I'm gonna be roasted for this, aren't I?

[shamanicshaymin]

I don't know if it's just me, but something about the term "manpain" rubs me the wrong way.

I've read the fanlore entry for it, and I don't think I quite understand it. What's the difference between manpain and legitimate angst of a male character?

I understand that fridging is a problem. ("Hi! I'm a female character, and I only exist to die/be raped/be tortured/forced to watch the Oogieloves just to make my man angst!") People who use their shitty past as excuses to be douchebags and/or constantly brood suck. And you know what we called it? We called it "wangst." People who whine and make someone else's tragedy all about them? Also wangst.

I dunno about you, but I always preferred "wangst." "Manpain" as a term kind of makes me feel uncomfortable, because it feels, well... sexist?

Suppose a guy character grieves for a girl character who is actually well-developed and exists more than a plot device to "make him sad." Is it still manpain?

I just feel like the definition of manpain has the potential to become as blurry and misused as "Mary-Sue" is these days. Your name doesn't have to be Alixanndrea Serenity Rose Tachikawa and be half-unicorn/half-elf/half-dragon/half-demon/half-angel and have a super traumatic past where your dad left you to be beat up by hamsters. Nope. Just be female, have blonde hair, and have at least one thing remotely interesting about you. There, you're a Mary-Sue. And if you're a guy, the smallest amount of sadness or temporary self-pity (let's face it, all of us have felt sorry for ourselves at least once in our lives) is dismissed as manpain.

Comments

[sarajayechan]

See, anytime I think "manpain" I think of the Home Improvement episode where Tim pulled his groin lifting a trunk, blamed Jill and got ice poured down his pants as a result while she used the term to make fun of him. Not an instance where a dude is legit upset and cries over something. And like you, I prefer the term "wangst". Come on, it even SOUNDS better when you're describing whiny basket cases who make other people's pain all about them or use their crappy lives as an excuse to whine all the time.

[tropicsbear]

Hmm ... I've never really thought about it that way. I've always treated it like the distinction between "slash" and "femmeslash."

Like, I'd use "manpain" for a guy, and "wangst" for a girl.

[traitortoheaven]

Oh, no. I definitely agree with you.

What is fandom's obsession with stupid terms and driving them into the freaking ground?

[guardians_song]

Agreed.

Manpain, to me, has the double disadvantage of sounding like a dudebro thing ("dude, I don't have that girly angst stuff, I have MANPAIN") and being flamingly sexist. Self-centered wangst is self-centered wangst - why split it up by gender? :P