I’m glad to hear that you are aware of the subjectiveness of insults, especially racial ones. That said, I think you are glossing over the context to imply that The Wasp is in some way offensive.

Yeah, it’s more than a bit of a stretch. And the background in context is different for each of them. My point was to bring up the notion that there is a spectrum of what is offensive, and a the whole of that definition rests in the way it is intended and the way it is perceived rather than the symbols themselves.

So wait, because there is a character who has a suit that looks like a wasp, therefore she is called Wasp, you think it’s insensitive to WASPs (or white folks)? I don’t think people have ever caricatured WASPs as...actual wasps, whereas having someone who is African American go by “Man Ape”, is problematic exactly…

I think they’re referring to the stereotype of the W.A.S.P., or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. WASP, as a slur, basically means that the person is too rich and out of touch with anyone outside of their social group. As a derogatory term coming from a middle class white person, it is punching UP at someone in a…

I’m a little lost, here: are you trying to draw a linkage between the term W.A.S.P. (White Anglo-Sexton Protestant) and the long history of insulting and derogatory racism linking Africans and African-Americans with primates (particularly monkeys and to a lesser degree, apes). Because the term WASP has a history as a…

WASP is a gods damn acronym, White Anglo Saxon Protestant. It’s not comparing people to actual, literal insects.
It’s barely even a slur. And it’s CERTAINLY not a slur against a marginalised group.
Even the article you linked says the term exists because WASPs are the LEAST marginalised and most powerful group in the…

The term WASP has nothing to do with the insect.

If the Wasp was superpowered by her sweater set, pearls and tennis racket this might then be the same. Although that does sound funny.

Maybe it’s my white privilege, but I was unaware of racial implications for wasp. Unless you mean White Anglo-Saxon Protestants... But then, that’s the group with all the privilege, isn’t it? Is there another connotation I’m missing here?

That’s a very interesting way to put it. So basically, they ought to put themselves under the microscope, to make sure they’re seeing what they’re doing from other points of view that don’t have the benefit of insider production discussions?

More movies should do that.

It’s not really about being “under the microscope” as opposed to just being thoughtful and responsible with the decisions that they make. People don’t sit around waiting to scrutinize stuff like this because they want to be disappointed.

I didn’t even watch the show but I know this scene by heart.

Wow, he was so young. I’ve never seen this show, but I just looked him up and one of the first news stories that came up from before today was an interview where Ellis criticized a former co-star for quitting because that actor didn’t want to play a gay character. That’s a stand up thing to do.

You try making a female character and doing what you suggest, then tell us.

• Because the Doctor is one of the few lead characters who has a canon reason to explain being male in one season and female in another so you can do it in the real show instead of a reboot or reinterpretation.

Because it’s silly to think an enlightened non-human would lock his image into forever to one sex. Personally, if I was going to live thousands of years I would not mind spending some decades or even centuries as a woman and a mother. If he’s going to choose to regenerate into a man repeatedly then he needs to give us…

I shouldn’t jump in to pull you out of the grays, but yes in this specific instance.

You might not have noticed, but the Doctor is rebooted as a new character every few years. Why are people demanding a female Doctor? Because it would be a perfect direction for the show to go! Moffet’s grasping at straws to come up with a non-sexist explanation of why we just can’t have one says more about him than it…

Because 50 years of a white man is boring as hell.

I don’t find Harry Potter a compelling or interesting character.