so, since this tweet kinda blew up here's the thread I was talking about:

sam winchester is a heavily female coded character https://twitter.com/mardybumps/status/1312725767650865156?s=19

most of the leading male characters in tv series/movies present the usual male tropes but sometimes they present stereotypical female traits, and vice versa(as in male-coded fem characters, a struggle for industry as they're clueless how to represent strong fems w/o male traits)

traits traditionally cited as feminine include gentleness, empathy, and sensitivity, though traits associated with femininity vary across societies and individuals, and are influenced by a variety of social and cultural factors. femininity is linked with sexual objectification.

stereotyping genders is very inconsiderate to non binary people, women, and could lead to endorsing toxic masculinity but it's vastly used as a plot device and plot tropes. not always a bad thing tho!

and now back to signs of sam winchester being a female coded male protagonist:

- being emotional

Sam's already presented as the sensitive emotional brother. in contrast to dean who uses humor or violence as coping mechanism sam's the brother who tries to get dean to talk about his feelings, and even sometimes he's berated for it.

- being controlled

Sam's been controlled his entire life. from his father and Azazel's demons to dean who's willing to resort to violence to keep sam in line. Dean's also in charge of Sam's life and death, in case he goes up a dark path, easily goes thru Sam's phone as well, etc

- getting discredited

being treated as the "weakest" in his family, dean & bobby didn't think he'd be able to stop the apocalypse, bobby deadass calling him assful of character defects, not being trustworthy over 1time mistakes, bein called toi emo for his argument to be valid

- victim blaming

*big sigh* another familiar female trope/experience

- morals

male characters are ruled by their actions/morals. they do things bc it’s the right thing to do. fem characters are ruled by emotions.

Sam's morals are fluid.

he rationalizes and justifies doing the wrong thing if his emotions cloud his judgement. (like losing dean)

- torture

the way the industry approaches torture scenes for women vs men is widely well known. men torture scenes emphasize on their masculinity, their pain is glorified & usually it happens in a formal setting. they often take control of the situation themselves.

- torture

the industry takes a more pervy, sexual approach to women getting tortured. (bc it sells) their pain is sexualized, immobility and helplessness is encouraged and usually women are naked.

Sam's torture scenes often borderline sexual exploitation

- torture

we're all aware of supernatural's obsession with mirroring. funnily enough, sam is the only male character who's subjected to whatever medieval demonic torture device this is.

- lack of agency/sexual abuse

another familiar female trope/experience that isn't usually preserved for male characters.

(if you didn't understand why sam was so done with dean for tricking him into 1 of these in so, u might get a better perspective now)

- damsel in distress

it starts slightly from ep1.01 (dean getting sam out of the fire) and continues throughout the entire series. part of Sam's characterization that helps presenting Dean's badass hero who care a lot about his brother trope.

male coded characters are portrayed to be driven by sex, emotionally repressed, self-reliant, as well as avoid all facets pertaining to femininity. rather than seeing a man cry, you see them turn violent or present a stoic exterior.

these characteristics are very unlike sam, except maybe when he was soulless.
also, Dean's male coding was heightened in s8 (due to purgatory) same as Sam's fem coding (what with him quitting the job)

in conclusion, if u think u can relate to sam winchester's character you're not wrong. you, regardless of ur (preferred) gender, probably have gone through some of his metaphorical experiences, or you're simply interested in gender studies.

stanford arc was about him taking control of his own life, making his life on his own terms, his reluctance to obeying orders, taking charge of his own anatomy, him taken seriously as a leader after 12 seasons, etc are interesting explorable arcs.

stay stanning stay winning

disclaimer:

-none of the pictures belong to me, I downloaded all of them from pinterest & google.
-no hate, especially towards dean or sam.
- feel free to add anything