On slash and female characters

[ginnyvos]

Having been a part of slash and yaoi fandoms for about 6 years now, I've gotten used to quite a lot of really weird phenomena. Anything from kink-memes to squee to fandom wars has passed me by. One of the things I've always sort of taken for granted is the tendency of fandom writers to either dismiss the female lead/love interest, to use her as

Comments

[2metaldog]

Not only fandom has a distinct lack of strong female leads. 95% of fiction has lackluster female characters. Sometimes they start out strong and then as soon as the guy shows up, she turns into this simpering, crying, airhead that I want to bitch slap into next week.

I am guilty of writing few females in my stories. But of the few I write, they're generally strong women who won't take no shit from the men in their life be they regular humans with a chip on their shoulders or demon princes of Hell.

Currently, I have one female character in Dreaming who has a large (if secondary) role. She's the Shal-hazal hunting down the insane lead, Tyh. She's definitely a woman and not trying to be a guy. She has a hard job to do but she's doing it and knows that the only person better suited to do the job is her teacher (also a woman).

Then again, Awh'anise females are feared more than the males as they have a higher pain threshold in a species with an already ridiculously high tolerance and they are the more vicious of the two in a fight.

[ginnyvos]

In this, I see fandom as a reflection of cannon, in other words; Because cannon (any cannon) has a lack of strong yet feminine characters, fandom writers don't feel the urge to identify and write cannon females.

I think it's actually a lot harder to write a strong feminine character than a strong masculine character, because in many ways, 'weak' is seen as a feminine attribute. Awful as it is, traditionally speaking intelligence, humour and strength are masculine attributes and it's very hard to keep a character feminine and still give her those attributes.

[2metaldog]

Because cannon (any cannon) has a lack of strong yet feminine characters

This.

Yes, it's harder to write a good, strong female and still have her be... female, but it can be done. Strong doesn't always have to mean beating the crap out of somebody in a fight.

I love Bleach. There are some awesome female characters in it (notwithstanding Rukia, whom I wish would die a fast, messy death). But time and again, Kubo has them fall to the wayside as the men come to their rescue *rolls eyes*. I find it particularly telling/annoying that there is only 1 female in the 11th squad (the heavy fighting unit) and that you never really see her fight and you get the sensation that she's only there because the captain installed her there because she's his little sidekick. You get little glimpses that she's got power, but that's all it ever is.

[ginnyvos]

THIS! Right back at you. It's one of my great annoyances with Bleach. They have so many fucking awesome female characters... Until a guy in need of someone to save comes along and they all swoon and change into blithering damsels in distress

[dreamsofspike]

Soooo much love for this post

[ginnyvos]

Absolutely an OT3 girl... There is no way or shape in which I could wish away El's existence. Besides, without El there I don't think a relationship between Peter and Neal would even work!

That's sort of the point though, isn't it? In other fandoms, people's wifes or girlfriends or whatever are written out in favour of the other guy. If she stays on as part of a threesome, she's marginalised in favour of the two guys. Here though... It doesn't even feel like an option and noone even does it.

[chomiji]

I think that for the most part you're hitting the nail on the head, although I can't answer for the character you like there because I don't watch TV at all.

I will say that personally, I have trouble identifying with (and so usually am not much into writing) very feminine/girly women because although I am to some extent curvy, I'm not much into what I have heard called "performative femininity." This is the whole business of putting effort into dressing in a feminine and decorative fashion, wearing feminine makeup and most colors of nail polish, moving in a feminine way, and so on. I like some feminine colors (rose pink, for example) and I do wear some jewelry - especially earrings, because they don't get in the way. The icon here is pretty accurate, except that I rarely wear kitty ears!

Also, let's face it, I'm middle-aged.

My type of person pretty much doesn't exist in fiction, except as an occasional guest-starring eccentric scientist, doctor, or academic specialist. In manga and so forth, I often settle for a blunt-talking

[amelia_seyroon]

You can see why I am heavily biased towards yuri/femmeslash and not just that, but any strong and kickass female characters who can easily show off the dudes.

[ginnyvos]

Sorry for the uber late reply but:

For me, the problem with yuri/femeslash is that it's often by men for men. I have yet to find a good, relyable sourse of from women for women yuri/femmeslash. A large part of the reason why I enjoy yaoi/slash, for me, is that women seem to experience sexuality and sexual fantasy very differently from men, which means that I find 'regular porn' vaguely disgusting an a bit of turn-off most of the time, if not downright hilarious and ridiculous. Any suggestions you might have for me are very welcome though!

[amelia_seyroon]

Hrm. Well, there are a handful of shoujo-ai/yuri anime series out there that were created by women.

Such as...Strawberry Panic.

[nochick_fics]

I really believe that this speaks to what so many of us want to say with regards to female characters. What a well-written and thought-provoking post. This needs to be shared!

[ginnyvos]

Thank you for the lovely compliment! It's just something that has really struck me about the White Collar fandom and how it deals so differently with the leading lady than any other fandom I've encountered so far.