Strong Female Characters

[ysabetwordsmith]

This article asks "What Do You Mean When You Say You Want Strong Female Characters?"

I want some combination of:
* She has a female body and/or feminine gender identity.
* She thinks with her brain, not with her crotch.  
** Consequently if a man is an asshole, she will notice this and reject him accordingly, not fall in love with him and encourage him to treat her like a doormat.
** Consequently if the villain underestimates her, he will be painfully surprised by her competence.
* She is physically fit/muscular.
* She is good with hand-to-hand combat and/or weapons.
* If she is a mother, gods help anyone who threatens her children.  Do not expect pregnancy or recent childbirth to render her completely helpless either.
* She can solve challenges herself, without requiring rescue by some guy.
** Consequently this affects the kind of relationships she is likely to have with male characters.  Those who can accept her agency are eligible for possible friendship or romance.  Those who cannot are promptly classified as road hazards.  It also opens the door for gentlemen-in-distress if so desired.
** Consequently she has a good awareness of her own strengths and weaknesses, so is not plagued by self-doubt or recrimination implying that she is somehow not a real woman or there is something wrong with her for being an effective human being.
* She is comfortable with her gender expression, whether that is tomboyish or feminine or some combination thereof.  
* She readily spots mistakes made by opponents and takes advantage of them.  In order to pose a real threat to her, a villain must be quite formidable and/or must attack her obliquely by threatening someone/something she cares about.  Foolish or careless villains will fare no better than one-hit minions.
** Consequently the plot complexity and scope tend to be greater.
* If she has domestic skills or other conventionally feminine traits, she is confident about them and uses them appropriately.  She is not trying to be a man (that's for strong genderqueer characters, a different category).  She may indeed use these to carry the day, often in ways that a villain would not expect and may find it difficult or impossible to parry.
* She is secure in her role and does not feel compelled to squash other female characters to make herself look more important or powerful.  She is powerful in some way(s) and uses it appropriately rather than waving it around like a stick of firewood.

So, that's what I'm thinking of when I ask for strong female characters.  More like that.

What kinds of things do you like to see in strong female characters?  Which of my female characters do you like in regards to this discussion, and why?

Comments

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

That list has some interesting points but I don't know if I'd much like the character that comes out of it. I am interested in female characters who know their own mind, for sure. But I am not interested in characters who are strong, capable and sorted and sane. I am enormously fond of one of my protagonists but my she has a cold and selfish streak. She also has a tendency of trying to please the wrong people. And she has the cheek to have an abortion, at considerable risk to herself, with *no regrets whatsoever* - I would say even joy, she hates her late husband so much.

The other one has black and white views, shuts herself off from people (she has to, given what she has survived) and refuses to say some simple words that would ease her friend's tormented conscience because she believes it is not right to lie. She also ends up falling for The Wrong Man and makes a mess of her life.

I'm fond of these ladies - I don't care if they are not cartoon heroes. I don't want them to be.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

I think one can have the characteristics in ysabet's list and still have issues. My character Nokwahl is strong, knows her own mind, etc. etc. but is also scarred for life from a childhood trauma. I'm pretty sure she has some form of PTSD. She struggles with it, but her training helps her deal with it and still be strong.

*Blinks* You just gave me a great idea that should help me figure out the plot of my next Nokwahl novel: give Nokwahl something truly challenging. Did that in the first novel, but she got off a bit easy in the second.

I am enormously fond of one of my protagonists but my she has a cold and selfish streak.

Reminds me of my Lyria Spellspinner character. She's the protagonist, but she's not good. Nor is she evil. She's a dark sorceress with aspirations of achieving godhood (for the sake of becoming a Creator and making her own little multiverse). But she avoids most of the villain cliches and ends up grudgingly working for the side of good in the novel because it'd be pretty hard to achieve her goals if some evil god goes and destroys the multiverse before she can achieve them.

But still, she has some genuine goodness in her. And gods help you if you threaten her family, however unusual they may be. (Put this way: her family is stranger than the Addams family and the Munsters combined, and is due to get even stranger soon.)

*Thinks* Another protagonist, Lolita Leigh Smith, is smart and funny and fun to work with, but her pranks on people can get a little carried away. (She made someone think he'd killed her, once.) Her best friend B (gods help you if you call her Beverly) is much the same.
One of their friends, a girl nicknamed Sugar, used to be a bully. And the girl nicknamed Spice is painfully shy and not very self-confident.

I think ysabet would agree that having a few flaws make characters better.

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I did specify "some combination of" the above traits. I don't expect characters to be perfect. I like interesting flaws. I simply don't want to spend time with people who make stupid mistakes, and some of the tropes relating to "strong female characters" just drive me nuts.