Women can be heroes without excuses
Jul. 9th, 2017 08:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI am so tired of men writing women
when you can just see they sat down and thought about why this character has to be a woman
and came up with lists that are just... ugh.
I just finished reading an alt history SF story that sent women to space because physics (women being smaller)
which, okay, fair enough as far as that goes
but there's whole big sections of story that are not about physics, but explaining why those two particular women are the ones dying to save earth
So there's two dead mothers and inspirational dead fathers and exceptional educations
and they're not married because lesbianism and rape
and then there's ovarian cancer and hysterectomies.
Like, for some reason he considered all that important to having a space adventure made of noble sacrifice.
One also stops to cry about never having had children.
When was the last time you saw a bloke about to aim his spaceship towards noble sacrifice stop to cry about never having had children?
... arguably Picard, but, it is not generally a genre feature
unless women.
I would very much like it if required warnings went on all the stories. So the one I just read would be all Major Character Death, because they take a one way trip on purpose and kill themselves after saving the world, and Rape, because ... ? And dead lesbian again. And dead mothers. And... I think the author reckons they're telling an inspiring story about deciding to save the world even though it really and sincerely sucked for the people doing the saving. But why is that the story?
So I'm left with the feeling the warning label is
women, written by men, who think they need a reason.
when you can just see they sat down and thought about why this character has to be a woman
and came up with lists that are just... ugh.
I just finished reading an alt history SF story that sent women to space because physics (women being smaller)
which, okay, fair enough as far as that goes
but there's whole big sections of story that are not about physics, but explaining why those two particular women are the ones dying to save earth
So there's two dead mothers and inspirational dead fathers and exceptional educations
and they're not married because lesbianism and rape
and then there's ovarian cancer and hysterectomies.
Like, for some reason he considered all that important to having a space adventure made of noble sacrifice.
One also stops to cry about never having had children.
When was the last time you saw a bloke about to aim his spaceship towards noble sacrifice stop to cry about never having had children?
... arguably Picard, but, it is not generally a genre feature
unless women.
I would very much like it if required warnings went on all the stories. So the one I just read would be all Major Character Death, because they take a one way trip on purpose and kill themselves after saving the world, and Rape, because ... ? And dead lesbian again. And dead mothers. And... I think the author reckons they're telling an inspiring story about deciding to save the world even though it really and sincerely sucked for the people doing the saving. But why is that the story?
So I'm left with the feeling the warning label is
women, written by men, who think they need a reason.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-10 08:18 am (UTC)When was the last time you saw a bloke about to aim his spaceship towards noble sacrifice stop to cry about never having had children?
... arguably Picard, but, it is not generally a genre feature
Sooooo, can I stick this up at
no subject
Date: 2017-07-10 04:10 pm (UTC)thanks
no subject
Date: 2017-07-11 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-11 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-11 11:58 pm (UTC)My impression, & of course it's based only on your post, is that all the craptastic background is to explain why these women would go off into space knowing it was a one-way trip instead of hunting down Mr./Ms. Right so they can invest their drive & emotion in that most important adult relationship & then... I dunno, adopt babies? clone them? whatever. Anyway, this is why the protagonists don't act like Normal Women even tho' they're intelligent & not overtly crazy.
Perhaps I'm too cynical, or old-fashioned; I think I was traumatized by reading too many of Heinlein's YA books. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2017-07-12 02:44 am (UTC)