blackshikamaru:

idt ive mentioned this in a while but i think the reason sasukes narrative is so violently misogynistic without the character himself really being so is that kishimoto has the habit of using the abuse and disregard of women as a measurement of a characters inner darkness. when naruto turns into the four tails or whatever and starts burning his skin away that comes with endangering sakuras life and showing that hes losing his humanity with this lack of control. the same narrative pressure is placed on sasuke over and over again where he leaves the village but first you have to see his inner darkness with him knocking sakura out. logically we know that like,,,, she threatened him first and knocking someone out isnt that big of a deal when youre both ninjas. but in story sakura loses that personhood (or ninjahood) and instead just becomes a helpless woman who can only threaten to scream if sasuke leaves. 

we see this same thing played out with the two of them time and time again. sakura attacks him and sasuke retaliates and logically it makes sense but kishimoto consistently reverts sakura back to just a helpless woman in the way he presents it and the tone. we can recognize that sakura is facing dehumanization and misogyny which is why when we all begin analyzing naruto for the first time we stan sakura and hate sasuke.  

karins also a good example of this because she gets this treatment twice with different results. sasuke accidentally sets her on fire and instead of discarding her like suigetsu suggests he quells the flames and saves her life. this contrasts later on when karin is captured by danzo and instead of her being a viable hostage sasuke just stabs her. 

and its like. one of the more misogynistic moments in naruto. karin goes from a ninja to just a damsel in distress who cant break free of a fucking arm hold from a dying man. sasuke throws her life away like trash and logically we know he would do the same exact thing if it was suigetsu being held or kakashi or juugo or whoever. 

but kishimoto would never write a man receiving that treatment. that isnt edgy enough. that doesnt show the extreme darkness overtaking sasukes mind. only  the abuse of women can portray this accurately. 

so it ends up with this fucked up narrative where we as the readers logically can follow that the majority of sasukes actions arent actually abusive or misogynistic, but the intent of the writing is still based on the subjugation of women. 

theres no reason why two ninjas engaged in battle wouldnt hit each other or knock the other out or whatever. but for some reason were not able to see sasuke engage in battle w a woman without kishimoto reverting the girl into a fucking civilian and waxing poetic about the darkness of sasukes heart