are we even surprised that so many star wars fans adore ahsoka tano, a teenage alien girl who is pretty much completely sexless, and hate/infantilize rey, a human woman who gets dirty and angry and kisses kylo ren

i think snips had a crush on like... one single dude, right, in the whole show???

im totally brainstorming here but like, even padme isn't allowed to control her own sexuality through her arc. aotc had her in great outfits, but the second she's A Pregnant Mom she's cocooned in huge velvet tents everywhere she goes before she dies of being sad

I honestly think women being in control of their own sexualities and Wanting Dark Things scares the shit out of men because Men aren't the Dark Things that women want. Rey goes straight to the dark side while meditating in 8 because she's promised knowledge about her parents.

which in extension i guess is self knowledge, and then falls into a giant hairy wet dark metaphor later to confront her innermost self in an endless mirror, desperate to see what she wants to see and seeing only herself in the end.

and while i loathe almost every second of 9, we do get some good Rey moments, namely the fight with Kylo on the ruins in the ocean, where she's gone fucking feral swinging on his ass and outright lethally stabs him before backing up and realizing that this isn't what she wanted,

she wanted to take Ben Solo's hand and bring him out of the dark. she looks longingly at children, she still desires a family. it's a shame her costume and hair did not reflect the character at that point in time

and yet these men don't see this, all they see is some overpowered unrealistic character who represents all that's wrong with their world.

which, you know. just solidifies that they know nothing about women at all

this is all to say: women want what women want, and women want above all to be fucking listened to.

maybe you want a family! babies! cats! a garden! dogs! you want a man? you want a woman? you want to be a star, a nightmare, a horror? WANT IT. GET IT. DO IT.