My Dearest Fellow Diversity Bloggers,

It has come to my attention that we must yet again fight the #WheresFemaleCharacter War. This shall be dubbed the First Battle of Rey as we shall undoubtedly take up her standard and charge forth into the front lines of war in the weeks following the release of The Force Awakens and then likely yet again in Second and Third Battles of Rey with Episodes VIII and IX.

But these have not been the only battles we have fought, my worthy Capable Lady Warriors. Oh no. For we have all stood together and raised the cry of #WheresHera and #WheresBlackWidow in the First Battle of the Rebel Ladies and the Second Battle of the Avengers to name but a few of the hills where we have drawn our swords. We were all there for #WheresGamora and we routinely fight in the Battle of Will Someone Please Just Give Us A Decent Action Figure Of Leia In Something Besides The Metal Bikini. (At least there’s good news from the front lines on that last one.)

As much as I value all of your efforts, my dear Capable Lady Warriors, I also value your time. Our energy is far more useful in the trenches of Twitter than in having the write essentially the same column again. In an attempt to save us all some time, I have written the below form article for us to all use when posting yet another one of these articles. Please feel free to use as you deem necessary although to be honest, we’ve all had to do this so often that we could most likely write these pieces in our sleep.

So make use of the below and then run forth to Twitter and carry our banner high! We’ll win this war one marketing battle at a time.

Best Regards,
Bria

—

It seems that the toy and merchandise companies can’t seem to take a hint. For every Target who stops separating their toys by gender, we find another example where a leading female character has been excluded. I recently found this __(Insert Product)__ at __(Insert Store)__ and while it featured all of the main male characters, __(Insert Excluded Lady)__ was nowhere to be found. Given that she is one of the leading characters, this is ridiculous. Apparently it’s time to start a #Wheres__(Lady)___ hashtag. Again.

This is not the first time that this has happened with __(Marvel/Star Wars)__. __(Marvel/Star Wars)__ previously routinely excluded __(Hera and sometimes Sabine/Gamora)__ from much of their __(Rebels/Guardians of the Galaxy)__ merchandise and also __(Padme and Ahsoka/Black Widow)__ from their __(Star Wars/Avengers)__ products. It’s not just getting ridiculous—it’s been ridiculous. __(Franchise)__ should have long since gotten the memo that girls like __(Franchise)__ just as much as boys. By not acknowledging the existing market, they are yet again alienating these women and young girls. Finally, __(Company)__ needs to realize that excluding women from products that feature an entire team not only shows how tone deaf they are but also sends a bad message to the young boys they are supposedly marketing to. Women are not lesser and are absolutely an equal part of the team. They should not be excluded from products that feature that team.

So come on, __(Company)__. Stop excluding __(Lady)__ from the __(Franchise)__ products and making us as #Wheres__(Lady)__. It’s getting real old real fast.