PJO & HP for Dummies

RANT: Rick's "Feminism" That I Hope He Doesn't Put in the Show

Hi... I'm back 👋 (it's been so long since I've updated this book haha)

Honestly, I thought I wouldn't come back here again since I lost interest in PJO (and HP) last year, but I started reading fics again and I've slowly started to regain my interest. (Let's hope I feel inspired enough to continue with my PJO/HP series, but I'll talk more about it at the end of this chapter). However, now that I started to read pjo fics again, I was, once again, re-introduced to Rick's issues that bled into his works so here I am with another rant.

This time, about him and how he expressed his misogyny throughout the books.

Now don't get me wrong, I genuinely don't believe Rick's even aware of his own issue. I don't think he's running around thinking "women are weak and should be subservient to men mwahahaha 👹", he's not Andrew Tate and thank GOD for that.

Rick believes himself to be a feminist... it's just that he's got the idea of "feminism" completely wrong and you can see that in the books.

1. Feminism does NOT equal misandry

Feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.

Misandry: dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against men (i.e. the male sex).

I'll be honest, back when I first read the books when I was between 10-12, I wholeheartedly believe that Rick's female characters were feminist icons.

Artemis and her hunters hating on boys for simply no reason? FEMINISM BECAUSE ALL BOYS SUCK 💖

Piper fighting back against her girly, pink-loving, cake-faced bullies and claiming Jason for herself? FEMINISM BECAUSE ALL GIRLY-GIRLS ARE CLEARLY BULLIES 💖

Female characters being unnecessarily aggressive to innocent male characters who literally did nothing wrong to them? Omg girlbosses and FEMINISM FEMINISM FEMINISM!!!! 💖

It's fucking embarrassing to admit, but I genuinely thought all those things were super cool and amazing, and I wanted to be as "badass" as the girls in Rick's books 😭 To be fair, I was an impressionable kid.

But I'm older now so I know better.

In the actual myths, the Hunters of Artemis never hated men. The Hunters of Artemis (though they were moreso called her "followers" instead) was a group of girls who banded together to protect other girls from men. They never went around attacking anyone with a dick simply because they had dicks. Aside from hunting animals and monsters, their purpose was to simply protect other girls.

Now... do you recall that ever being mentioned in Rick's books?

No. Instead, Rick reduced the Hunters into a fun little man-hating, all-girls club that go around hunting animals and monsters and that was pretty much it. Nothing about protecting girls, just "become immortal and join us as we roam around a forest and pretty much just hunt animals for all eternity! Oh, and we hate boys too."

The hunt was no longer about protecting women, Rick basically turned it into an anti-boys club who occasionally hunted animals and monsters. Not much of a purpose if you ask me.

He literally removed the main purpose of what the Hunters actually were and made them hate men and that was basically enough for him to slap on the word "feminism" 🤢

Rick put so much focus on how much the Hunters hated the male species it was ridiculous. They were wary of them, yes, but they never went around sneering at men simply for existing. That's stupid, it's no different than men treating women like shit simply because they're women.