InsaneJournal

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Entry tags:	letting off steam, rant

Real Woman Never Wear Dresses or Female Characters Can't Do Anything Right
I've been saving this rant for awhile now, spurred on by fandoms attitude towards female characters. I have made this rant public so it may reach more of an audience then just my friends list.


In fandom it is tough to be a female character, you just can't do anything right. If you're a girly girl people are going to think you suck just because you like cute and fluffy things and like to wear dresses. If you're a tough action chick you will also get criticism for being too tough and not feminine enough. I don't see the latter much in fandom actually, but it is out there. No, this rant is mostly about the former and how just because a character is girly doesn't make them a horrible character.

Why can't a female character act girly? Just because she doesn't fight with her fists doesn't mean she isn't a strong character. She still has her brains to fight with you know, it's not just about being able to kill a whole bunch of people. Why do characters have to fight anyways, are there really no pacifists in fandom? What happened to wanting peace, why does violence always have to always be the answer?

Thinking of modern fantasy stories with a main female character, I have a hard time finding one who doesn't want to be a knight or be just like the men. I see this allot with characters who happen to be princesses. Why would she want to fight, she's most likely been raised to think woman can't do that sort of thing? It's almost never shown where this train of thought comes from. People don't just get ideas out of thin air; they learn things from the people around them.

Why can't she want to be involved in politics, she can do more good trying to reform peoples thinking through this then being a warrior and slaughter people in battle.

Princess is such a dirty word in fandom, a woman always has to want to be one of the boys. Is that really feminist to say that to be a woman you have to act more like a man?

I see the attitude of if you wear a dress than you are automatically trying to fit into the mold that men want you to be in allot and it really bugs me. Why can't a female character want to wear dresses and look pretty, is that such a crime? Woman can make decisions on their own you know, they might just like dresses because they feel more comfortable in them.

If taken too far this can also become a bad thing, saying that you have to be really feminine to be a woman. The opposite is also bad if taken too far, like I have mentioned above. The only thing you have to do to create a strong female character is give her a brain, let her be independent. To be independent you have to be able to make decisions on your own, not do things just because people tell you too.