I don't mind, I find. I find it interesting, particularly because he's the one who's always playing so macho. It amuses me to see him feminized. I've been thinking about this one. I think there's internal and external reasons (with respect to the narrative) that accidentally mesh to create a situation where Dean is routinely feminized. And that phenomena in turn has a certain effect on the composition of the audience and its point of view. They mutually reinforce each other.
I think, among the reasons that are internal to the narrative, most have been well explored already--his role as parentified child, self sacrificing, understanding of self on in relation to how functional/useful he is--these are all aspects that are typically associated with women, moreso than with men.
But its where these attributes mesh with the external factors, that's what fascinates me. My emphasis for my BA degree was language and gender, so I'm really (overly?) attuned to gendered speech patterns, and Dean frequently uses syntactic structures and speech patterns commonly associated with women. And the reason for this is, imo, because he's largely been written by women. (and not just women, but middle aged women. I can hear that, too). This gives me great joy, since we are already empathizing with Dean, since we are already using him as the proxy or gateway into the narrative, this unconscious recognition on the audience's part helps explain his appeal as the 'little black dress' - the want to be/want to fuck phenomenon.
And then there's the thing about Jensen clearly overcompensating irl, and feeling uncomfortable with being objectified--be it because he knows he can't compete with Jared in a shirtless competition, or his sense that being a former model, his masculinity has already "compromised" and therefore any more intentional objectification would make him as a person "vulnerable" somehow--that just ends up hanging a lantern on it. I feel like this is why so many villains verbalize their admiration of/ridicule of his physical beauty. It's like they are trying to take away some of his agency, as if competence were in inverse proportion to the symmetry of one's features--and I often wonder if that's not the writers having a subtle dig at Jensen.
Any way you slice it, having him be the hero and the emotional core of the show, in a way allows women to have their cake and eat it too. They can have Dean as their proxy--read as a woman, he's badass, competent and tough; a role model to young women watching the show, perhaps--and as a sexual object to be consumed.
Re: 9x13 - The Purge
I think, among the reasons that are internal to the narrative, most have been well explored already--his role as parentified child, self sacrificing, understanding of self on in relation to how functional/useful he is--these are all aspects that are typically associated with women, moreso than with men.
But its where these attributes mesh with the external factors, that's what fascinates me. My emphasis for my BA degree was language and gender, so I'm really (overly?) attuned to gendered speech patterns, and Dean frequently uses syntactic structures and speech patterns commonly associated with women. And the reason for this is, imo, because he's largely been written by women. (and not just women, but middle aged women. I can hear that, too). This gives me great joy, since we are already empathizing with Dean, since we are already using him as the proxy or gateway into the narrative, this unconscious recognition on the audience's part helps explain his appeal as the 'little black dress' - the want to be/want to fuck phenomenon.
And then there's the thing about Jensen clearly overcompensating irl, and feeling uncomfortable with being objectified--be it because he knows he can't compete with Jared in a shirtless competition, or his sense that being a former model, his masculinity has already "compromised" and therefore any more intentional objectification would make him as a person "vulnerable" somehow--that just ends up hanging a lantern on it. I feel like this is why so many villains verbalize their admiration of/ridicule of his physical beauty. It's like they are trying to take away some of his agency, as if competence were in inverse proportion to the symmetry of one's features--and I often wonder if that's not the writers having a subtle dig at Jensen.
Any way you slice it, having him be the hero and the emotional core of the show, in a way allows women to have their cake and eat it too. They can have Dean as their proxy--read as a woman, he's badass, competent and tough; a role model to young women watching the show, perhaps--and as a sexual object to be consumed.