Cynthia Reynolds
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cynthia Reynolds |
| Occupation: | Bounty Hunter |
| Relationships: | |
| Fandom: | DC Comics, The Flash (CW) |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Cynthia Reynolds is a DC Comics character known by the alias Gypsy. Several DC fan communities and events ban the use of Cynthia's alias as it is an ethnic slur against Roma people and Travellers.
Canon
Arrowverse
Cynthia Reynolds is a Earth-19 bounty hunter, tasked with retrieving HR Wells from Earth-1. Cisco challenged her to a fight to the death in an attempt to save HR. Cisco defeated Cynthia but refused to kill her.
Fandom
In recent years, there has been much discussion in fandom about Cynthia's depiction in canon and her codename, Gy*sy. In 2017, news that Cynthia would be appearing on the CW's Flash resulted in several media articles and much discussion in fan spaces. It is widely agreed in the fandom that her alias is an ethnic slur, and there has also been discussion about the harmful stereotypes and tropes inherent in her comics canon depiction.[1]
In shipping, Cynthia is most commonly paired with Cisco Ramon, but the pairing of Cisco Ramon/Cindy Reynolds is rare in the overall fandom. She is also rarely paired with Iris West.
Fan Comments
On confirmation that Cindy would be introduced in the Arrowverse as Gy*sy, and in response to this article:
Well damn, finally someone's pointing out that the name is a damn slur. You'd think with the way DC has handled Nightwing's heritage they would have cleared this issue up but nah.
Anyway I can't wait for the gadje to go all "rme" and latch onto the "but some Rroma are okay with it" argument they love to use without understanding why SOME of us have to call ourselves Gypsies. It's not because we like it, I can tell you that much.[2]
Communities & Events that ban the use of Cynthia's alias
Further Reading
- Reconsidering 'GYPSY' As an Ethnic Slur As the DC Character Comes to the CW, an article by Chris Arrant for newsarama, Jan 2017. This article was shared and discussed in several DC fan spaces.
- Call Her Cynthia: The Flash Still has a G*psy Problem, an article by Shannon Miller at TheMarySue, Nov 2017.
Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Archives & Fannish Links
- Cindy Reynolds (The Flash TV 2014) works on Ao3
References
- ^ Was Gypsy a Romani? discussion at r/DCcomics, Sep 2021.
- ^ Comment on Livejournal post by sluttyroyals, Jan 2017