As a feminist who enjoys a lot of genres that aren’t usually…
As a feminist who enjoys a lot of genres that aren’t usually lady-friendly, it always irks me when people claim they have strong, feminist characters in their stories, but in reality they’re neither of those things. Sometimes a character’s qualities are debatable, but I wanted to make a list of things that don’t necessarily make a strong female character:
1) She is a woman/girl. Okay, so you created a female character. That’s a good start. But even Bella Swan from Twilight is a woman and I wouldn’t call her a good representation of feminism and modern womanhood. Is your character reflective of real women, or is she part of a stereotype? Do you even know the kinds of problems real women face? Does she face appropriate obstacles?
2) She can kill people, ergo she is a strong woman. Being a strong woman does not necessarily mean she can bash in skulls or toss people across the room. It means that she is psychologically, emotionally, and sometime physically well developed and can hold her own against opponents. Yes, it is refreshing to see female characters that are not physically wimpy and dependent, but if her character isn’t fully fleshed out, she’s just a tool. Try to make your female characters as complex and realistic in the story as possible.
3) She is a feminist. Okay, who says she’s a feminist? You, or her actions? Being a feminist is more than just saying “I’m a feminist.” Does she illuminate women’s issues during her story arc? Does she legitimately stand for all women’s rights, or just a stereotype of women’s rights (i.e. fauxminism)? Don’t make a straw feminist (see Feminist Frequency’s video on the Straw Feminist).
4) She doesn’t act like other women. Okay, this is really common in genres like fantasy and scifi, and it’s really problematic. First, you are assuming that all women act in a certain manner, which is not the case. Second, this most likely means that you are not writing a female character, you are writing a male character with boobs. This isn’t necessarily a good representation of womanhood. The point of avoiding stereotypes and cliches when writing for a female character is not to eliminate femininity and womanhood, but instead to adopt a more enlightened and diverse perspective on womanhood. Many things factor into a woman’s life that make her unique from other women. You have to consider things like class, race, culture, situation, history, and other perspectives that you design for her. This is also why it’s important to have multiple women in any story, because if you write five very diverse male characters but only one female character, it is easy to assume from the audience’s perspective that all women behave as that one female character does, and this is part of why sexism is so prevalent in media today.
5) She is the main character. Again, this kind of goes back to point #1. It is great to have women in main roles instead as just a sidekick or love interest, but if she isn’t a well developed, strong, and complex character, there’s really no point for her to even exist, other than to maybe be eye candy or a foil for a scenario.
I could go on and on and on forever and ever about sexism in media, mostly in fantasy, scifi, and horror (which are my favorite genres), but that would take way too long and I have to make a taco pizza (that’s a pizza with taco ingredients for toppings, if you were wondering). If you’re interested in this sort of stuff like I am, then check out Feminist Frequency. They offer great videos on a variety of topics concerning women in media. These were mostly just some tips I wanted to offer for young writers, film makers, game designers, comic artists, and other crafters of media about handling women in media. If people like this post, I may consider doing one for queer people, too…
(via fuckyeahfeminists)
So i had a revision meeting today with some people in my module, and we were talking about one of the questions we were preparing and i asked if the notes i’d shared online were of any use. Yes was the answers, but apparently when it came to the section on textual criticism, i’d just titled it - Textual.
Except either side of the title, i’d bracketed this
(when i get that feeling, i need) Textual (healing)
I’d completely forgotten about that, it made people laugh, but man that’s mortifying.
that’s fantastic jono.
Can you believe fat people? Just existingwilly-nilly all over the place, sometimes without even the courtesy to cloak their terrible bodies in heavy smocks and caftans. Some of them even have the gall to ask to be treated with basic human decency and compassion! Good thing we have Daniel Tosh & Co. to regulate this shit. On Monday, Tosh.0blogger Mike Pomranz posted a photograph of a fat woman wearing a gold bikini and trying to hail a cab in the rain. They framed it as a “caption contest,” inviting readers to submit their most delightful fat-shredding bon mots. Except, oops, the photo wasn’t theirs to post.
It belongs to fat activist and artist Substantia Jones, and is a part of her Adipositivity Project, which seeks to normalize and affirm fat bodies. (Here is the photo in its original context.) Tosh.0 apparently pulled the photo from this website (don’t bother clicking unless you like dumb garbage), which cropped out the link at the bottom. Jones has contacted Comedy Central’s legal department, and as of a few minutes ago the page has been taken down.
“Folks sharing Adipositivity photos,” Jones says, “as is regularly done all over Facebook and Tumblr, aids in the purpose of getting body positive images in front of as many eyes as possible. We dig that. But to steal someone else’s copyrighted material in order to use it in purveying bigotry and hate for profit? Not cool.” The woman in the photo—who, to everyone’s surprise, is an actual human being—is actress/model Janie Martinez. Jones describes the image as “conveying the bliss of being completely happy with your physical self, and boldly so, even in a world filled with ridicule.”
Weirdly, the Tosh.0 commenters took the opposite approach. Before the page was pulled there were over a thousand semi-literate sample captions submitted, including:
Beneath all of that skin is a beautiful vagina, waiting to be fucked….and waiting….and waiting
She’ll get picked up soon, I see a garbage truck coming.
And my personal favorite:
Quick get me to occupy Wall Street, I hear they are raping people down there
In case that last one isn’t clear, it’s implying fat women should be grateful to be raped—eager, even—because it’s obviously the only way their disgusting bodies will ever be touched by a man. Let me repeat. If you rape a fat woman, she will probably thank you for it.
Oh, it’s “just a joke”? Good one. Good joke. It’s almost as good as when businesses “prank” fat people by not hiring them, or insurance companies do this old gag: “Knock knock?” “Who’s there?” “Not fucking health insurance if that’s what you’re looking for, fatty!” Ahhhhhhhh, jokes.
Now, I don’t expect the Tosh.0 blog to be a bastion of intellectualism, but it’s disheartening to see this level of dehumanizing bullshit thriving under the umbrella of Comedy Central. The Daily Show is probably the most compelling and compassionate advocate for critical thinking on television—and the best evidence that you can be funny, political, and scathing without resorting to lazy stereotypes and hate speech. Meanwhile, Comedy Central’s website is actively baiting 14-year-old dumbasses to come up with the cruelest shit possible? Come on, bros. Be better people.
Photo credit: Substantia Jones / Adipositivity Project.
I have always hated this sad excuse for a man
rage
