Purely hypothetical.

Well, first of all, this was pretty condescending and presumptuous. I'm not taking offense because I think I'm being accused of racism and sexism for liking LotR, and if I were I wouldn't really give a shit anyway because they don't know me and I'm secure in what I am and am not. It's possible to be irritated by what I see as half-informed criticisms of my favorite author without taking it as a personal insult.

Where I take issue is that I have yet to see a "analysis through a social lens" that doesn't break down their whole argument into one of these:

  • "Well everyone in his time was racist and sexist" and then go hunting for proof without really thinking about why he wrote that "proof" the way he did or bothering to read any of his other material outside of the Hobbit and the LotR, like the Silmarillion or his letters.

  • "There's not enough diversity and that's inherently an issue" and then go hunting for proof without digging into why there's so little diversity.

The ones I've seen conveniently ignore the fact that the reason there's so few women is that he based them on the society of medieval Europe and medieval European women with political or social power were not super common and the fact that the ones that are there are definitely not just ornaments for their husbands or bargaining chips for arranged marriage

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