Fuck Yeah Stephanie Brown!

I hate that I have do this, because respect and decency should be a common goal for people.

But if I see sl*t-shaming going on, I will call you out on it. And since I’ve seen a few examples of people treating Steph like one, let’s have a little lesson on blaming and shaming, shall we?

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that when people taunt and shame Stephanie for sleeping with a guy at an early age, they never think of context? Instead, Steph is treated as though her baby’s conception was something she did all on her own. When you don’t think about the context, you make it easier to blame the woman who is carrying the visual proof of the act of sex. You make it easier to ignore all of her past and her intricacies and her thoughts and feelings and just demote her to the horrible and objectifying label of slut.

First off, no woman can get pregnant. It takes two to make a baby the traditional way. Two. And Stephanie had sex at a really vulnerable time for her—let’s put it in perspective, shall we? She was constantly being put down by every male superhero except perhaps Connor Hawke. People were calling her a failure at every turn, insinuating that she didn’t really belong. Her dad was in and out of jail and her mom was wavering between various states of codependence, and Steph happened to be dating this guy who was a manipulative jerk but still gave her some feeling that she was wanted by someone. And according to her, sleeping with him was a mistake. And she acknowledged this before she found out she was pregnant—she dumped that boy pretty much the moment he abandoned her at the earthquake.

LET ME ASK YOU, THEN: DOES THAT MAKE HER A SLUT? NO.

Also, does having a healthy sexual life, does *gasp* liking sex make you a promiscuous sinner worthy of shaming and taunting? EASY ANSWER: NO. IT DOESN’T. It means that you like sex!

I heard a discussion between two guys on the street yesterday about this topic. Here’s what they said:
GUY 1: God, she was such a whore.

GUY 2: What? Why, because she had a boyfriend before you? And she had sex with him?
GUY 1: She slept around, dude.

GUY 2: No, she had a few boyfriends before you. And so what if she did sleep around? Don’t be a fucking asshole about it. Let her have her own life.

Thank you, GUY 2.

And to those who will objectify women for having a sex drive, or for flirting, or for being a sex worker, or having a child out of wedlock or having more than one boyfriend or more than one one night stand, TAKE HIS ADVICE. NO ONE IS DEFINED BY THEIR SEXUAL BEHAVIOR. IT IS NOT RIGHT AND IT IS NOT JUST FOR ANYONE TO REDUCE ANOTHER HUMAN BEING INTO AN OBJECT OF DERISION AND HATE BECAUSE THEY HAVE SEX. SHAME ON YOU. SHAME ON YOU.

And that’s all I have to say about the goddamn matter.