Defining Strong: Why the "Strong Female Character" Trend is Actually Anti-Feminist

10:48 AM Gemma Fitz 12 Comments

We're all familiar with the "Strong Female Character" issue. Aimee blogged about it here and CC blogged about it HERE and both posts are absolutely awesome and you should go check them out. NOW. Come back when you're done.
All done? Yay! Welcome back!

So, you're familiar with the stereotypical Strong Female Character. She's that hot fighter-girl in the skin tight suit, knocking out all the guys and doing a cool hair flip in her spare time. "Woooh!" we all shout. "You go, girl!"

But there's a problem with this. (There's actually a lot, but we're just going to talk about one, because Aimee and CC already covered all the others.) The problem lies in what we're using to define the word "Strong".
The origin of the "Strong Female Character" was really a protest. Not so many years ago, the typical female character was a flat "damsel in distress", there for the dashing hero to save. She was prone to swooning and bursting into tears, she was stunningly beautiful, and she honestly couldn't do anything for herself. And women found this insulting because, seriously, what girl is this helpless? It was a really stupid stereotype.

So something had to change. And the novel writers and the movie makers thought they'd found a solution to make everyone happy. They'd write "Strong" female characters. The question now was what really made a strong female character strong? And the writers and makers formed an answer based on years of the very root prejudice that the people who objected to the old stereotypes were actually objecting to-- namely, the idea that men are better than women.

How do we make a woman strong? We make her masculine! We give her traditionally masculine strengths like fighting, fixing cars, drinking a lot (don't ask me where they got that one), etc. We'll present a character who is physically, mentally, and emotionally strong in all the same ways men are. We'll make her masculine, and that will make her strong.

This is chauvanism. Men and women are equal. That means women, real women, the way they are, are (generally speaking) strong. That means men, real men, the way they are, are (generally speaking) also strong.
And men and women are different. I know some people disagree, but they are, not only anatomically, but emotionally, psychologically, physically different. Have you ever seen a man and a woman arguing? They are different. And that's a good thing. It honestly doesn't matter because they're still strong the way they are.

Creating masculine female characters and calling them strong because of their masculinity is degrading. It's saying that "strong" equals "male".

Now, don't get me wrong, it's okay sometimes for female characters to have abilities like fighting, fixing cars, and lifting weights. Real women do these things, especially in recent years, and do them well. But the reason these abilities were given to "Strong Female Characters" is because they are traditionally identified with men, and that's a problem. Not to mention a couple of fancy talents don't necessarily make you strong.

Think of all the women who can't do certain things that men can do. I can't fix a car. I don't know the first thing about cars. Does that mean I'm not strong? No. I can shoot a gun (I can't hit anything outside a range of two feet, if that much, but let's not mention that). Does that mean I am strong? No. Think of all the women who can't act or think or talk the way men do. They're still strong-- they're just women.

We shouldn't use men (or women either) as a standard of strength. If your character is a girl, she can be strong and be a girl. Taking care of little siblings, throwing girly parties, or running a sewing business are all admirable talents that some girls have and most guys don't. Who's to say that a mechanic is stronger than a seamstress? That a businessman or woman is stronger than a babysitter?

When we call a female character strong simply because she's better than a guy at something or other, particularly in a traditionally masculine areas, we're buying into the false idea that guys are usually better than girls. Write your women to be strong women-- not female men.

What's your take on the "Strong Female Character" trend? Do you think there are some business and societal roles that are "stronger" than others (mechanic vs. babysitter)? Comment away, but do try to keep it polite, as I know this is a controversial issue.

12 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

The World from Scratch: My CampNaNo Project

5:35 AM Gemma Fitz 2 Comments

So, I think it's time to fill you in as to what I'm working on when it comes to writing. No, I'm not just a robotic blogger, spewing out random advice onto this little space of mine-- I'm a writer. I may not be a published writer, or even a very good writer, but I am a writer.

Which means I write stuff, and it's time you got a peek at what I'm writing.
Excuse my lousy cover. I wanted something very different from this-- I had it perfectly planned out in my mind-- but the picture I had imagined didn't exist and I can't draw, so-- I guess that's life. Maybe I'll get one of my artist friends to draw me a cover one of these days.

So, anyway, this month I'll be working on a story I've entitled The World from Scratch. Here's a nice pretty synopsis that should be longer and less sucky.

Three computer scientists, two architects, a weapons specialist, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, and an artist have been given the ultimate task: building a brand new world-- inside their dreams. But when Abbie Rigg's subconscious creates a dangerous psychopath within the Dream State, the technology that was meant to save the world might well destroy it.

Basically, it's a story about dreaming, about weird technology, and about really amazingly smart people. (Do you have any idea how inferior you feel when your characters are supposed to be smarter than you?)

