(Just Communication is an ongoing series of opinion pieces written by the author of Red Comet Reviews.)

The trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was just released to the public. Let’s all take a moment to watch it:

Awesome, right? Apparently not, according to certain people from the dark corners of the Internet, because it features women in leading roles – and for the second Star Wars movie in a row, no less!

I’ve got no patience for this kind of nonsense, so I’ll be frank. Anyone who has concerns, or is upset, or decides that they will not see Rogue One because the star of the movie is a woman is sexist. There is no possible complaint that one could have about the character Jyn Erso at this point in time that isn’t rooted in sexism.

For me, though, this sinkhole goes deeper than that. I’ve been growing frustrated with some increasingly visible sexist trends in movies and related media lately, and now that they’ve come around to Star Wars – practically my own backyard – I’m compelled to speak out against them.

The biggest problem I see is the tendency for the industry, the media, and even some audiences to treat movies made by women, or for women, or starring women as some kind of novelty, when we should really all be long past that. Something like The Expendables or The Hangover or The Dark Knight can hit theaters with exclusively or near-exclusively male ensembles and not a drop of ink, real or digital, will be wasted on discussion about the actors’ or the characters’ gender. When Star Wars has the nerve to push Daisy Ridley or Felicity Jones into a leading role, though, there are suddenly dozens of self-congratulatory think pieces about what having a female protagonist “means” for the franchise, and piles of anonymous posts full of sound and fury that are fixated, in one way or another, on Rey and Jyn’s identities as women.

It’s disgusting that so many people still act like women aren’t supposed to enjoy movies, or want to see women like themselves as the stars of the action onscreen.

On a related note, I have nothing but disdain for the kind of person who suggests that he (invariably it’s a ‘he’) can’t identify with a protagonist that doesn’t match his gender. This is the mark of a mental midget who has no desire to challenge his imagination, no regard for empathy, and who maintains a way of thinking most closely associated with kindergarteners. I wonder if these people think all women feel the same way about male characters, and if so, I wonder how they think women manage to entertain themselves.

After all, in the sci-fi genre alone, there are hundreds of cool, tough male characters with aspirational roles in great films. But for decades, the roster of iconic female characters boiled down to Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor. I might add Imperator Furiosa and Rey to that list as of this year, but that doesn’t change the fact that women are not only starved for role models at the theater, but expected to be satisfied with what little they have.

In light of this, the argument that women are “taking over” Star Wars, or movies in general, has no basis in any kind of logic. Within the Star Wars franchise alone, for every movie about Rey or Jyn there are 3 more about Luke or Anakin. The score is 2 to 6. That’s not what any reasonable person would call a takeover.

I, for one, hope Rogue One is a massive success, like The Force Awakens before it, and that the galaxy far, far away continues to become a more diverse and welcoming place.