While I do not, I’ll repeat that, I DO NOT have the full answer to my own blog, I will attempt the following without dismembering said self through a jackfucked example.
Herein, I shall explain Why Strong, Lead Female Protagonists Are A Good Thing.
Allow us all to source our inner female for a moment. No, not the #womancard, not a feminine side: A genuine POV from a woman’s perspective, capturing the voice (not literally), the essence, likeness, abilities, and of course, the mannerisms. While artistic creativity allows the writer particular freedoms in storytelling, it needs to be said that creating any strong character is difficult.
But what is strong?
I’m not talking physical strength here. Kickassery does not matter.
In fact, a female character who does little more than ass-kicking is no better than one who is there to be rescued by a man. Both are overdone. Both are boring. Neither advance the character.
I feel a strong character has presence. A personality. An intelligent mind. Someone who demands the attention to be front and center. Someone who counts in the story more than enough to keep the story together. It’s someone who’s own story strengthens the entire tone of the story itself. In other words, strong can easily reference the greatness of the character.
Nothing changes if that character is a woman.
Nothing.
What changes are the experiences of the character.
If we’re being honest, and I don’t know you well enough to lie to you, women are handcuffed with difficulties in the real world. They are too real, too often, and many have again come into recent light in Hollywood, all have been around too long. The handcuffs include a glass ceiling. Pay inequality in every profession. Discrimination. A culture of preeminent dismissal brought by male oppression. Rape culture also brought on by male oppression. Gender bias, again, brought on my male oppression.
These are all real and present experiences that CAN be present in fiction.
YES, fiction can be real. DON’T FUCK WITH REAL.
A great character must have emotion, be compelling, have flaws, show complexities, and [sometimes] be able to overcome those flaws and complexities. Women in your stories needn’t be any different.
Ever.
Just represent their experiences and remember that they too can do anything.
Yes, WNBA players should be paid the same as NBA players, because people come out in droves to watch the high level of competition in the WNBA.