I Think Astrid Is One Of The Most Hated Characters In This Fandom, And Its Honestly Misogyny. I Think

I think Astrid is one of the most hated characters in this fandom, and it’s honestly misogyny. I think she subverts expectations of femininity, which sets people off. She’s sometimes cold, unempathetic, and utilitarian compared to Sam. She also doesn’t make herself available to him sexually. It’s so interesting seeing the fandom react to a character that’s so unlike the stereotypical YA female lead.

you hit the nail on the head, anon—i agree completely. astrid’s the victim of skyler white/carmela soprano syndrome, in which a female character not being effortlessly sympathetic and kind/sexually available to her male partner all the time means she’s actually a Bad Female Character and worthy of intense, bitter scorn. i think the dislike of astrid, though, is unique because it’s mostly teenage girls (who, i’ll admit, i just assume make up the tumblr fandom for the gone series, at least) doing the disliking. i mostly saw hate for astrid in 2013/2014, way before i made this blog.

i think it’s because a lot of female fans feel threatened by astrid’s relatively high self-esteem and genius intelligence (traits often construed as arrogance when women have it), which is why they latch onto diana, who has a more socially acceptable flaw for a female character (low self-esteem). diana’s promiscuity is more acceptable to the fandom than astrid’s chastity, because diana’s promiscuity can be construed as somewhat tragic and inevitable given her history of objectification. it’s (sadly) more relatable to teenage girls.

not to mention, 2012-2014 (as far as i can remember) was the height of the popularity of sex positivity on tumblr, in which sexual liberation was something to be celebrated in women rather than shamed. it was a push-back on old-fashioned, patriarchal expectations of women being expected to be chaste/innocent above else, lest they be branded a whore/slut/ho/etc. in that respect, astrid’s character might’ve been considered by the fandom to be an unintentional throwback to the Ideal Female Character as being chaste “good girl” (conveniently forgetting that, in all these stories, the chaste female is never allowed to stay that way; she always gives up her chastity by the end to a “good man,” fulfilling the patriarchal expectation of sexual availability), while diana is the more liberated, “feminist” character by virtue of her promiscuity (despite being a fourteen-year-old girl and not an adult woman as this sex-positive mindset was initially made for).

diana gets to have her cake and eat it, too; she gets to have sex with caine but have an excuse (the sexual misconduct that’s occurred since she hit puberty), thus satisfying the audience’s expectations while providing her an excuse for why she’s sympathetic despite her meanness/promiscuity. meanwhile, astrid is “selfish” because she doesn’t have sex with sam (who, being the main character, “deserves” it) and instead sticks to her uppity christian moralism, which i think a lot of teenage girls (at least at the time) just couldn’t relate to, and has the nerve to be unapologetic about her perceived prudishness and arrogance. they saw astrid as frigid and uncaring because she didn’t respond to sam’s wants in a sex-positive, “feminist” way...which just so happens to coincide with standard societal misogyny, in that the woman is always supposed to forgo her own wants/needs for her man’s.

not to mention, astrid’s christianity and uptightness might be seen as “bad” traits by fans inundated with portrayals of christians as being high-strung, judgmental, and conservative, especially in teen media (see amanda bynes’ character in the 2010 movie easy a, a pastiche of the scarlet letter all about the concept of teenage conceptions of madonnas/whores, as an example).

diana’s bitchiness is a clearly realized, canonical aspect of her character and lamented often in canon—unlike astrid’s “bitchiness” (utilitarianism, coldness, and lack of sexual availability), which the fandom thinks are flaws that need to be solved in order for astrid to be a Good Female Character.

thank you for the ask, anon! sorry this turned into a bit of an essay!

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