Korra is not a "b***h" = The Double Standard should stop

[Ferrie]

Xiam

I have not once ever heard anyone say Toph is "bitchy," and she's very much the same as Korra. Sheltered, wanting her freedom, and yes, a bit abrasive (though Toph is perhaps moreso). And people love Toph, don't they? I honestly don't see the issue with Korra at all.

The only reason I can see why people wouldn't like her is because she's not Aang.

♠ oh contraire
I was not a fan of Toph.

But I absolutely love Korra. She's more laid-back than Toph.

[MXXI]

I applaud this thread.With so much feels.

[cockroach chan]

★ WHO

THE ********

DOES NOT LIKE TOPH

[TheKamra]

"Actually, if Korra were male, people would say (s)he was an a*****e. "

You cited Bolin as your argument against this.

That's not a valid argument. Bolin didn't harass and beat up a non-bending man just because he wasn't giving answers he liked. Bolin hasn't been shown getting hot under the collar and flipping his s**t any time someone did something he didn't approve of. Bolin hasn't been shown arguing with, disobeying or disrespecting honored elders. Bolin hasn't used earthbending against CHILDREN just because he didn't like that they were teasing him.

[Xiam]

Ferrie

Xiam

I have not once ever heard anyone say Toph is "bitchy," and she's very much the same as Korra. Sheltered, wanting her freedom, and yes, a bit abrasive (though Toph is perhaps moreso). And people love Toph, don't they? I honestly don't see the issue with Korra at all.

The only reason I can see why people wouldn't like her is because she's not Aang.

♠ oh contraire
I was not a fan of Toph.

But I absolutely love Korra. She's more laid-back than Toph.

*Au contraire.

It's French. xp

And yeah, she is. Or at least has that more easygoing side the element of Water provides.

What bothers me, though, is why is Air so difficult for her? Earth was difficult for Aang, yes, but Earth is the exact opposite of Air. If anything, Korra should've had difficulty with Fire, shouldn't she?

Because in relation to "Last Element difficulty," the only problems Aang had was that he didn't have enough control for Fire. Air requires you to sort of be a free spirit, and stuff, and Fire requires you keep it from buring yourself alive - something you'd need the to have mastered the steadiness of Earth, I'd grant you that.

But Korra's already figured out the trick to Fire, (whatever that is - I'd assume being energetic or something, since Water is a fairly lazy element). So she should be able to just let go and figure out Air, right...?

[marshmallowcreampie]

THANK. YOU.

Most of the people I see complaining about Korra's character, I can't help but wonder if they wouldn't have a problem with the character had Korra been male.

[marshmallowcreampie]

`April

Especially sad when you think about the fact that Legend of Korra was finally put together to air on TV because of the recent wave of female empowerment in media/popular culture (think The Hunger Games)

Uhh, hello. Women have been known as strong and powerful heroines, but always relegated to the "sidekick" or "love interest" and generally overshadowed by their male counterparts.

Finally, here's a great character, with a prominent role, and people are criticizing her for being too tomboyish? Well, Avatar Kyoshi was confident and assertive as well (goodbye Chin the Conqueror!), but since she wore makeup and a dress, no one will say she wasn't feminine enough? :/

And to add on, a lot of the female characters get sexualized. I'm no prude, but it does become problematic in that it reduces the characters to sex objects for the male members of the audience to look at. Take any action movie recently released and look at the female characters, most of them are sexualized in some way by being put in skimpy outfits, looked at through certain angles, or put into suggestive poses.

If it's any consolation, though, most of the people who don't like Korra are in a pretty small minority. She's popular, and a lot of people LOVE the fact that she's a strong female character. That doesn't make what the OP says any less important, though. Female characters are typically judged more harshly than male ones. Bender in Futurama is a really popular character, but if you gave a female character his traits, she'd have a lot more haters. A female character would be more likely to be labeled a Mary Sue than a male character would be labeled a Gary Stu, because certain traits like strength and assertiveness are seen as "less believable" for women to have.

