It seems "feminism", both for and against, have come up in social media and articles a lot recently. Although I don't know a ton about it in the general standing of the world, or the statistics of opinions or issues and all that jazz, I have seen a wide range of people's opinions--people I know--on social media, and it's caused me to question and think about where I stand on the topic recently. So much so, that I wanted to write my opinions of it because I do feel strongly about it and it has bothered me a lot recently.
Now don't go thinking I'm a radical feminist who thinks I've been deprived in society. I suppose you could say I'm somewhere in the middle. I think extremists, generally speaking, are turning a blind eye to something or other. A happy medium, I've found, is usually a good place to be.
Artists like to express their opinions and views through their art, and I feel the same way. I'm an amateur artist, but it's one of the ways I can connect with the world around me. My art of choice has always been writing, so that's how I want to address this issue. The concept of strong female characters: what the world has defined them as, what I think they are, and how they portray the world's views about women. I believe that frequently the media's portrayals of something usually expresses the world's views about the subject in general--warped or not.
Growing up I felt a big deprivation of strong female characters. As a young girl frantically searching for a female role model in books and movies, I was constantly disappointed by females frequently being portrayed as damsels in distress. I felt like the odd girl out as I turned away from princess movies and towards movies like Peter Pan and Robin Hood. I wanted girls to be portrayed as not the ones who always had to be saved, but ones who could also do the saving.
As I've grown up I realized that girls who wear dresses or that are actually feminine aren't necessarily weak, or that girls who are portrayed in more masculine ways aren't necessarily strong (something that the world usually has backwards). I can see where they make that mistake, because I used to make it too. Unfortunately books, movies, and society in general has a warped view that in order to make females strong, they need to take away their femininity or even make the male characters appear weak, or horrible people in contrast (I'm looking at you Malificent). What a major cop-out. It makes feminism look bad.
A strong female character is exactly that: strong and female. Yes these two can go together without making her a strong "male-like" character. If making her male-like is done in an attempt as a stand on feminism or to make a female character appear more strong, it's really hypocritical. It's actually really like insulting females, and showing that you don't have any idea what feminism really is. So we are trying to prove females are strong people who deserve recognition from men by making her like a man? What? Doesn't that sort of undo everything you just tried to do?
It's true that women are different than men. That's how we all are made and supposed to be. God created us as equal but different. We compliment and complete each other. I get so tired of comments like "women are inferior drivers" and "men are all stupid". It's always a competition in the world when it should be a team. Yes, I think men do sometimes still need some more improvement in accepting women as equals, but women also need to stop trying to cut down men to feel that way. You can be strong without being insulting. Actually, you're stronger if you don't.
Stereotypical roles were extremely evident in television, movies, and books throughout the modern world as well. Not saying that some of those stereotypes weren't accurate or good (for example motherhood is extremely good and is unfortunately also highly looked down on in the world today), but it is annoying to always see the silly, helpless female that always needs to be rescued in old 1940's or 1960's tv shows or movies for example. Sure being rescued is fine, but when it's the main plot point for a female character it gets old very fast. It is also almost just as annoying to see the scantilly dressed female who could care less about her moral values as she lies, kills, and drinks her way to apparent "strong female character" status in the world's views. Can't we have a happy medium between roll-your-eyes at her stupidity and you've-got-to-be-kidding-me bad role model?
So, now that I've addressed why I think feminism and female characters are such a big topic and my stand on it in general; now to get to my views of what a strong female character should be.
1) She doesn't need to be masculine to be strong.
Seriously, enough of that. It's annoying. You show that you have no idea what you're talking about. Now I don't mean this in characters that are just plain tomboys (they can be great characters), but ones that are made blatantly "male-like" in an attempt to seem strong. Being feminine isn't a weakness. It's what makes us different from men and unique. Embrace that, don't shun it. She can be strong and feminine. Yes it's possible and it's the truth.
2) She doesn't have to have a blatant "in your face" attitude or personality to be strong.
This one particularly bothers me as I am more of a quiet and calm personality, and it's annoying to generally not have my personality type shown as a "strong" one. She doesn't have to insult everyone every five minutes or throw a punch at every single bad guy she runs into to be strong.
3) She should embrace the attributes of her gender. She should stand up for herself and be a force for good, but also embrace the gentle, nurturing characteristics that are in her nature. Don't push those away, but use those to make her stronger.
4) She should be rigid in her beliefs and what she knows to be right, and should stand by that 100%. She should stand up for herself and defend herself and those she loves.Those female characters that do that...oh yeah they are awesome! Thankfully there are more and more of these type of characters arising. (I mean who wants to argue with Hermione Granger? Not me).
