This may just be in my experience but a lot of the Skylar hate I see on the internets is something like: "WOW SKYLAR IS SUCH A STUPID WHORE BITCH FOR DOING THAT TO WALT."
I think she has a point.
I think it's fair to say someone is a stupid whore bitch for fucking another man just to get at their partner. I'd say just about the same thing if a man did it too. In fact, most people would, and the idea that most people think it's okay for dudes to cheat is hilarious. They really, really don't think that.
When I complain about characters in The Walking Dead being completely irrational dumbfucks, it comes from the same place as calling a cheating whore a cheating whore. If the name fits, ya know? It's not about putting down a woman because fuck women. It's about her being a sleazy person. It's about the writers knowing that a lot of the audience will have a personal reaction to that kind of event because of their own experiences in life. They relate, but that doesn't make them sexist.
She's sort of a bitch. I disliked her very early on. That's not sexist, it's just how she is written. I am sure that there is some tiny part of the "I hate Skylar" crowd that is just being actively sexist. But calling someone a bitch isn't sexist when it's true. Calling someone a whore isn't sexist when it's true. No matter what the reasons or circumstances, fucking someone else to mess with your partner is fucked, and even doing that to a generally bad person is still a really shitty, bitchy, whorey thing to do.
As someone who's been cheated on a few times (including with a guy that pretty much treated my girl like shit the entire time she and I were together, by a girl I was a couple of weeks from proposing to) I can say that when you pull that shit, you are worthy of just about any name under the sun. And the same goes if you're a dude and you do that shit. You're an asshole and a prick and a whore if you pull that shit as a man or a women.
Not to mention how incredibly unwilling she is to work with her husband and support him in the early days of his diagnosis. She kind of reminded me of my Aunt when she was engaged to pretty much the coolest guy I knew. He was a Marine, and a huge inspiration to me and a great friend to me when I was younger. His first couple of deployments were rough, during some of the fiercest fighting in the Iraq War. He made some mistakes, but my Aunt didn't seem to be able to see that there was more going on than the behavior, that there were deep scars causing that behavior. I'm not saying that it or Walt's behavior should be excused by any means, but just that it's hard not to see someone as a bitch (or an ass) when they don't stick through the hard parts of life with someone they have supposedly committed to.
So no, I don't think there's much sexism in the dislike for her character. I think she's a severe, bitch of a women who has the potential to be a good person but is dragged down by a lack of trust or empathy for her husband's situation and an inability to let go of those wrongs to make her own life for the good of the rest of the family when she has the chance.
I think part of Gunn's reaction is just a lack of understanding of the internet, seeing a couple of articles about how sexist the internet is (when it's mostly just a bunch of dumb troll kids spewing things out just because someone'll give them some attention for it). And partly speaks to her maybe not totally understanding the character from the writers' perspective. Which is probably why she does such an excellent job with the character and why despite hating her guts I think the character is still an excellent one. She feels very real in the way she fucks up and she does it in an interesting and intense way rather than the usual boilerplate "I cheated on you but I'm so sorry oh please forgive me!" or some other trope of female characters.
And I think a little bit of it is the feminist position that any negative portrayal of a women character is somehow bad for their gender. If anything, we need more awful women in the media. I'm tired of all the bad guys being dudes. Not because I think it's unfair (though it is a bit silly) but because diversity is more interesting.
And I think people are seeing the "She doesn't stand by Walt" thing completely the wrong way. I doubt anyone really thinks she should stick by him and support him through to the end, but she never really stands by him. She's a bitch as soon as he starts displaying pretty common behavior for someone with a terminal illness. Instead of being understanding that she can't possibly understand his position and trying to be accommodating despite the stresses, she is paranoid and distrustful and at times just plain bitchy to Walt. All while he's trying to figure out how to do all of these things in a way that is best for his family. He screws up, but he does it out of love for his family. She treats him like crap on several occasions because the poor guy, who just found out he's dying, is going through a major life crisis. And he rarely does anything to spite her or hurt her except when he's pushed to snapping by HER behavior.
And later as Walt because what is clearly a terrible, terrible person she may not stand by his side, but she also doesn't get the fuck out when she should. She puts not only herself in that situation, but the rest of the family that she and Walt had created. All of which sounds pretty selfish and terrible to me. Calling her a bitch isn't sexist. Girls call guys pigs and pricks and all other sorts of things and that is never sexist because it's always accurate, obviously, but when someone wants to say that someone's being a bitch suddenly it's sexist. The character is sort of a bitch, totally a whore, and probably a bit paranoid. She's well written, very well played, and contributes to the story. And that she isn't liked proves all of that because she isn't supposed to be some strong female role model. She's a largely flawed character. Not everything needs to fight for lady power or whatever. Sometimes a character is just a bad person. That's often good when done right, especially in cases like Skylar. Even if I yell at the show when she does something obnoxious. I do the same with Walt sometimes.
I think this is an interesting story to come out after the Last of Us story about how none of the females were especially flawed. Well here you go, we get a flawed female character and the fuckin' feminists are at it again. I'm a little tired of the idea that I'm sexist because I think a female character is this or that. Sexism, real sexism, is a pretty small minority. Sure there may be a little bit of subtle, unintentional, or barely noticed sexism in some of our behavior, but there's a difference between that and just thinking she's a terrible person because she's a female. Which I doubt most people do. If you had a male character cheating and failing to show empathy or patience for their dying spouse, people would also not like him. For the same reasons. Maybe the character would be a little different. Somewhat more belligerent than bitchy or something. But that's about as close to sexism as I see any of that going.
And can we also stop pretending that females have to be identical to males? Yes, women can be bitchy in ways that guys typically aren't, just like guys can be pricks in ways girls typically aren't. It's not sexism, it's basic biology. We're a little different. Don't make that shit out to be sexism. I see women posting on my Facebook wall about how guys are all pigs and slobs and pieces of shit far more than I ever see men posting about women belonging in the kitchen or are "cunts" or whatever. And obviously men and women are different. Some are less so, some are more so. It's not black and white, but there's definitely a point where the color changes on the spectrum and you're out of one and into the other, ya know?
I hope some day we get over this shit. The sooner we stop questioning what is and isn't subtle sexism the sooner we might get rid of the stupid tit-based art styles of the world and things that are actually clearly offensive.
Props to Gunn for an excellent character. She's a hell of an actress.
TLDR: Probably just that Walt being an asshole doesn't excuse her behavior any more than her being a bitch excuses his behavior. Now stop being lazy and read something! Or don't, this is kind of an unorganized rant/stream of thought.
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