Gwen, an apology

[galadriel1010]

A few of my friends recently have posted in their journals about the amount of anti-Gwen vitriol that they've seen, and wondering why there is so much.

So I, being me, replied, explained why I didn't like her and tried to join the discussion.

I didn't realise it was a rhetorical question. Nor did I realise that there's been a lot of anti-Gwen stuff around, because the fandom places I hang out in are Twitter and my flist. This does not cover any of the major non-fic communities or AGA. I had no idea it was going on. So when I saw stuff in my flist asking why people dislike Gwen... I thought they were honestly asking.

Being lonely, bored and procrastinating, I felt like answering it.

So, basically, I didn't know the context, and I apologise for joining in where I shouldn't have. Apparently the fandom is full of Gwen hate that people on my flist don't want to see. My flist is mostly full of people who like Gwen, and I keep feeling like I have to justify my dislike. I shouldn't feel like I have to, and I shouldn't try. So I'll stop.

ETA: I don't think most of the people I'm apologising to are actually friends with me, so they won't see this.

Comments

[ms-bekahrose.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

You'll never have to justify why you don't like Gwen, at least, to me.

I can understand both sides of the coin - there's a character in one of my fandoms who I could quite happily watch DIAF, kthnxbai - and I have received some serious hate-email because I dislike him so much. *shrugs* if we all liked the same characters/things/foods/places, the world would be an incredibly boring, boring place. - BUT, my "character hate" does not, and will never, flow over into the Real World... ever. Recently saw some mega-Ianto/GDL bashing that made me feel quite ashamed for the people who wrote it...

I like Gwen - she's not my favourite character, and she's not the one I identify with the most (hello Tosh and Ianto!), but that doesn't mean I'm going to "unfriend" or ball out anyone who doesn't like her.

[fiwen1010.livejournal.com]

I like to think that I'm reasonably well-balanced about my dislike. I think she's a horrible person (not a bad character, just a person I wouldn't want to call a friend), but I don't (often) go out of my way to bash her - I'd much rather ignore that she exists. Occasionally something will come up, usually it'll be something pro-Gwen, that will push me into having a rant about her, but mostly I'm content to pretend that the Retcon held.

[ms-bekahrose.livejournal.com]

That's a fair call. I'm the same with the character from another fandom. If I can, I'll write around him, or conveniently have him away and doing other stuff "behind the scenes". I've only ever killed him off once.

I think some of the staunchest Gwen-Fans really need to take a long, hard look in the mirror when it comes to their uproar over Gwen-Bashing, and maybe, make sure that they take a page out of their own books when it comes to other characters.

I can spell, honestly!

[fiwen1010.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling that Gwen might get killed off in one of my series. Well, I know that she does, but I have yet to work out how and when. It's a proper Torchwood death, though