5) She should pursue her dreams and goals. She shouldn't let anything hold her back. She should push the limits that try to hold her back from reaching her potential, even if she has to push back some stereotypical restrictions (Elizabeth Bennett, you go girl!).
6) She should have high moral standards. Both men and women portrayed nowadays in a lot of medias have very low morals, and it is unfortunately viewed as acceptable. She should not only have those high standards for herself and others but should also defend them.
7) She can be smart, resourceful, brave, witty, and anything else really. She should have an actual personality. She should be accepting of herself and others.
8) She's got her character flaws just like any other character. That's what makes her 3 dimensional. She would be boring and unrealistic without them. She accepts them and works on them. She makes mistakes and learns from them.
While all characters may not have all of these attributes, at least not perfectly, they can still be strong female characters. I wish that I had more of the great female characters and role models that are much more abundant today in medias when I was growing up. I wish I hadn't thought, growing up, that being a girl meant I was weaker sometimes from the portrayal on these medias. But I've learned and the world is learning too.
Characters, like people, aren't perfect but it's great to see so many strong characters, both male and female, in abundance. Ironically, several brilliant female authors who published under male or unisex pen names in order to appeal to a bigger audience, were also the creators of several amazing female characters. Fortunately the world is much more accepting of female authors, directors, actors, and characters today.
Jane Austen was way ahead of her time writing social satires with strong and witty female characters like Elizabeth Bennett (a personal favorite of mine), and Elinor Dashwood to name a few. Charlotte Bronte's legendary Jane Eyre was also way ahead of her time in portraying a humble, but strong female heroine who didn't meet the world's stereotypical beauty standards for women.
J.K. Rowling wrote an amazing series that appealed to both genders, with many strong female characters that both genders would respect, like Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley. Also Molly Weasley. Don't mess with Molly Weasley.
Suzanne Collins wrote a very tragically strong female character, Katniss Everdeen, who was also one of the first main female protagonists for an action film ever.
Verity Lambert, a woman, was the very first producer of the epic sci/fi television series Doctor Who, that has spanned more than 50 years on television. She received a lot of criticism and persecution at first, but helped make the new series a success. She even created the infamous Daleks. Since then, Doctor Who has portrayed many strong female characters.
Ok so the last one wasn't a character, but I thought it was cool. :) And I don't mean to just talk about female authors or directors (producers, whatever) portraying strong female characters. Many male authors, directors, etc. have created strong female characters as well. Rick Riordan, Christopher Paolini, C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien (because Eowyn, I mean come on she's awesome!) and Brandon Sanderson to name a few.
See characters who are strong for real reasons. Not because they are masculine, but because they are strong individuals. Female characters are also allowed to have a love interest and still be strong too, which is also a weird stereotype the world has. She doesn't become a plot device just because she actually has a love interest.
Long story short, the world is steadily improving its views of female characters from where it used to be. Although it still has a warped view on feminism and female characters in a lot of ways, there are many great examples of fictional role models for girls young and old to look up to.
We need to stop feeding false ideas of female portrayal to men and women. Women don't need to be masculine to be strong, and they don't need to cut down men to feel better about themselves. Men and women need to respect and support each other and their differences. There are many great examples of both strong male and female characters in all sorts of medias. We have to look for the ones that are good examples and portray good and accurate attributes, because they are out there.
The media needs to start changing, as it's a big influence on us, especially young people. I wanted to point out my opinions of what I think a strong female character is, its importance of portraying it correctly and the impact it can have on us, and good examples I've found already in the world today.
I believe that, as J.R.R. Tolkien put it, "For creative Fantasy is founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun." We can view what the world thinks of a certain topic by the way it is represented in fantasy, in story telling in whatever type of medium. That's why this topic has been weighing on me so much, and I wanted to address it for a while now. We need to change our views as men and women both, in the way we are portraying women in the media.
We need to teach our young girls that strength comes from her natural attributes and standing to her morals, not by the outward appearance, or trying to be something she isn't. Men are men and women are women and that's okay. That's the way it was meant to be and it's good. We need to stop trying to cut down each other and accept each other. We need to show young men and women that both genders are strong, unique, equal, and beautiful in different ways.
Well, that's my long blog of the day. :) I hope it made sense and was helpful in some way. These opinions are purely my own, and you can take what you want from it. Girls be strong, accept your femininity, and be YOU. Men, the same to you, you are awesome too. Well, except the femininity part... haha. You don't have to do that. :)
So long for now. See you next time!
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