Women in Media (2/4)

  Sometimes, writing a female protagonist can be very frustrating. Just because according to the doctrine of political correctness, there are things you can do with a male protagonist that you can't do with a female protagonist. For example, have you ever seen a sleazy con woman in a movie? Sure, you have your Han Solos, your Nicholas Wildes, your PT Barnum's etc. But not a woman. Because if you do, you're saying all women are untrustworthy. (Feel free to provide examples if I'm wrong. I'm genuinely curious.)

    All right, that didn't work. What about a female crime boss? Like how about a Godmother instead of a Godfather? Nope. Can't do that either. Because then you're saying that all women are unsavory or criminals.

    What about a comically inept halfwit? You know, your Inspector Cluzos, your Paul Blarts, your Dumb and Dumbers? I once remarked that I'd be interested in seeing a Dumb and Dumber movie with female leads just to add some variety. But nope, can't do that either. Because then you're saying that all women are dumb. Shame! Shame! Shame!

    Noticing a pattern here? To quote the Galbrush Paradox: "Men can be comically inept halfwits. Women can't. Men can be flawed, tragic human beings. Women can't. And why? Because every single female character reflects all women everywhere."

    And women can't be anything but perfect. There's a term for this. It's called Positive Discrimination. Basically, when people are so afraid of offending minorities that they make the minority characters morally/physically superior to everyone else.

    And what do you end up with? A bunch of women that are exactly the same. Flawless, impeccable, can do anything, and BORING.

    I hate to beat a dead horse by this point, but the Last Jedi is the best example I can think of. Discarding Captain Phasma, whose total screen-time is just over three and a half minutes, there's a stark contrast between the men and women in the movie. You have Luke, who's a whiny old man who gave up on everything and just wants to die while Rey is smart, intelligent, determined, and powerful. You have Poe who's brash, arrogant, hot-headed, and dumb while Holdo is (supposed to be) calm, rational, wise, and ultimately right all along. You have Finn who's bumbling, clueless, can't win a fight without help, and doesn't get to sacrifice himself while Rose is knowledgeable, in-charge, and she gets the heroic moment instead.

    What about female villains? Surely they don't fit the mold by design, right?

    Unfortunately, yes they do.

    The sad thing is, female villains still get the short end of the stick, representation-wise. Most of them are high-ranking underlings to a male leader. Because God forbid we have the disposable henchmen be henchwomen instead. And usually, they're either being pressed into service by the big bad man and therefore spared the hero's wrath or they end up switching sides mid-way through and their offenses brushed aside because of that. If they don't switch sides and do end up dying/arrested, expect them to be mourned with the same extent as a dead hero. The only exceptions I can think of are Hela from Thor Ragnarock who's a power-hungry overlady that and Rita Repulsa from the Power Rangers reboot who attacks one of the female rangers in the latter's bedroom in a scene that's laced with rapey overtones.

    And this sort of mindset even bleeds over into my own writing as well, much to my frustration. Have a female protagonist and a male antagonist? Bam! Automatic gender issue. She's not just beating the guy who called her names, she's smashing the glass ceiling and sticking it to the patriarchy. Better yet, make everything she does a gender issue. Shove those sex-crazed bigots in the gutter where they belong. Don't you realize that everything that happens to her, every misfortune she suffers, every flaw she has, everything she does, everything she is, it all ties back to her gender and nothing can ever be her own fault? 

   ENOUGH!

   We don't need Superwoman. Superwoman isn't equality. All Superwoman does is put girls up to ludicrously high standards of perfection that they will inevitably fail to measure up to. Do you want equality? Give us more normal women. A woman can be as smart as a man and as strong as a man, but she can also be as dumb as a man and as weak as a man. And we won't be truly equal until there are as many mediocre women as there are mediocre men.

    One woman doesn't speak for every other woman any more than one man speaks for every other man. Nor should they, because carrying an entire gender on your back is exhausting. You only have to speak for yourself.