Why Molestia is not so harmless

NOTE: The text below is entirely written by ShakaRaka, so all the credit goes to her. If you have anything to say about(or against) it, you should probably take it to the writer herself.

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A letter directed at defenders of Molestia:

I don't mean to sound accusatory here; I understand that it's easy to fall into this line of thinking, of "Oh this is okay, I can laugh at this" because of how certain actions are portrayed in fiction.
I, myself, once upon a time, thought it was really funny when a girl "agressively flirted" with an unwilling boy (i.e. the Kanker Sisters of Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy)... until I learned that females could sexually harrass males. And not only that, but many people will either ignore or laugh off real-life cases of female-on-male sexual abuse. Now I can't watch episodes of EEnE with the Kankers without feeling sick.

Yes, morally ambiguous - even downright depraved - characters can be done right. Dr. Venture and Beetlejuice are just the first examples to immediately come to mind. The same can even go for hilariously monstrous villains like the Joker; or hell, even Discord prior reformation.

But in my book, there are at least three criteria they need to follow in order to work.

1.) Whether they be a villain or an anti-hero, the narrative portrays the character in question as the scumbag they are. Which modern portrayals of Molestia do not. If they're to be believed, "Molly" is nothing more than a sexy, lovable rapscallion for what she does.

2.) It's crystal clear to the audience that what they're doing is wrong. Which Molestia fans don't seem to think. The fact that many will defend her by saying "Well, yeah, she molests characters, but it's not "rape-rape" so it's okay" is proof enough.*

3.) Most importantly: The character suffers some sort of comeuppance for their actions. Which Molestia usually does not... If ever... At all. In fact, the opposite is true: she has the highest authority, and is free to abuse her position to fondle and harrass anyone she damn well pleases - even her own sister(!) - without repercussions.

* And yes, before anyone jumps down my throat, I know how easy it is to fall into this trap, as I said earlier. This mindset is actually pretty deeply ingrained in our culture, if you look around. The same goes for subtle verbal abuse, which a perpetrator may brush off as "just teasing," or physical abuse that onlookers may shrug off as "rough-housing," not knowing the extent to which the "teasing" and "rough-housing" is taken, or how it affects the victim. Just because the perpetrator isn't screaming insults in the victim's face or bludgeoning them with a bat doesn't make them harmless.

Likewise, just because a molester isn't depicted as a traditionally creepy or violent Hollywood rapist doesn't mean that their making unwanted advances or fondling of clearly uncomfortable recipients is okay. In fact, I'd argue that depicting Molestia as a "funny, playful molester" is even more harmful than portraying her as a more blatant rapist, because it's much easier to overlook or minimize the amorality of her actions (as with the other forms of subtle abuse I talked about above).

I'm not saying you're a horrible monster for being desensitized by JohnJ's "harmlessly comical" portrayal of her, or by Jem's pretty voiceovers of her. But I do sincerely ask that you be more critical of depictions of characters like her, and the harmful effect they can have on people's subconscious. Maybe even be willing to alter your perspection a bit. I know I've had to plenty of times in my life.

And even if you don't change your mind about her, at the very least, please don't be like the fans who get defensive and rage at others for suggesting that something they like may not be entirely okay. Please don't be like those who think it's perfectly fine to toss around mentions or images of Molestia without any warnings because she's "not really a rapist," and accuse those bothered by it of being whiny (sexual abuse victim or otherwise). Please don't be one of those who harrass girls and women - on or off the internet - for having the audacity to say that normalizing Molestia might actually pose an issue.

Yes, all of these things do happen. Be more aware. Be more critical. Be harder on those who don't give proper warnings when spreading Molestia content, making the web unsafe for the show's target audience. And especially be harder on those who are cruel to others who don't like Molestia.

That is all.
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You see, the reason why i decided to share this essay with others is because i thought i'm not the only one who should or need to see this. Besides, my opinion on molestia is pretty similar; i don't think she's "OK" or "harmless" at all. - NikoAccampora