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Feminism is not a dirty word. (I actually read a book recently with that statement in the title, and I stand by it.) A lot of people shy away from the term “feminist” because they think it means “insane man-hating career/sex obsessed woman (who may or may not be a lesbian.)” Even I’m careful hen using this term, lest my meaning be misconstrued. While such people do exist, they are the extreme end of the spectrum and have no bearing on what I consider feminism. That is, that women should be treated politically, socially, and economically as equals to men.
Fantasy and science fiction are wonderful because you can break so many stereotypes. With a lot of realistic fiction, especially in historical fiction, there are certain limitations, certain expectations and roles that people play that can be difficult to change without losing a sense of authenticity. But science fiction is usually set far into the future, often on other planets. Fantasy deals in alternate realities and fairy tales. The potential to explore and turn traditional gender/racial/economic/sexual roles upside down is all around! And I’m sorry to say that a lot of writers who deal in science fiction and fantasy don’t take advantage of that potential.
Since a lot of fantasy is set in medieval look-alike worlds, we tend to get medieval values. Women are passive objects to be won while men do all the fighting, rescuing, political maneuvering, and pretty much anything else interesting. Science fiction often has male military leaders, male soldiers, male explorers… Women are very often not present at all, or, if they are, they get regulated to sexual roles or are presented in a very wooden or unrealistic manner.
Obviously this isn’t the case for every fantasy or science fiction story. And I should point out that while there is nothing inherently wrong with having characters fill traditional gender roles, that shouldn’t be the only role that they can play. (And that goes for men as well as women.) Older science fiction and fantasy often get a pass from me because the social mores of the time necessarily colors the way the plot and characters are presented. But even in modern stories, I rarely see the envelop pushed.
We can be so much more than this.
I mentioned in my “Gender, Color, and Sexuality” entry that my female characters outnumber my male characters by a significant margin. For years, I avoided writing male characters because I thought that in order to write realistic males, I would have to be one myself. That was kind of an icky prospect, so I just stuck with females. (However, none of my women were lesbians; that entire concept didn’t come onto my radar screen until well into high school.) But as I started to meet more guys, hang out around them and became friends with them, I realized, “Hey. They’re like me. Physically, we’re different and we’re often raised with different social expectations… but other than that, they are just like me. They have hopes and dreams (that don’t revolve around sex) and personalities, and….wow. They’re people.” And that’s when I started being able to write male characters. It really enriched my females as well because now I wasn’t thinking in terms of diametrically opposed genders; I was thinking about people and what makes them tick.
Now, a brief caveat: While I agree that we’ve come a long way with our presentation of female characters, I don’t like it when people say, “But we’ve achieved equality in fiction! Look at all the strong female characters there are!” And they then proceed to show me image after image of female warriors who can kick butt as hard as men do.
I don’t see that as “strong” except in the physical sense. Are female warriors awesome? Sure they are, and I’m glad to see them! Heck, my protagonist Ryn Élan from Ravens and Roses is a warrior. She’s basically the head of Marina’s Special Ops. But that isn’t all she is. Her fighting prowess isn’t her only strength, nor do I consider that her defining feature. Too many stories only show women who are “strong” when compared to the stereotypically masculine standard of causing the most collateral damage. While that is a strength, I don’t think that all women can (or should) be forced to become warriors to be considered equal to men. I don’t think that’s right, fair, or truly equal.
If men can be portrayed as loyal, treacherous, brave, cowardly, serious, funny, sardonic, naive, cheerful, pessimistic, sadistic, altruistic, independent, submissive, leaders, or followers….then women should be portrayed in a variety of ways as well. Gender shouldn’t be their defining feature. People are complex, so characters should be complex as well. We are a sum of our experiences, as well as genetics. That’s what makes us human.
And that, I think, is the real goal of feminism: To get people to stop pigeon-holing others based on physical differences or on arbitrary or outdated social constructs. Yes, the male and females sexes are physically different. Yes, we do have different chemical mixes in our brains and bodies. But this is a spectrum, not a ping-pong match. We aren’t just animals, blindly obeying instinct. We think. We empathize. We remember. We impart knowledge to the next generation. We are HUMAN.
That is why we need feminism.
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For more amazing articles about the writing of female characters, please check out the links below:
“I hate Strong Female Characters” by Sophia McDougall on NewStatesman
“The Problem with Wonder Woman” by Shoshana Kessock on Tor.com
“One Woman’s Defense of the Disney Princess” by Rose B. Fischer (a wonderful reminder of why we have to be careful passing judgement on older material)
“Why I Write ‘Strong Female Characters’ “ by Greg Rucka on i09
“25 Things To Know About Sexism & Misogyny in Writing & Publishing” by Chuck Wendig on TerribleMinds (Be sure to check out the links he provides…there are some doozies.)
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Thanks for this, and thanks for the link!
You are very welcome!
this is a great post. i agree with you about feminism. to be honest, i’m kind of tired of the overly physical female lead which we see almost everywhere these days. i really enjoy a good balance between characters, because in real life, we have to work together (in most cases). i enjoy books that have a very strong female and male, who play off each other and force each other to grow. that’s what i strive for in my own writing.
i get what you’re saying about breaking standards in sci-fi/fantasy and i agree. what i did in my sci-fi novel is progress humans in social aspects, while putting my aliens in a more traditional mind. it’s not only forced my futuristic chick to stand up against weak feminine expectations, but break the alien’s molds of what females are even capable of. it was a really fun twist for me.
once again, great post. 🙂
I like this article. I’ve read some of the others too. Because like you in the beginning I had a hard time writing male characters. Most of my stories in the beginning had mostly female characters. But I think my stories revolted around women more because I was raised in a mostly male household. My mother and I were the only women in the house for several years until my little sister, but we were sometimes more physically capable than the men a great deal of the time. So I never really realized the standards set on women until I was told for the first time I couldn’t do something because I was a girl. I thought and still think it is stupid. I know my limitations. I think women should be given the same opportunities as men and that should be reflected in our literature as well. We are seeing a change in YA literature where girls are starting to take center stage role in the story’s development, but they are often accompanied by an equally strong male lead. Not that I don’t might as long as the characters aren’t flat and stereotypical.
I do love writing male characters now. I love my female characters, but for some reason my male characters are a bit more edgy and dark and seem to make better villains. I also think that too many female villains are portrayed as being the “bitch” character when in truth I believe some women could be just as charismatic and power hungry as men without the bitch factor getting involved. That I would love to see a female villain/bad guy/anti-hero that wasn’t just a bitch. I think that would be harder to change in people’s mindsets than a “strong female warrior”. I might have to play with this idea. 🙂