Genre? It's kind of New Adult-- or more like New Adult characters in a very Young Adult story (I'm not sure how that's going to work out). It's very definitely science fiction, but it's also something of a fairy tale retelling-- that's right, it's futuristic Sleeping Beauty set inside her dreams. And the Prince is there too (only he's not a prince-- sorry).
The setting is fun, because it's basically whatever Abbie's subconscious decides it should be. This means that you get cherry blossoms in November and snow in June and everything is weird and confusing but the characters don't even notice because Abbie's dreaming and you don't notice how unrealistic stuff is when you're dreaming.
The hero/protagonist/point-of-view character, James, is an artist. (Which is nice for NaNo, because it allows me to go into great detail about any little thing I feel like describing, because it's him talking, and he notices those things. It really helps with the word count, even if I'll have to cut all the random descriptions out in editing. I'm such a cheater, aren't I?) He's also the equivalent of the prince from the fairy tale and I've never really done romance before, so that's interesting. *cough* Hopefully I don't botch the whole thing, but I think that's hoping a little much, don't you?
Character-wise, he's absolutely adorkable and just a little bit boring (I need to fix this). He's a cute-ly out of place member of the team-- while everyone else is thinking about the science and technology and etc, etc, etc he's just noticing how nice everything looks and how difficult that scene would be to paint and isn't that grouping of trees just perfect? 
I am very proud of this picture.
Abbie, the love interest, is a weapons specialist, not a princess. After all, I did have to remove all the fairy tale aspects, didn't I? (I do like fairy tales, I promise. Just not as much as I like sci-fi.) Also, her subconscious accidentally turns the dream into a nightmare, which results in her not only being the love interest and FMC, but also the antagonist. Which is interesting to write about. She's super practical, totally goal driven, always focused on the details, and would rather work alone than with a team.
Keiran is "only" a secondary character, but he bears mentioning because he's adorable. He's a software developer and probably James's best friend. He's funny and smart, thinks through everything logically, and is usually at least one step ahead of everybody else (often enough two or three steps). And he's Irish, which is always a plus.
There are lots of other characters, too, but those are the three important ones. (In case you were wondering, all three characters I mentioned are between the ages of 20 and 25. All the other characters are older.)

I'll leave you with a couple quotes (because quotes are cool).
Yup, I misspelled Rubik's. My bad.
In case you haven't noticed, "nightmares" and "bad guys" are running themes. Also Rubik's cubes, when it comes to Keiran.

So now you know a little bit (or a lot) about my story. Hopefully it wasn't too boring. I would say that hopefully it doesn't suck too much, but that's way to much to hope for-- it quite obviously does.

So, what do you think? Should I let you know what I'm working on more often or should I go back to being the robotic blogger? And what do you think of this fairy-tale retelling trend? They seem to be getting very popular, and I'm not sure if I'm a fan or not (in spite of the fact I'm writing one).

2 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

I Have Returned! | My Time at Camp in Gifs

4:13 PM Gemma Fitz 2 Comments

Normally I don't like to clutter this blog with random posts about my life, but, hey! Might as well do something a little different just because Hitchiker's Guide gifs rule. Also, someone asked for this and I kinda promised.

So, here's a description of camp-- told in gifs.

I felt awkward and miserable at first.
Sitting around by myself and watching everybody who knew each other didn't help much...
The first night I had insomnia (haha, who am I kidding, I always have insomnia).
I did my best to make friends,
But every time I tried to talk to anyone, it turned out like this:
Luckily, some people are just naturally nice.
Unluckily, some others are just jerks.
Still, I made some good friends.
And then I found out volleyball was the favourite sport of 99% of the population.
Oh yeah, I hate volleyball.
Not to mention when I tried to play dodge ball...
But the food was good.
Though of course there were the home-school lines to deal with.
I'm not British, I am home schooled, and I don't know how to queue.
And everything was...different?
But then I got used to it.
And I started having fun!
By that time it was Thursday.
And I suddenly realized I didn't want to leave.
But it wasn't like I had a choice...
So home again, home again.
And I found myself asking this a lot:
Obviously, I miss camp.
But I just rediscovered the magical comforting properties of nutella, and I think I'll be okay.

So, are you going/have you gone to camp this year? Have you seen Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? (If you haven't, go watch it. It's stupid, but it's great.) Is or is not volleyball the most wretched sport in existence? And can anyone tell me, what IS normal?

2 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

An Extremely Tardy End of Month Wrap-Up: June

3:06 PM Gemma Fitz 2 Comments


Well, I'm back!!! Also, I'm feeling very lethargic, when it comes to blogging. But at least I finally got this thing put together, so let's go.

On the Blog

At My Writing Desk

  • I rewrote approximately 28,000 words on my WIP.
  • I also renamed it.
  • And I worked on planning out a couple of my more recent plot bunnies.

In the Books

I read 5 books this month which was pathetic. I have no excuses, other than that no non-Christian reading material was allowed at camp, and I fell behind. So I guess I do have excuses. Yay! I love excuses!

On the Web

All of these posts are amazing and you should read them. Like, right now.

With Me and My Life

  • I got my hair cut! And my webcam is down and I don't have anyone to take my picture, so unfortunately you cannot see what it looks like. :( Maybe someday.
  • I went to camp for the first time in my life. Real camp. Not camp NaNo. I had the time of my life and I miss it like crazy.
  • I got a summer job, which will probably eat up all my writing/blogging time.

Coming Soon to the Blog

  • No posts. Okay, so maybe a couple posts. But I'm doing Camp NaNo and HAVE NO TIME. Trying to juggle work, writing, family, and social life (ha... did I just say social life) will leave me very little chance to blog. I'll try my best, though.
  • Okay, one post. About my time at camp, told entirely in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy gifs. Because this is my blog and...
  • I also might come angst and sob at some point if NaNo gets particularly bad, but hopefully you will be spared that.
So there you have it.

2 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)