The guest told him that women don't like star wars. He agreed — and sparked an Internet debate

Nia D. is the streamer behind StarWarsTheory, a channel dedicated to the science fiction universe of George Lucas, with over 3.3 million subscribers on YouTube alone. Most of its content revolves around dissection Star Wars internet theories, discussing casting choices and discussing new announcements and releases. But it also attracts viewers by courting controversy. During a January episode of Theory Talks, his channel's focus on critical theory, he hosted psychologist Sadia Khan, who mocked Hollywood filmmakers for focusing women's stories on male-dominated fans. “Do we need more women? Star Wars? No, we don't,” Khan said. “And the women aren't even watching Star Wars. They don't even care. It's a man's little thing, let them have it.”

It's not the first time Star Wars The fandom has faced controversy surrounding racism and sexism within its ranks. After the premiere of the latest Star Wars films, with actress Daisy Ridley at the helm, thousands of fans accused Disney of being “woke” by having a female lead. In 2017, Kelly Marie Tran became the first woman of color to star in one Star Wars film; in 2018 NYT op-ed, wrote that she received sexist and racist harassment from fans. “Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of color had already taught me: that I belonged on the margins and in spaces that only mattered as a secondary character in their lives and stories,” she said. In 2020, British actor John Boyega, who played Finn, a black stormtrooper in The Force Awakens, he said GQ that after he was cast, he was targeted and harassed by fans. And in 2022, when black actress Moses Ingram was cast in Obi-Wan TV series, she was flooded with such disparaging DMs that both her teammates and Disney made statements condemning the fans' response. In fact, every news Star Wars The offering, whether a series, a new movie, or even a comic, is often met with heated criticism from certain die-hard fans who accuse the franchise of bending to social justice warrior or feminist desires — something Nia herself echoes.

Although Nia did not acknowledge the statement during his conversation with Khan, much of the online criticism focused on his strong and sometimes negative opinions surrounding female characters in the sci-fi series and fandoms — most notably his accusations that the Disney executives have created and centered female characters as part of an agenda. After Nia's episode with Khan, thousands of fans spoke out against the streamer, accusing him of promoting and promoting sexist and misogynistic views. On TikTok, women began posting clips of themselves enjoying or participating in Star Wars culture with #womeninstarwars, countering Khan's claims. Videos using the hashtag have over 4.1 million views.

Nia and Kahn didn't answer Rolling rockrequests for comments. But in a video admitting the backlash, Nia denied being a misogynist and instead said she was just protecting his beloved series. “It's not about being a misogynist or saying women can't enjoy Star Wars,” he said in a response video. “Leave it to the far left to always take something that is so clear and so easily explained, and twist and distort it to their own agenda and narrative.”

Paul Booth, a professor of Media and Popular Culture at DePaul University, has researched fans for more than 20 years and says Rolling rock that strong feelings of bigotry can often translate into police behavior.

“Often misogyny and racism occur in fan communities because white male fans (or fans who consider themselves part of dominant cultures) want to police the boundaries of what they believe to be 'acceptable' bigoted behaviors and interests,” says Booth. “By belittling and belittling non-male and non-white fans, these 'border police' fans seem to be saying 'this is what fandom should be.'

It would be easy to assume that there is something specific about the history of Star Wars that elicits such passionate and spirited responses from longtime fans. But because pop culture at its core reflects the conversations happening in the culture in real time, Booth says this isn't the first time battles have been waged within the Star Wars fandom — and it certainly won't be the last.

“These conversations are happening in public spaces like social media, which means they're getting a lot more attention. Twenty-five years ago… this argument would probably have been at a conference or in a specialist journal,” he says. “Today, it's public, which means we can all read it and benefit from seeing which people are stuck in some imaginary past and which people are more inclusive.”

And while strong critics can stir up strong emotions in fans who disagree, says New School professor Kate Eichhorn Rolling rock that conversations like these may indicate that even popular franchises are starting to become more diverse.

“The cultural impact of fandom since the 1980s has been largely due to the interventions of queer and BIPOC writers and illustrators, many of whom identify as women. So it's important to recognize that there's nothing new about fandoms,” says Eichhorn. “If male-dominated fandom is on the rise because a small percentage of straight white male viewers no longer feel adequately represented by the franchises they grew up watching, maybe that's not a bad thing, as one can see the rise of these fandoms as evidence of how much has changed in the television and film industry in recent decades.”