There are understandable reasons why people might not like Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher, in spite of its immense popularity. Maybe they were turned off by the darkness and violence of its grim fantasy world, or perhaps they simply struggled to make sense of The Witcher’s complicated timeline. Other critics, however, might have more specific reasons for not liking the show, as is the case with Daily Wire reviewer Andrew Klavan.
Klavan’s criticism of The Witcher has been gaining attention online on account of what many are denouncing as old-school misogyny. On his podcast, he focused on one aspect in particular that he took serious issue with: the fact that The Witcher features women fighting with swords. Dismissing this, he stated that “zero women can fight with a sword.”
There’s plenty to unpack here, but putting aside the obvious reasons for it, it’s pretty absurd to say women wielding swords is too unrealistic in a fantasy series where monsters exist and genetically-enhanced hunters wield combat magic. It’s especially weird since, despite what Klavan thinks, plenty of women train with swords in the real world.
People on social media have been keen to remind him of that, as well as call him out for his rather blatant sexism. These include the folks at swordclassNYC, who invited Klavan to test his swordfighting skills against its female students, as well as those who took Klavan to task for his apparent lack of historical research and lazily applying the troupes of modern sexism to The Witcher’s medieval setting.
However, it appears that Klavan hasn’t taken these criticisms to heart, having chosen instead to double down on his original point with a follow-up tweet claiming, “no matter how angry people get on Twitter, women would still be killed instantly in a medieval sword fight!” This is nothing new on the internet. For years now, we’ve seen people defend their opinions to the end even when the evidence clearly doesn’t support it. More than that, though, we’ve seen people react similarly to Klavan whenever a work of fiction depicts women doing things that were traditionally only done by men, like swordfighting, instead of just being there for the men’s benefit.
While that brand of sexism likely won’t go away anytime soon, it’s safe to say that it hasn’t done much to damper the general enthusiasm for The Witcher, or stop it from becoming the 2019’s most popular new Netflix series. Neither has it reduced fans’ excitement for future seasons, which could very well make its female characters even more prominent.
The Witcher is streaming on Netflix.