So I'm more than halfway through Skypeia, and I feel the need to comment on the sexism thing again, specifically pertaining to Enel. As a preface, let me just say this: If you don't want this to become a discussion, don't reply. This is relevant, as I'm currently reading it, and I have a right to put down my thoughts like anyone else. If you don't want to see it, then simply scroll down further and ignore the post and any that do reply to it, but don't shit the discussion up by complaining how it's being discussed. It's not going to stop the discussion, it's going to extent it if anything, and it's a really shitty thing to do in general. And personally, I don't even think there's much to talk about because I think everyone already agrees with the general point, but I want to bring this up as it is one of the most concrete examples of what I'm talking about.
So...I don't think after all the talks that anyone actually denies that there is a strong undercurrent of sexism in OP on many levels. However, the most resisted topic was when I suggested there was a strong power/authority disparity that has little reason to be there. Posters seemed to think the idea of why women made up less than a quarter of any given crew or why they were almost never captains wasn't a relevant factor in wasn't worth considering when discussing how they were depicted within the world of OP. The problem is that in OP, the sexism is almost always subtext. There always seems to be an artificial overlaid reason for why a woman can't do this or that that actually has nothing to do with her being a woman at all. Like, there's no internal reason of why Robin and Nami haven't gotten a fight since Ennies Lobby, it just...hasn't happened, through sheer coincidence of natural events unfolding, for example. There's no reason given why there aren't that many women in authority positions. So, I found it interesting that Skypeia is one of the few arcs that seems to have characters acknowledge that there is a slanted gender dynamic. And the way they do this is....well...by villainizing Enel for treating the genders equally.
There have been 2 instances of it thus far. First when Enel had trapped Zoro and Wiper in a cage, and Enel and Laki appeared outside. Laki attacked him, so as a result, Enel fried her. Now, Enel has been villainized for attacking opponents that could pose no harm to him before, including others of Wipers group, but the way it's depicted is differently than previous instances of it. Before, it was one of his initial demonstrations of power, so he had allowed them to attack for 5 minutes, and when those were up, they ran away, and he hunted them down. In that instance, I felt the depiction of him was more "Whoa, this guy is arrogant and powerful" than villainous. In this one, it has the one instance of Wiper begging him to leave her alone, and then after he shocks her, them having a silent moment of contempt and loathing for him. This scene isn't a display of power, it's a display of abuse.
Now, you could try to wipe this up as subtext as well. Wiper wasn't mad because he attacked a woman, but because he attacked a helpless person who couldn't do him harm, and he's an asshole for that. Well, not untrue, but that reasoning falls apart when you consider the following scene. The survival game is over and Robin is one of the 5 left standing. She tries to deceive him, but he catches her out, and electrocutes her out of annoyance. Zoro catches her as she falls, turning in wrath, snarling "She's a woman....". Enel replies "I noticed." nonchalantly before Zoro attacks viciously, screaming "You really are insane!" As I said, I don't think anyone reasonable denied that there was an undercurrent of sexism of power dynamics already running through the story. But with those words, it's made explicit. Enel is a bully who cruelly plays with the lives around him, but he's depicted as worse because he treats the genders equally, the manga now taking the stance that while hurting men for no reason is a dick move, hurting women at all (as both Laki and Robin were in fact enemy combatants) is monsterous.
The fact that this is Zoro saying it only accentuates the point. Sanji is an idiot with women, so it'd make more sense if he was saying this. Zoro has more reason to pay respect to female warriors as equals than anyone in the manga, given his past. Not to mention it's inconsistent as he himself crushed Ms. Monday's skull and didn't care when Luffy punched Ms. Valentine or Vivi. It makes little sense for me to see him object to Enel hurting Robin not because he's hurting a crewmate or even a just helpless person, but specifically a woman.
And I just find this utterly disrespectful to it's own female characters. It essentially makes the statement that women are fundamentally unworthy as warriors relative to men, and therefore should be afforded different treatment. The fact that Enel is treating them just as he would men is somehow such an offense that Zoro, who is the one who distrusts Robin more than anyone in the crew and should respect her as a fellow warrior more than anyone, drops those characteristics to retaliate on behalf of her gender. I consider it to be a very out of character moment for him, though this aspect will continue to stay throughout the series from here on out. And it's disappointing to see. It's confirmation that he in fact doesn't respect Tashigi as a fellow swordsman, and not because of her being less skilled than him. And his last words to Kuina end up being disingenuous, meaning that her being a woman does in fact mean she is can't be placed on equal ground with male swordsman. And I'm fairly sure this is characterization Oda never intended. If people wondered what I meant by how sexism makes writing worse, this would be a small example of it. It makes Zoro fundamentally a hypocrite.
