Okay, first things first: sdjlfkdsjfdsjldjfskdjfjfjs THIS ENTRY I WANT TO DRAW HEARTS AROUND IT FOREVER! I am sorry I am commenting a bit late, I wanted to be in the right mind to really sort out my feeling. BUT SO MANY FEELINGS! Okay, let's do this:
There's a whole conversation to be had about how "girly" stuff is sociologically coded as "bad"/trivial and "boy" stuff that is just as trivial is coded as worthy/superior, and how so many girls pat themselves on the back for not being into "stupid" girl stuff, and how even smart, intelligent, self-identified feminists will walk into a bar and comment on how many "sorostitues" are out tonight, or see a pack of 15-year-olds shopping together and say "they look annoying". But no, that article was about fictional women, so let's bring it back to that.
Sorry to quote a whole PARAGRAPH at you, but YES THIS SO MUCH. I am so into this kind of semiotics and I feel like outside of hardcore academia no one really talks about it. SUCH A SHAME. But I think this point is super important, even if, as you say, it's not directly related to the topic of fandom. Except it kind of is, for all the other things you go on to talk about how we are striving for the physical/mental strength in our characters instead of the well-written character, etc. And I love your point about how a lot of characters can be strong in the first two ways that you mentioned, but how many of them are really "strong" in the third. AND IF THEY ARE then likely we're not talking about them, and why is that the case??
Even self-purported fandom feminists will do it: use pseudo-academic language to tear down a female character because she doesn't measure up to their standard of what a "feminist character" should be.
OH MY GOD I THINK I LOVE YOU. I'm not sure if you remember but a few weeks ago I posted a similar entry, basically asking what kind of endings we want for our female characters, and while a lot of people on my flist jumped on the "I DON'T WANT TRADITIONAL HETERONORMATIVE ENDINGS" not many people could tell me what they really DO want instead. It is my hugest annoyance with fandom lately that people are automatically against motherhood (among other forms of traditional femininity), instead of questioning WHY they are, or the ways in which these traditional forms are problematic. Because they can be and are, I definitely wouldn't argue otherwise, but shouldn't we be striving for more accurate representations then? ISN'T THAT WHAT WE ALL WANT.
BUT YEAH. This has already gotten absurdly long, but basically thank you for writing it. I relate to so many things you've said here, especially the bits about just GETTING other girls and women vs. boys. I don't get men at all. But I get and like ladies. SO YEAH. FEEL YA, SISTER. A+ POST.
no subject
There's a whole conversation to be had about how "girly" stuff is sociologically coded as "bad"/trivial and "boy" stuff that is just as trivial is coded as worthy/superior, and how so many girls pat themselves on the back for not being into "stupid" girl stuff, and how even smart, intelligent, self-identified feminists will walk into a bar and comment on how many "sorostitues" are out tonight, or see a pack of 15-year-olds shopping together and say "they look annoying". But no, that article was about fictional women, so let's bring it back to that.
Sorry to quote a whole PARAGRAPH at you, but YES THIS SO MUCH. I am so into this kind of semiotics and I feel like outside of hardcore academia no one really talks about it. SUCH A SHAME. But I think this point is super important, even if, as you say, it's not directly related to the topic of fandom. Except it kind of is, for all the other things you go on to talk about how we are striving for the physical/mental strength in our characters instead of the well-written character, etc. And I love your point about how a lot of characters can be strong in the first two ways that you mentioned, but how many of them are really "strong" in the third. AND IF THEY ARE then likely we're not talking about them, and why is that the case??
Even self-purported fandom feminists will do it: use pseudo-academic language to tear down a female character because she doesn't measure up to their standard of what a "feminist character" should be.
OH MY GOD I THINK I LOVE YOU. I'm not sure if you remember but a few weeks ago I posted a similar entry, basically asking what kind of endings we want for our female characters, and while a lot of people on my flist jumped on the "I DON'T WANT TRADITIONAL HETERONORMATIVE ENDINGS" not many people could tell me what they really DO want instead. It is my hugest annoyance with fandom lately that people are automatically against motherhood (among other forms of traditional femininity), instead of questioning WHY they are, or the ways in which these traditional forms are problematic. Because they can be and are, I definitely wouldn't argue otherwise, but shouldn't we be striving for more accurate representations then? ISN'T THAT WHAT WE ALL WANT.
BUT YEAH. This has already gotten absurdly long, but basically thank you for writing it. I relate to so many things you've said here, especially the bits about just GETTING other girls and women vs. boys. I don't get men at all. But I get and like ladies. SO YEAH. FEEL YA, SISTER. A+ POST.