[[Ren The Ryoko]]

Hearts_Are_Cold

"Actually, if Korra were male, people would say (s)he was an a*****e. "

You cited Bolin as your argument against this.

That's not a valid argument. Bolin didn't harass and beat up a non-bending man just because he wasn't giving answers he liked. Bolin hasn't been shown getting hot under the collar and flipping his s**t any time someone did something he didn't approve of. Bolin hasn't been shown arguing with, disobeying or disrespecting honored elders. Bolin hasn't used earthbending against CHILDREN just because he didn't like that they were teasing him.

I wasn't saying that Bolin is LIKE Korra. Just that if Bolin was a girl he would face more criticism for being naive and flirty ("dumb and Slutty" ) than he does as a boy.

[JJmonkeychic]

Xiam

*Au contraire.

It's French. xp

And yeah, she is. Or at least has that more easygoing side the element of Water provides.

What bothers me, though, is why is Air so difficult for her? Earth was difficult for Aang, yes, but Earth is the exact opposite of Air. If anything, Korra should've had difficulty with Fire, shouldn't she?

Because in relation to "Last Element difficulty," the only problems Aang had was that he didn't have enough control for Fire. Air requires you to sort of be a free spirit, and stuff, and Fire requires you keep it from buring yourself alive - something you'd need the to have mastered the steadiness of Earth, I'd grant you that.

But Korra's already figured out the trick to Fire, (whatever that is - I'd assume being energetic or something, since Water is a fairly lazy element). So she should be able to just let go and figure out Air, right...?

I think that a lot of the reason why she has trouble with Air has to do with her personality as well. Once you take her personality into account, and then on the other side place the traits usually accompanied with Air, you find that they are almost polar opposites.

Remember, too, that Aang also had problems with learning Earth style, because he was a very easy going, go with the flow, sort of guy and Earth style required that you be strong and very strongly centered. It was hard for him to reign in the flowiness and be like a rock.

Korra is very headstrong and confident, but has very few character traits attributed to Air. She doesn't have the patience, for one ((as we saw when she destroyed the trainging device, lol priceless XD )) and always has a need to be in control. She has Fire down because she tends to be a tad aggressive, (and honestly shares more traits with Fire bending than with Water) among other things, of course. Also she has troubles with the spiritual side of bending and Air is probably the most spiritual of elements,

[Vicious Lemon]

charm-fIavored quark

WHO

THE ********

DOES NOT LIKE TOPH

Bad people who should die in a fire.


Azula was the queen b***h. Mai was a b***h. Toph's daughter seems like a b***h. Toph could be a b***h *sometimes*.

But Korra is not a b***h.

[Vicious Lemon]

Hearts_Are_Cold

Bolin hasn't been shown arguing with, disobeying or disrespecting honored elders..

Bolin didn't listen to his brother and ended up back with the Triads/Syndicate/whatever the hell they are called.

And disobeying your elders is called "Being a Teenager". Korra is definitely a teenager.

[[Ren The Ryoko]]

Vicious Lemon

charm-fIavored quark

WHO

THE ********

DOES NOT LIKE TOPH

Bad people who should die in a fire.


Azula was the queen b***h. Mai was a b***h. Toph's daughter seems like a b***h. Toph could be a b***h *sometimes*.

But Korra is not a b***h.

I really, REALLY dislike the insult "b***h". It's highly genderized, and basically almost always means "a woman who doesn't know her place."

Like...how were Mai and Toph....bitches? Or Lin for that matter? Yeah, Azula was a villain, and not a nice person. But...Mai, Toph, and Lin are protagonists.

What are you saying makes someone a b***h?

[W4NT0N 50UP]

Hearts_Are_Cold

Bolin didn't harass and beat up a non-bending man just because he wasn't giving answers he liked. Bolin hasn't been shown getting hot under the collar and flipping his s**t any time someone did something he didn't approve of. Bolin hasn't been shown arguing with, disobeying or disrespecting honored elders. Bolin hasn't used earthbending against CHILDREN just because he didn't like that they were teasing him.

