Strong Female Characters
Aug. 26th, 2011 03:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis 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?
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?
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-27 12:34 am (UTC)The first in Competence. She should be genuinely good at whatever she does. Difficulty with things outside her main area of focus is fine, and pretty much necessary to avoid a Mary Sue, but whatever her thing is that she does, she should do it well.
This can apply to things outside of typical "Heroic" endeavors, too. Ekaterin from the Vorkosigan Saga particularly comes to mind here. Her things are design and (offscreen in the last couple of books) managing her family. Neither of these are easy tasks (remember, those are Miles's kids she's helping to raise), and by all accounts she does both splendidly.
The second, I'll call Self Determination for the moment, since I think there's a better term for it, but it's not coming to mind right now.
By this, I mean that she figures out what she wants and doesn't let herself be threatened, coerced, or forced away from it, whether by trickery, physical force, or mental/emotional violence.
Doesn't mean she'll stick with it come Hell or High Water, I'm not talking about blind stubbornness here. If someone can clearly explain why her current goal is actually a really bad idea, she should be open to that.
This is also open to temporary slips, times where she does get forced away from her path, as long as that's just increasing tension in the story, and she overcomes it herself by the end of the tale.
Again turning to Exaterin, once she managed to fight mostly clear of the mindfucks resulting from 10 years of marriage to Tien, she was able to figure out what she wanted and overcome some pretty serious obstacles (up to and including assassination attempts) to get it. She's been mostly offscreen of late, but by all indications, she's not letting Miles railroad her anywhere either.
Come to think of it, both of those pretty much cover what I want to see from a Strong Male Character, too.
Note also that either or both of those can be missing and still result in a good character, it's just not going to be a strong Hera/Hero. Losing the first generally results in Comic Relief, while losing the second creates a victim or tragic figure.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-27 03:10 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2011-08-27 03:11 am (UTC)Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 03:18 am (UTC)That sounds like agency: a character's capacity to influence the action of a story. Without agency, a character is powerless -- and largely pointless. A major fault in many portrayals of female characters is lack of agency.
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 04:56 am (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 05:09 am (UTC)"Women With Agency"
"Agents of Their Own Salvation"
"Plot, Agency, and Emotion"
"Female Agency and Pleasure in 2010 Movies"
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 05:13 am (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 05:06 pm (UTC)I particularly like the Agents of Their Own Salvation piece, for not just discussing the problem, but providing a clearly explained and broken down example of how to do it right.
Reminded me of the Buffy Episode I re-watched last night (Wrecked, from Season 6). Dawn, having just broken her arm in a car crash, gets attacked by a Demon, but still keeps fighting back, and even though she's clearly overmatched and losing, is still affecting the Demon with her attacks, slowing it down enough that it doesn't manage to kill her before Buffy gets there to save her.
It was also nice in that the one Male Protagonist in that sequence (Spike) just acts as a Support Character, getting Dawn clear of the action while Buffy and Willow take down the Demon.
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 07:57 pm (UTC)Agreed.
>>Reminded me of the Buffy Episode I re-watched last night (Wrecked, from Season 6). Dawn, having just broken her arm in a car crash, gets attacked by a Demon, but still keeps fighting back, and even though she's clearly overmatched and losing, is still affecting the Demon with her attacks, slowing it down enough that it doesn't manage to kill her before Buffy gets there to save her.<<
In fact, a good self-defense program teaches exactly that: if you're outmatched, there are still things you can do to discourage, to delay, to minimize damage. Every bit of that creates opportunities for something else to intervene so you can escape. But you absolutely must be able to keep your head during a conflict and strategize effectively.
>>It was also nice in that the one Male Protagonist in that sequence (Spike) just acts as a Support Character, getting Dawn clear of the action while Buffy and Willow take down the Demon.<<
Yes, I do enjoy that. One thing I like about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is that Buffy is The Hera of this series. Other characters get episodes that focus on them, and get chances to do meaningful things -- but if Buffy's onstage, everyone else is usually support, and that includes the male characters. Heh, it's what made the "Jonathan" episode so funny.
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 09:04 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 10:36 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-27 11:15 pm (UTC)Not just in and of itself, either. I've got the outline of a post in my head that I haven't gotten around to writing up about how the last scene, with the vampire, lays out the themes for the whole remainder of the show, particularly Season 6.