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beccaelizabethSo I woke up after my post college nap and it was time for Heroes. So I watched an episode. And... this show is not made of awesome. The interweaving plots remain cool, but... did they just kill the black woman? Yes they did. And I'm of the opinion that in general one should not be able to guess life expectancy by skin color. Plus the women's roles remain 'to be rescued', 'to be married to', and 'evil'. Bugger that.
I mean, really, if you flipped the genders on any of these characters, it really wouldn't be the same story. And I'm sick of that.
I was in the bookshop today and I realised the books I was looking for wouldn't be sorted into their own section. I want to read books by and about women, because I'm sick of only finding supporting characters and girlfriends and femme fatale types and in general women that only exist in relation to men. I want to read women who would continue to exist if the men in the story did not. I want people to rescue themselves! And I wrote people automatically, but let's face it, it's very rarely a problem for men. I want women to rescue themselves.
And the thing that frustrates the hell out of me is that, even when a story is apparently written by a woman, even when it's about a woman, the rest of that isn't necessarily true! I mean today I bought a book that's the sequel to one I read a couple of weeks back, but now I remember why I wasn't actually going to do that (which is among the reasons shopping on Amazon is better, cause I can make notes and stuff). I wasn't going to buy it because there's basically only one female character in the whole story and she spends the whole book being shuffled about, saved and threatened, by men.
... I'm pretty sure I can't get a refund on that basis though. I should probably just remember things better.
I tried looking for stories that are a bit like Buffy. Buffy isn't perfect, but you've got to admit she saves herself and the world, a lot. And talks to other women. Exists in a network of women. Like people tend to, as well as network of men.
... actually most of the people in my life in any capacity are women. To write a story in which I exist only when interacting with men I'd basically just be in Cultural Studies class. Every other class is taught by women and I sit next to women and then I go talk to lady librarians and female helpful people and in general have a world full of female type people.
... not that I'm excluding any of y'all reading this who happen to be male.
I just mean, how do they get to these stories where women only exist for around about connected to and because of men???
But anyway, Buffy. Small and kick arse.
So I looked in the bookshop in the section they call 'horror', where all the Buffy-ish books are near each other. Supernatural investigator women. And it turns out I've tried most of them, and they've either turned into porn fests with no plot resolution or they're godawful codependent. I mean, I've never seen a story about a male detective staying with his violently abusive alcoholic-metaphor partner because they'd never stay sober without him. You get quite a lot of noir detectives dying for a drink, but you don't get them letting themselves be beat up and blaming themselves for giving the wrong signals when they get assaulted. And a woman wrote that! So it's not just the writers, it's the ideas.
I'm not asking for perfect women. That's a whole other problem, especially in the definitions of perfect. Characters can be lots of kinds of flawed. I'm just sick of the kinds they always seem to be.
... oooh, this turned into a rant.
I also suspect I don't really like fantasy. Urban fantasy, hidden world stuff, yes, but not the high fantasy oh look there's another king wow what a surprise stuff. Which do rule out half the books. And I haven't had much luck with science fiction lately, nor inclination to keep trying, so that's... well, the other half. I'm running out of genres to read, let alone books!
Sometimes I feel like Lois McMaster Bujold is the only one writing stories that fit this stuff I actually want to read. And most of them are about Miles. But a Miles who exists in a network of strong women, so his world feels more right than most of the other worlds I've read.
And it gets so damn depressing to try another new book by another new author and find the same damn problems.
Anyone got any advice on authors / books to try?
I'm frustrated with the 3D bookshop on account of problems you don't get on amazon, like the thing where if I've got the first book in a series that's the only one in the shop but if I don't got it then it's the only one missing.
I mean, really, if you flipped the genders on any of these characters, it really wouldn't be the same story. And I'm sick of that.
I was in the bookshop today and I realised the books I was looking for wouldn't be sorted into their own section. I want to read books by and about women, because I'm sick of only finding supporting characters and girlfriends and femme fatale types and in general women that only exist in relation to men. I want to read women who would continue to exist if the men in the story did not. I want people to rescue themselves! And I wrote people automatically, but let's face it, it's very rarely a problem for men. I want women to rescue themselves.
And the thing that frustrates the hell out of me is that, even when a story is apparently written by a woman, even when it's about a woman, the rest of that isn't necessarily true! I mean today I bought a book that's the sequel to one I read a couple of weeks back, but now I remember why I wasn't actually going to do that (which is among the reasons shopping on Amazon is better, cause I can make notes and stuff). I wasn't going to buy it because there's basically only one female character in the whole story and she spends the whole book being shuffled about, saved and threatened, by men.
... I'm pretty sure I can't get a refund on that basis though. I should probably just remember things better.
I tried looking for stories that are a bit like Buffy. Buffy isn't perfect, but you've got to admit she saves herself and the world, a lot. And talks to other women. Exists in a network of women. Like people tend to, as well as network of men.
... actually most of the people in my life in any capacity are women. To write a story in which I exist only when interacting with men I'd basically just be in Cultural Studies class. Every other class is taught by women and I sit next to women and then I go talk to lady librarians and female helpful people and in general have a world full of female type people.
... not that I'm excluding any of y'all reading this who happen to be male.
I just mean, how do they get to these stories where women only exist for around about connected to and because of men???
But anyway, Buffy. Small and kick arse.
So I looked in the bookshop in the section they call 'horror', where all the Buffy-ish books are near each other. Supernatural investigator women. And it turns out I've tried most of them, and they've either turned into porn fests with no plot resolution or they're godawful codependent. I mean, I've never seen a story about a male detective staying with his violently abusive alcoholic-metaphor partner because they'd never stay sober without him. You get quite a lot of noir detectives dying for a drink, but you don't get them letting themselves be beat up and blaming themselves for giving the wrong signals when they get assaulted. And a woman wrote that! So it's not just the writers, it's the ideas.
I'm not asking for perfect women. That's a whole other problem, especially in the definitions of perfect. Characters can be lots of kinds of flawed. I'm just sick of the kinds they always seem to be.
... oooh, this turned into a rant.
I also suspect I don't really like fantasy. Urban fantasy, hidden world stuff, yes, but not the high fantasy oh look there's another king wow what a surprise stuff. Which do rule out half the books. And I haven't had much luck with science fiction lately, nor inclination to keep trying, so that's... well, the other half. I'm running out of genres to read, let alone books!
Sometimes I feel like Lois McMaster Bujold is the only one writing stories that fit this stuff I actually want to read. And most of them are about Miles. But a Miles who exists in a network of strong women, so his world feels more right than most of the other worlds I've read.
And it gets so damn depressing to try another new book by another new author and find the same damn problems.
Anyone got any advice on authors / books to try?
I'm frustrated with the 3D bookshop on account of problems you don't get on amazon, like the thing where if I've got the first book in a series that's the only one in the shop but if I don't got it then it's the only one missing.
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Date: 2007-11-01 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 12:22 am (UTC)up to 'Parasite' tonight
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Date: 2007-11-01 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 08:06 am (UTC)