It’s perfectly understandable to sympathize with Pearl and her problems, but it’s also perfectly understandable to wish for just once a small child did not have to be her emotional punching bag while she works it out.

Holy hell, trying to catch up in the tags after being sick last week has me gobsmacked. The woobification and polarization abilities I’m seeing over Sworn To The Sword are ridiculous. If you condemn Pearl’s actions, you obviously hate the character, and you may catch the label of “ableist” or “lesbophobe” to boot. I wish I was kidding. I wish this behavior was limited to the few who felt the need to invalidate my pansexuality over a cartoon ship, or the few who were pissed I said Jasper is a villain but not a rapist, but nope. It’s everywhere. And goddamn, Tumblr, I can’t even see the word “coded” at this point without getting an eye twitch.



Pearl can be gay as all the gay in the world combined into one gay bird for Rose Quartz and still do things that harm others, things that should not be tolerated. Pearl can have very sympathetic reasons behind her actions and still do things that harm others, things that should not be tolerated. Even if she honestly, sincerely does not MEAN to do these things, that does not change the fact that she DOES them.



Pearl has some great, relatable qualities. She’s one of my favorite characters because of her complexity. I love the idea of mutual Prose. But when she allows her flaws to endanger others, I have to say hell no. It isn’t “lesbophobic” or “ableist” to point out that she has no business looking after children until she can look after herself. If this shit were translated into a RL person, Tumblr would have a callout post on her regardless of whatever she may be “coded” as. This “get out of jail free card because desperation” shit in the fandom is horrid, but showing the target audience–children, you know, the reason we tag our adult stuff carefully?–showing children watching Steven Universe that you should just hug out harmful behavior or silently take it is downright dangerous, more insidious than the “black comedy” and “oh-so-romantic” abuse of Harley Quinn by the Joker, because Pearl is supposed to be a trusted adult, one of the heroes.

This isn’t just on the level of “Greg fibbed about his broken leg to spend more time with Steven so that’s bad” or even “Mayor Dewey isn’t always around for Buck so that’s bad”. Jesus fucking Christ, they wrote more anger in Steven and Buck at their parents than Steven ever has shown at the Gems for shit that has almost killed him or people he cares for. Steven almost fell to his death in Rose’s Scabbard, and yet when he finally climbed up on his own, all Pearl had to say was shit about Rose. After her outburst about teaching Connie to have no self-worth and to be willing to die for him? Rose, Rose, Rose. No apologies. No consequences. No real understanding, just in the context of Rose and her pain about Rose.



Rose loved Steven. Rose loves Steven. And it makes me so sick and sad and furious that if Steven did not have her gem, Pearl wouldn’t give a shit about him. Just another silly little human acting like his short life has some meaning. Like his father! But Steven has Rose’s gem, so let’s teach another silly little human her only meaning is to be a meat shield to protect Rose’s gem! I-I mean Steven! Yeah! Totally Steven! I’ll bandage the human’s hands and you’ll think I care about her, it’s not like I may have done it to make sure she stayed an efficient meat shield, naaaah!



The excuse that Pearl “didn’t know” how fragile humans are is unacceptable. She’s had at least 6,000 years and a war in which humans died alongside Gems to understand how different they are. At the very least, she had the duration of Rose’s pregnancy to educate herself….if the human half of the baby was important to her at all.

No matter what Rose’s love for her was–romantic, platonic, motherly, as a lover–it doesn’t make this shit okay.



Garnet’s pep talk to Jamie is one of the biggest reasons why I can’t believe Prose could ever be canonly mutual.



“At the very least you have to know the other person. And you literally have no idea of who, or what, I am.“



It is way too obvious that Pearl did not “get” Rose. She only understands her image of Rose. Rose Quartz was a powerful Gem who gave up her home and everything she knew for love of humanity. Pearl has proven time and time again the only reason she gave up anything was for her worship of Rose.



Talk it out with the other Gems, keep a diary, do anything else for fuck’s sake, but at what point do you look at a child and think to yourself “you know what, screw it, I’m just gonna let it all hang out” and decide that is the proper course to take?



I trust Garnet with Steven. She’s proven to “get it” the most of any of them. Amethyst churned my stomach in Maximum Capacity, but it was made clear she realized how wrong she was and she made amends. I don’t trust Pearl with him anymore. And that sucks.



TL;DR: I hope eventually the Crewniverse makes her take responsibility for her mistakes, because Tumblr sure as hell isn’t.

