This topic has been popping up more and more on the different subs, and I've been seeing a lot of shockingly harsh criticism of an otherwise vague statement from the upcoming Netflix show. Sokka will have his sexism "toned down."

Aside from the concerning backlash from the fanbase that they're going to see a beloved character be less overtly sexist, I think there's a few reasons to consider for this not being anything CLOSE to a big deal. Starting with the most important but most obvious, and getting into the nuance after.

1. Sokka is barely ever sexist. Sokka has a total of about 20.5 hours of screen time in ATLA. During that, he displays his sexist attitude a combined total of about 4 minutes. You could argue a little more or less, depending on how you view things like his dismissal of Katara's goofy magic powers, but roughly 4 minutes works well enough for this example. For the sake of those against the Netflix change, let's round that all the way up to 10 minutes.

So, out of the 1,239 minutes of Sokka we get, he is displaying this "very important character trait" for approximately 0.8% of it. That's not 8%, that's zero point eight percent. Less than 1% of Sokka's screen time, character arc, everything. A lot of people have pointed out that it only takes three and a half episodes for him to switch to a lifetime diet of all natural, free range, grass fed Respect Women Juice, but I feel like seeing that his sexism is such a miniscule percentage of his time really helps give perspective. Sokka has a ton of really great and interesting things going on with his character, I think it's a mistake to be concerned that he'll be less sexist.

1. Sokka never witnessed female warriors. Sokka's mother was killed when he was still very young, young enough that he has trouble remembering her face. By the time of her death, there weren't any water benders left. Despite knowing from Hama that the benders of both genders used to fight, Sokkav only witnessed the remaining male warriors, namely his father, in any kind of combat role during his formative years.

2. Sokka's sexism is a trauma response. Sokka is a boy who grew up too fast, who lost his mother and in some ways his father, and was burdened (intentionally or not) with the idea that he is the only one left to protect his sister, and entire tribe. While we know that the Northern Water Tribe had systemic sexism, we don't get any ideas of that one way or the other from the Southern, and in fact could make the argument that Sokka and Katara's surprise and rage in the face of it during the end of Book 1 show that it wasn't a common belief. Sokka doesn't have a genuine, personal or cultural, belief that men are superior to women. All he has is the knowledge, imprinted on him as a CHILD, we'll remember, that the men of his tribe, specifically his father, go to war. He was left behind from this war and told to protect the family and community that hadn't yet been murdered. Another thing to drive this home is the early scene where he's trying to train the children of his tribe for combat with the Fire Nation. Sokka, (again also a child) has been so conditioned by his trauma that he is preparing borderline toddlers for combat.

In conclusion: The fact that Sokka turns on a dime without a single look back, in the course of a day, shows that Sokka didn't have deep-seated, real sexist beliefs. He was just a traumatized child, spouting the misguided, misinformed observations that he'd been given throughout his childhood.

Tldr - Sokka isn't that sexist, and only even was for <1% of the show