standard female character, for not being able to be flattened, robbed of charater, like rose and kanaya into an unproblematic angel who never hurts others? Fandom fucking hates vriska.
But do you know who they love?
Men. One dimensional men, men who strive to commit genocide, men who abuse and manipulate and degrade women, men who arent even morally gray in the narrative theyre in, who are evil from start to finish, men who have explicitly and textually nothing but darkness in their hearts. Fandom loves to trot out long essays about how eridan was a poor sweet baby who didnt really want to kill land-dwellers, he was just lonely and feferi abused him by breaking up with him when he was draining her dry–Eridan did nothing wrong.
And we see these male characters get venerated, exonerated, and we become exhausted. We see fandom crucify girls like vriska while warping boys like eridan into softboys, and we can feel the weight of the world grow heavier on our backs.
So we have one last tactic to defend the complexity of the girl we love.
Vriska did nothing wrong.
Trying to argue she should be allowed to be complex and grey wears you down, and you will never win, because she isnt allowed. Moral complexity is a clubhouse with a boys only sign up on the door, and all the women must be re-sorted by the madonna-whore complex, either stripped down to her service of others and robbed of her faults, or demonized entirely and cast aside as too problematic.
So. Vriska did nothing wrong.
Our last ditch attempt to save her from being rewritten into a villain.
Vriska did nothing wrong.
romaincrisis
gummygunk
stormborns
titsay
jbbartram-illu
snowghoul
