getoffmyastroterf:

layingdownsomebatfeets:

heka-writes:

So there are a lot of videos with this title. And this topic has been discussed since I was in high school (2012); so basically a long time. The main point these videos seem to be making is that:

1) Making a female character fight or do other traditionally “masculine” things is not automatically going to make them a good character.

2) Many times fans dislike more feminine female characters for being feminine, and that being feminine doesn’t mean a female character can’t be well-written. What determines a strong female character is her development, flaws, story arc, etc etc.

Obviously, I agree with both these points. Many of my favorite female characters do take on more support roles rather than fighting roles (Anastasia from OUATIW, Mai from Yugioh: Duel Monsters, the Pretty Little Liars cast from the books, Elena from TVD S1 + S2 (when she took the damsel in distress role more than in later seasons. Ironically enough I didn’t like her in later seasons at all.))  I have seen many examples of authors trying to make up for their female character’s lack of development by giving them power ups (Sakura from Naruto is the main example. She was nothing but pairing fodder for the whole series and the author tried to make up for it at the very end by giving her a surprising power up out of nowhere ). So what exactly is my problem with the abundance of these videos?

Let’s look at some of these “masculine” females:

All of these girls/women…are super feminine. All of them have long hair, tightly fitted suits, Hollywood makeup, and sometimes even high heels. From what I know, most of them are also straight.

Yes, despite what a LOT of people are saying, most of these protagonists are super “feminine” but just have the few characteristics of “masculinity” such as fighting. There’s also the issue of some of them being emotionally stoic rather than complex, but somehow that makes them “masculine”. It doesn’t, it just means they are badly written with a few traditionally masculine traits like fighting. The best written male characters are those who are emotionally complex as well; it doesn’t have anything to do with “femininity”.

Honestly, if the YA community views these women as “masculine”, how would they respond to a butch lesbian?

Or how they would respond to women who ACTUALLY don’t look traditionally “feminine” :

What I’m basically saying is this: No, there is not an abundance of “masculine” female characters, or those who defy gender norms as I’d rather like to say. If anything, we need more female characters who genuinely do defy gender norms outside of just fighting and are also well written.

If you’ve noticed, I’ve been putting “feminine” and “masculine” in quotes this whole time, and I’ll explain why. 

A lot of people have said something along the lines of this (paraphrased) quote:

“These female characters who fight are basically showing that women have to act like men to be empowered”

No, women who defy gender norms are not “acting like men”. Women who fight, don’t wear makeup, play video games, refuse to have children, don’t like to cook, etc are acting like women who don’t follow traditional gender roles. They are not acting “like men” because men do not own any of these traits. Masculinity and femininity are just social constructions of gender.  Aka gender roles. When you say that women who don’t adhere to gender roles are “acting like men” you are perpetuating gender roles and being sexist. Most of the people I have seen in these videos or articles call themselves feminists…but feminism is completely opposed to enforcing these types of gender roles.

Obviously there is a lot of grey area in certain aspects of gender. Some neuroscientists claim there is no “female brain”, other specialists say there are some differences, but telling women that we need to “act more feminine” or ladylike is probably the epitome of archaic misogyny. It also leads way to telling women who are tomboys or GNC that they have “internalized misogyny” for not conforming. You may as well tell me to get back in the kitchen.

Yes, there are good traits that are demonized for being traditionally feminine. Childcare and cooking are often times taken for granted despite the amount of skill they require. Nonviolence isn’t as popular in mainstream media because violence is more flashy. These are traits we should be promoting more of, for both sexes.

But let’s not forget when gender roles were created; they were created in societies where women were men’s property as a guidance for telling women how to behave and as a way to tell men how to keep women in line. There needs to be some criticism and separation from those negative aspects of femininity. We need less women fighting in high heels, we need less nerdy girls getting makeovers. We need more women in relationships with other women. We need to emphasize the importance for women to learn self-defense, instead of letting them think these situations will never happen to them.

Criticizing femininity is not the same thing as hating on women who are feminine, because femininity is a role put upon women, not womanhood in itself. 

As a last note; the definition of femininity differs from culture to culture. In Middle Eastern/South Asian culture (where I am from) women aren’t encouraged to wear makeup or revealing clothes, but rather cover from head to toe. Cats aren’t considered “female” pets, video games aren’t considered boy games etc. How can femininity be innate if it’s different across the world? Which is the innate one?

All I’m saying is that the concept of femininity can and should be criticized, and that we need more genuinely gender nonconforming females who are well written. We can do that without bashing feminine women or characters, and we can do that while creating complex female characters.

@melinapendulum have been following you forever would love to know your thoughts!

Thank you! It’s part of this nonsense of ‘misogyny is hatred of the feminine’. 

Every time I see a female character fighting in heels I want to stab a man.