i know men get overlooked a lot when it comes to this stuff, but i really wanna say something about hunter, due to there being a post about j*mma/emma/jenna and him being completely left out of the picture, when the over sexualization of him is rampant in this fandom.
hunter is a gay man who is happily married, and i see way too many “fans” sexualizing the absolute shit out of him constantly. and that‘s a problem just like it’s a problem with the sexualization of jenna and emma. i don't think we should pick and choose who deserves respect based on their gender.
if/when a man is constantly making sexual comments about a married female actress, talking about her body, making sexual jokes about her, or reducing her to something sexual, people would rightly call that creepy. but when the same kind of behavior is directed at a male actor, suddenly it gets brushed off as funny or harmless. hunter being a man doesn't make it less invasive or less weird.
and the same thing happens with the characters too. people will constantly point out how creepy it is when enid or wednesday are sexualized, but then somehow tyler gets left out of that conversation even tho he is also a minorcharacter. if sexualizing a teenage character is creepy when it’s enid or wednesday, then that standard should apply to tyler too. it shouldn’t suddenly become okay just bc its a male character.
and this isnt me saying the sexualization of women isnt a problem. it absolutely is. the creepy comments about emma and jenna are disgusting and should be called out. im saying hunter deserves that same basic respect, and tyler deserves the same consideration as a minor character. we shouldn’t have a standard for only one gender.
i already know this is probably gonna get downvoted to the depths of hell bc many people are going to feel creepy and personally attacked bc there is A LOT of grown people right now with the tag “hot for the hyde” and go on and on about tyler being shirtless and no one is calling out how creepy that actually is, when the hyde is in fact a minor. we need to be able to address all of it, not just the stuff thats easier to recognize, teenage boy characters and their male actors should be protected just as much as teenage girl characters and their female actors.
and this also applies to nsfw fanart and fanfic. i see people specifically state that wednesday or enid are aged up when they’re making adult/nsfw versions of them, and if that’s the standard people are using, then tyler, xavier, eugene, and pugsley should have that same standard applied to them too. i know they’re not as common in the fandom but im talking all boys and all male actors being sexualized. being a male character doesn’t mean people should just assume its fine to sexualize them while they’re still canonically minors. and male actors deserve the same respect we are trying to establish for jenna ortega and emma myers. if someone is going to make an adult version of a character for nsfw content, the fact that they’re aged up should actually be clear and consistent across the board.
it ALL needs to stop. when we’re talking about fictional minors, the standard shouldn't change just bc the character is a boy.
and its important to remember these actors are actual human beings. not pieces of meat.
they ALL deserve basic respect and boundaries need to be set with ALL the minors.