hobbitkaiju:

I have not seen this pointed out yet but it really, really skeeves me out not only that Natasha was reduced to a romantic object for a man in AoU but that the man chosen for this was Bruce.

Now, I love Natasha/Bruce as a pairing, actually. I think they’re phenomenal, I’m interested in their dynamics, and I like both characters. I’m writing fanfic about them and I’ve already drawn erotic fanart, so I’m obviously not against the pairing.

But the thing is, Bruce is the most obviously ‘nerdy’ of all the men in the cast. He’s of relatively average build, average in terms of looks, he’s a scientist, and aside from being the Hulk sometimes, he has no superpowers whatsoever. He has no money or home of his own, and he’s living off Tony’s generosity. He is an ordinary cis male homebody who spends most of his time writing equations and doing biochemical research. He’s shy and socially awkward and not good with women. He’s had maybe two or three romantic relationships in his entire life, and he’s around 45 years old by the time we see him in AOU.

AoU–Natasha’s romance arc with Bruce especially–focuses on those aspects of Bruce. And AoU does it in such a way that to me it seems obvious that Whedon is implicitly saying “All you nerd-boys in the audience deserve women like Natasha. You don’t need to do anything to deserve the attentions of a woman like her. In fact, you’re so amazing that a woman like her should have to chase you down.”

And that frankly disgusts me. It revolts me, because if we know anything, it’s that male (often cis and straight) nerds already have an alarming level of entitlement to the bodies and attentions of women. Gamergate is a very recent steaming mess of misogyny, policing of women’s desires and sexual choices, death threats, rape threats, and horrific privacy violations. Anita Sarkeesian is still getting death threats and rape threats on the regular for her Feminist Frequency series on the representation of women in comics, cartoons, and games. And 4chan’s adult content sections….still exist, in all their abysmal horror.

So into that environment, Whedon has decided to insert his version of Bruce/Natasha. Which is a romantic arc that not only discards much of Natasha’s previous characterization (which it does, I’m not willing to argue about this, lots of other bloggers have already addressed it) but also acts as an archetypal sexual/romantic fulfillment story for male nerds who like women. A beautiful, talented, powerful, much younger woman completely loses herself in chasing after a nerdy guy who has very little romantic experience and nothing much to offer her. She even says she loves how “dorky” Bruce is. If that’s not wish fulfillment for all the creepy nerdboys in the audience, what is?