You know who did, though? ZUKO.

He harassed everyone, flipping his s**t was a state of mind, he was the worst nephew ever. But he never ever got nearly the same crap that Korra does now, and in the first two seasons he was the villain, he's a prime target for character assassination. Sokka was also like this, though to a lesser extent. He was rude to Aang, rude to the Kyoshi Warriors, rude to practically everybody actually, screamed at kids with very unrealistic expectations about their capabilities as fighters, severely overestimated his own fighting skill, and was a sexist jerk. How often do you think they were called "bitches"?

Now imagine if they were female characters. Do you think they'd be nearly as popular as they are now? I really doubt it.

You might say there's more to Zuko or Sokka than being brash and proud, but there's more to Korra than that too. And Korra can earthbend against Ikki and Jinora (this is the incident I assume you're referring to) because she knows she won't hurt them. They're airbenders, not glass vases.

[Vicious Lemon]

[Ren The Ryoko]

Vicious Lemon

Azula was the queen b***h. Mai was a b***h. Toph's daughter seems like a b***h. Toph could be a b***h *sometimes*.

But Korra is not a b***h.

I really, REALLY dislike the insult "b***h". It's highly genderized, and basically almost always means "a woman who doesn't know her place."

Like...how were Mai and Toph....bitches? Or Lin for that matter? Yeah, Azula was a villain, and not a nice person. But...Mai, Toph, and Lin are protagonists.

What are you saying makes someone a b***h?

Mai was not a protagonist, she was one of Azula's lackeys and the only good thing she ever did was save Zuko. And that was because she liked Zuko and not because she wanted to help the Avatar. Mai also was a b***h because she often did and said things just to be unpleasant. At least Azula was a power hungry crazy person.

Lin we know little about yet, other than right now she cares more about stopping street fighting than the fact the Avatar has shown up. She could be like Zuko and oppose Korra until near the end.

Toph showed her bitchy side mostly at the start of her relationship with Team Avatar. Like when she just earthbended the ground up and smashed Aang into a tree to get her bending belt back.

[[Ren The Ryoko]]

Vicious Lemon

[Ren The Ryoko]

Vicious Lemon

Azula was the queen b***h. Mai was a b***h. Toph's daughter seems like a b***h. Toph could be a b***h *sometimes*.

But Korra is not a b***h.

I really, REALLY dislike the insult "b***h". It's highly genderized, and basically almost always means "a woman who doesn't know her place."

Like...how were Mai and Toph....bitches? Or Lin for that matter? Yeah, Azula was a villain, and not a nice person. But...Mai, Toph, and Lin are protagonists.

What are you saying makes someone a b***h?

Mai was not a protagonist, she was one of Azula's lackeys and the only good thing she ever did was save Zuko. And that was because she liked Zuko and not because she wanted to help the Avatar. Mai also was a b***h because she often did and said things just to be unpleasant. At least Azula was a power hungry crazy person.

Lin we know little about yet, other than right now she cares more about stopping street fighting than the fact the Avatar has shown up. She could be like Zuko and oppose Korra until near the end.

Toph showed her bitchy side mostly at the start of her relationship with Team Avatar. Like when she just earthbended the ground up and smashed Aang into a tree to get her bending belt back.

I think you've rather...misread Mai as a character first of all. But, I don't see how she was a "b***h." Yes, she tended to come across as very stoic, because growing up she was denied any emotional autonomy by her parents. But she's never really...like...MEAN or cruel the way that Azula was. She just found herself on the wrong side of the conflict for much of the series, but not out of malice or anything. She's no more a villain or a b***h than Ty Lee was.

I don't see how...being the chief of police and....wanting to stop crime...makes Lin a b***h.
Same problem with Toph really.

How are you defining "bitchy"?