Sexualized Saturdays: Teen Wolf Doesn’t Have a “Girlfriend Character” Problem

While many fans dislike Teen Wolf‘s Braeden and Malia for being female love interests, I think that these two characters are fantastically written and are far more than their romantic storylines would imply. Today I want to defend Malia and Braeden against the most common criticism these two characters receive, which is that Malia and Braeden are just “girlfriend characters”.

Legitimate Reasons to Not Like the Girlfriend Character

In fandom, there is a lot of hate for the “girlfriend” character. I have discussed this before in a post I did on sexism in Supernatural, where I criticized fans for hating on female characters because they get between their favorite male/male ship, or because they somehow think that the actor or (weirdly) the character belongs to them, the fans. I have said it before and I’ll say it again: hating female characters because of a ship, or because you think you are this actor’s/character’s “true love”, is just silly.

I can’t preach on this topic enough, and I often get annoyed with other fans for immediately hating on a female character after one episode. That being said, sometimes it is okay to be wary of or dislike the girlfriend character.

Let me explain.