Men Are the Expendable Gender/Analysis: Difference between revisions

When it's time for a character to hit the big one, either by a freak accident or by [[Heroic Sacrifice|nobly sacrificing]] himself, writers go about the situation as if it were a pickle jar: get a man to do it. If [[Kill 'Em All|the entire cast has to die]], men will go first. However, this phenomenon is much more noticeable with extras; if large amounts of anonymous people have to die to demonstrate the severity of a threat, they will be men. Armies of [[Mooks]] are almost always populated solely by males.

Being viewed as less sympathetic than women by default has obvious [[Unfortunate Implications]] for men: in general, it is more socially acceptable for women to seek help or support from others, and they're more likely to actually get it. More than that, though, this trope contributes to systematic social problems that disproportionately affect men. Men are more likely than women to be homeless, to be victims of violent crime, and to be injured or killed in workplace accidents. Many countries, though no longer all, refuse to officially assign female troops to combat units (although non-combat troops frequently do end up in combat anyway); not only is every army in the world willing to put men on the front lines, men are often considered to have [[A Real Man Is a Killer|an obligation to defend their country in combat]] and may be pressured to join up, or even conscripted. Outside of war, men are often [[What Measure Is a Non Badass|viewed as cowards]] if they [[Non -Action Guy|shrink from fistfights]], and if a man and woman are attacked by a criminal, he tends to be viewed as [[Always Save the Girl|responsible for protecting her]], regardless of whether she's actually more capable. A man who faces a problem like [[Domestic Abuse]] is often either [[All Abusers Are Male|actively disbelieved]] if he goes to the authorities, or told that [[Henpecked Husband|he ought to be able]] to [[Men Don't Cry|handle it on his own]]; if he does get help, he's likely to [[I Was Beaten By a Girl|feel ashamed of it]]. This leads to the [[Fridge Logic]] of an abused man being expected to take care of himself, but if he does, and he defends himself, then he's a total bastard for raising a hand against a female, and if he doesn't, then he's a coward and doesn't deserve sympathy. And good luck drawing attention to these problems; advertising a social issue by pointing out how it affects women is more likely to draw public sympathy and inspire action.

Apparent aversions of the trope often aren't. Remember, a real aversion requires not just showing lots of female deaths - that's actually fairly common - but treating those deaths as no more tragic than those of male characters. In older works (especially films and TV shows) that do avert it, it's often because the plot required meaningless deaths, but the director wanted to portray those deaths in sexualized ways to appeal to [[Perverse Sexual Lust]] without [[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?|making straight male audience members feel uncomfortable]]. See [[Monster Misogyny]] and [[Male Gaze]].

However, since the feminist movement took off, there has been a gradual but genuine shift in attitudes. Audiences today are more likely to deride [[The Chick|female characters who don't put themselves at risk for their allies]] as [[The Load]] or a [[Damsel Scrappy]]. Modern works are therefore slowly becoming more likely to depict female characters who [[Battle Couple|go into dangerous situations alongside their male partners]], or even who [[Violently Protective Girlfriend|are physically protective of their male partners]], without portraying this as [[No Guy Wants an Amazon|making the male partner in question less manly and sympathetic]]. They are also becoming more likely to portray [[Non -Action Guy|male characters who aren't traditionally manly]] as sympathetic characters.