Idk man I think the misogyny in JJBA goes beyond just the story and author and goes into the fanbase
This fandom often criticizes the treatment of women in JJBA, and let me make this clear: that is incredibly well deserved.
Misogyny is literally intertwined throughout the entirety of JJBA, it's fucking ridiculous. The problem I have is that every so often there is a well written woman. There are instances of women written well who are integrated into the plot in interesting ways, who aren't just a damsel in distress, who have layers, make realistic mistakes, and aren't needlessly assaulted for the sake of establishing sympathy.
My two main (and favorite) examples of this are Lisa Lisa and Hot Pants.
How these two are treated by the fandom is honestly kind of embarrassing.
You took the badass, hypercapable, incredibly strong Lisa Lisa, a woman who had to leave her child behind in the pursuit of avenging her husband, and reduced her to a milf.
You took the resilient, talented, nuanced Hot Pants, a woman who is desperately trying to find forgiveness in faith after she sacrificed her younger brother, and reduced her to nothing more than a girlfriend for Diego.
Misogyny is not just a problem within JJBA's writing, it's a problem within the fanbase itself.
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So how about an AU where Nicholas was still trained by Coach Joe, but never applied to King's Row, never got offered the scholarship - maybe he still fenced at Regionals and got his ass handed to him, but let's say it was by someone other than Seiji Katayama. (Maybe it was Kyle, lol).
Fast forward a few months and Aiden decides to slum it by hooking up with the cute guy bussing tables at the local café*. Which leads to...
"Hi - can I help you?" Harvard asked the scruffy guy hanging around outside the fencing salle.
The guy looked up, hands still shoved in his pockets, and his eyes widened - Harvard guessed the fencing whites did make for a bit of an imposing first impression, though he'd taken his helmet off at least. This guy didn't look like he'd met a comb in his life, and there was a recent bruise lingering around his jaw.
Still, the stranger quickly got over his surprise and brightened with a smile. "Oh, I'm looking for Aiden? He said to meet him here."
Harvard sighed inwardly, but not outwardly, because he was in Captain Mode and also because Aiden pulled this shit far too often for him to react any more. "He asked you to meet him here right now? At this time?"
The guy cast around, and Harvard realised he was looking for a clock when he pulled a scuffed flip phone out of his pocket to check the time. "Yeah, well technically five minutes ago. I took a wrong turn."
Harvard pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Did I... do something wrong?" the stranger ventured uncertainly.
Harvard breathed out and pasted on a smile. "No, no, you didn't. It's just that Aiden's a member of our fencing team, and he's supposed to be coming to practice right now but he's clearly planning to blow it off with you."
"Oh," Aiden's hookup (was that uncharitable? No, Aiden never met up with random guys except to hook up) replied. Harvard was expecting an awkward laugh or a grimace, or an excuse but instead the guy said, "Why would he do that? Fencing's great. And it looks like you guys have a really nice facility."
Harvard realised he was still standing in the open doorway with the fencing salle visible behind him. The other occupants were carrying on with drills under Coach's eagle eye, but the new reserve, Eugene, was throwing some curious glances in their direction.
Aiden still wasn't anywhere in sight (that was nothing new; he was late to everything, including hookups) and Harvard felt bad about telling the guy to go away. Especially since, ironically, he was taking more of an interest in fencing than Aiden had so far this year. Except when it let him rile up Seiji, their incredibly talented but uptight new team member.
"Do you... fence?" Harvard asked Aiden's hookup.
The guy scratched his head a little sheepishly. "I mean, not anywhere like this. I've been learning for a few months, though. Fencing's-"
Whatever fencing was (although judging by the light in this random guy's eyes, it was positive), Harvard never got to find out.
"Nico!" cried a voice, and both of them turned to take in Aiden striding along the hallway, his golden hair gleaming. He was not, of course, wearing his fencing uniform, but was dressed in dark skinny jeans and a collared shirt unbuttoned to his mid-chest. Aiden's hookup (Nico?) stared for a few moments, but he didn't seem as struck by the vision that was Aiden as most of the flings (and there had been... a lot) of Aiden's that Harvard had met. Instead, he turned back to look longingly again at the salle.
Huh.
"I'm ready to go now," Aiden said, draping an arm not around his fling's neck, but around Harvard's. "Hey, how are the new team members shaping up?"
Harvard directed his best uncompromising look in Aiden's direction. "You'd know if you came to practice."
"I'll be there next time, I promise," said Aiden, and he did such a good job of making it sound sincere. "But I have to keep the new recruits on their toes! You know it works."
It did, sort of, but Harvard wasn't sure that the benefits of having Aiden occasionally showing up to school overconfident newcomers (and oldcomers) were worth the terrible optics of his constant absence from everything. That, and he knew that Aiden showed up because it suited him, not to help anyone else in the team.
"Shall we?" Aiden said to probably-not-Nico, who roused himself from a daze. Harvard made a snap decision.
"No. Aiden, you're a part of the team, and that means you're coming to practice," he said, using the more authoritative tone he saved for when the team needed keeping in line (but rarely bothered to use on Aiden, who was impossible to keep in line).
Aiden stared at him, his cheeks faintly pink. Harvard was surprised at the display of self-consciousness from Aiden, but maybe he was having a moment. "Go and get changed."
"Uh, so should I-" the other guy asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.
Harvard turned to him. "What's your name?" he asked, justifiably sceptical about whether Aiden had got it right.
"Nicholas. Nicholas Cox," replied definitely-not-Nico, standing straighter. He held out a hand for Harvard to shake.
Harvard took it. "How would you like to come and spectate?"
---
*we know Nicholas has a range of part-time jobs, so say this was one of them. Never mind that Aiden's type is much more likely to be a guy who can pay for things 😆
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