Mary Sue, what are you? or why the concept of Sue is sexist
Looks like this essay was needed, so I went ahead and did it. Not sure I said everything I wanted to say, but I tried.
So, thereâs this girl. Sheâs tragically orphaned and richer than anyone on the planet. Every guy she meets falls in love with her, but in between torrid romances she rejects them all because she dedicated to what is Pure and Good. She has genius level intellect, Olympic-athelete level athletic ability and incredible good looks. She is consumed by terrible angst, but this only makes guys want her more. She has no superhuman abilities, yet she is more competent than her superhuman friends and defeats superhumans with ease. She has unshakably loyal friends and allies, despite the fact she treats them pretty badly. They fear and respect her, and defer to her orders. Everyone is obsessed with her, even her enemies are attracted to her. She can plan ahead for anything and sheâs generally right with any conclusion she makes. People who defy her are inevitably wrong.
 Wish fulfillment characters have been around since the beginning of time. The good guys tend to win, get the girl and have everything fall into place for them. Itâs only when women started doing it that it became a problem.
TV Tropes on the origin of Mary Sue:
The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment.
Notice the strange emphasis on female here. TV Tropes goes on to say that is took a long time for the male counterpart âMarty Stuâ to be used. âMost fanfic writers are girlsâ is given as the reason. So when women dominate a genre, that means people are on close watch, ready to scorn any wish fulfillment they may engage in. This term could only originate if the default was female.
 In fact, one of the CONTROVERSIES listed on the TV Tropes page is if a male sue is even possible. Thatâs right, itâs impossible to have an idealized male character. Men are already the ideal.
 In our culture, male tends to be the default. Women take on the distaff parts. âHimâ and âmankindâ are what humanity are, âherâ and âwomankindâ are secondary. Yet this isnât true for Mary Sue as a term. That name was created first. It was a Star Trek fic that coined it and the female designation was likely a big reason it caught on. Thus, a female name is the default to use when describing idealized characters. Marty Stu and Gary Stu are only to be used if youâre discussing men specifically. Heck, there isnât even an agreed upon term for them. So the only time female can be default is when discussing a badly written character, someone who is more powerful or important or liked than they should be allowed to be, someone the plot focuses on more than you would like, someone you donât want to read about. Hmmm.
 Whatâs really wrong with a thirteen year old girl having a power fantasy, even if itâs badly written?  Who is it hurting? Men have baldly admitted to writing power fantasies and self inserts since the beginning of time. How many nerdy, schlubby guys suddenly become badasses and have hot girls chasing after them in fiction? See: Spiderman- blatant everyman who happens to stumble across amazing powers and catch the eye of a supermodel.  Mary Sue is considered the worst insult to throw at a character as it renders them worthless. But since when are idealized characters automatically worthless? Arenât all heroes idealized in some way? Donât all heroes represent the author in some way? Arenât these characters supposed to be people we look up to, people who represent human potential, the goodness that we strive for? Fantasy by nature is idealized, even the tragic ones.
 If you look at the TV Tropes page for Mary Sue, itâs ridiculous. You can be a sue for having too many flaws, or not enough, for fixing things or messing things up, for being a hero or a villain. And of course, this is specifically pointed out as a trope related to the Princess and Magical Girl genres- genres aimed towards women are naturally full of Mary Sues. Magical girls are powerful and heroic and actually flaunt femininity as a good thing. They are a power fantasy designed for girls. So of course, a girl using traditionally feminine traits to dominate and triumph means sheâs a sickeningly pure Mary Sue who makes everything go their way. Feminine traits are disdained and look down on, so when the positive feminine traits are prominent, the reader has an aversive reaction. How can a character be so feminine and triumph? She must be unrealistic, she must be badly written, because everyone knows it is impossible to be feminine and powerful.
 Letâs look at what kinds of Mary Sues people will point to. People will claim a female character is a Mary Sue if she is a love interest. Put a female character within a foot of a male character, and people will scream âMary Sue!â Why does someone falling in love with her make her a Mary Sue? Well, she hasnât âearnedâ this awesome dude characterâs love. What has she done to show sheâs worthy of him? Fans miss the irony that this line of logic makes the male character seem more like the Sue in Question, as heâs apparently so perfect one has work for his coveted love and praise.
 The idea that woman has to âearnâ any power, praise, love, or plot prominence is central to Mary Sue.  Men do not have to do this, they are naturally assumed to be powerful, central and loveable. Thatâs why itâs the first thing thrown at a female character- what has she done to be given the same consideration as a male character? Why is she suddenly usurping a male role? âMary Sueâ is the easiest way to dismiss a character. It sounds bad to say âI donât like this female character. I donât like that this woman is powerful. I donât like it when the plot focuses on her. I donât like that a character I like has affections for her.â But âMary Sueâ is a way to say these things without really saying them. It gives you legitimacy.
 If a character is badly written, thereâs generally something much more problematic than idealization going on. The plot will be dull and the character will perpetuate harmful stereotypes while other characters act oddly. For instance, Bella Swan is one of the only characters Iâd even begin to classify as a Mary Sue, yet itâs not really her supposed Mary Sue traits that bother me. I donât mind that she gets what she wants and everyone loves her, that sheâs Meyerâs power fantasy. What I actually mind is that Stephenie Meyer has her perpetuate harmful anti-woman stereotypes- women need to be protected, women are shallow, womenâs worth rests in desirability. Thatâs whatâs actually harmful about her and worth discussing. I would criticize that rather than even get to the fact Bella got to be âtoo perfect and powerfulâ- thatâs just a tiny, insignificant thing not worth mentioning in a huge pile of problems.
 And thatâs why I donât call characters Mary Sue anymore. Thereâs really nothing bad about a power fantasy or wish fulfillment. Itâs whatâs fictionâs about.  If one of my characters is called a Sue, Iâll proudly say âyepâ, because that must mean that she broke out of that box a female character is supposed to be in. So Iâll go and say it: I love me some Mary Sues.
