— The Mistreament of Iris Westallen, Candice Patton and Westallen uncovered, a Thread!

Alright, let’s have this conversation because I’m tired of how they are treated not only by fans but by the network and her own coworkers! Now, if you’re an anti of any of these, I encourage you to read this entirely before opening your mouth and embarrassing yourself. <3

First off, let’s establish that The Flash that airs on the CW is a live action adaptation of the comic book series. In the comics, Iris West is a white woman, changing her race is where the hate of Iris and Candice is rooted in, shocking - not really. I’ll link this thread. https://twitter.com/softxiris/status/1266127532790886401

Let’s also establish that Candice Patton is in fact the FEMALE LEAD of the show. No one else. The leading lady is not determined by storylines she has or screentime. Candice was hired to play Iris and hired as the leading lady. She and Grant are the leads, the rest are supporting

However, Iris has yet to have a fully devoted storyline to herself. Season three? Never focused on her, it was about Barry worrying about his speed and then worrying about a future verzion of himself being Savitar. Season six? Dragged out and became about Barry once again.

This panel was back In 2018 and despite having a newspaper and even a team, she’s yet to have fully dedicated storylines that somehow don’t interact with Barry or the team.

Obviously it’s not a secret that Iris is a black woman and she is treated with a VERY harmful trope of having to stay strong and not be vulnerable in times of tragedy. I’ll go ahead and link this thread as well. News flash, black woman are not invincible or limited to emotions. https://twitter.com/softxiris/status/1287219950399217664

As a part of having to stay strong or even silent, Candice has been vocal about how she’s never been protected by the network or her coworkers. They’ve never spoken up for her, defended her, tried to shield her away from the racism she receives. They leave her to fend for herself

If you watch the entirety of her speaking, the response from the hosts is ‘amazingly well said’ then completely switched to telling funny stories about Jesse L. Martin. Her trauma is treated as something to talk about to check off a diversity box then disregard it.

She’s spoken about how she doesn’t even have representation on sets. No black women or men in cosmetics, in wardrobe. Barely any black women or men in the writers room or filming teams. As important as diversity is on screen, it’s just as important on set.

She’s spoken about how the network and channel only care about representation for profit and to even save their own asses.

Hell, she’s even spoken about how she’s had to remind a FRIEND of their racist microaggression. Candice has been very vocal yet things are not changing.

Her costar, Grant Gustin, only recently defended her in mid July of 2019. Beyond that, he’s yet to defend her aside from minuscule comments - I will admit, he’s gotten a bit better. The rest of the cast and crew? Silence.

We’ll indulge in Candice a bit more further into the thread but as we go back to Iris, let’s talk about misogyny. In the first season, Joe is angry at Iris for dating his partner but in season two, he forcefully pushes Barry to be with Patty, his new partner.

It’s also not a secret the entire base of the relationship with Barry and Patty was sparked to try and appease fanboys who were incredibly racist towards Candice and they made a quirky, nerdy, blonde, white character for Barry whom served no purpose whatsoever.

Eric even so much as baited Iris and Candice fans by saying how her story will be further explored, outside of Westallen, and she will be more in-depth with the fact that she’s a black woman. Only three episodes were cut and none of this happened.

Let’s also talk about the excuse for Westallen not having any intimate or steamy scenes is because the Flash is a ‘family show’ - let’s showcase what they have instead of normal married couple interactions. First, Thawne threatening to slit Barry’s throat and kill his family.

We have them showing Iris’ death scene of her being violently stabbed through the back all throughout season three by a version of her husband and in season six, a version of her husband is ready to kill her. They also have a sick habit of showing Iris being choked repeatedly.

It’s a ‘family show’ so we can’t have intimate Westallen scenes yet we’ve had them with Barry and Linda or even Eddie and Iris - all except where the main *white* protagonist is married to a black woman.

Further about Westallen, they were the lead couple - it’s always been the plan, yet they are treated terrible. Barry and Iris got their wedding hijacked twice, once by n*zis and the other by ‘friend’s’ then they got married at a FUNERAL. Their dates are always interrupted as well

I mean, Nash even shames Barry for thinking Barry so much as considered saving Iris by handing Carver over to Eva, a murderer who knew Mirror!Iris wasn’t the real Iris and kept it from Barry. The same man who inevitably died at the end of the episode.