So I was going through some favorites I marked on Imgur that I’d forgotten about. Recipes, useful information, quotes. One of them was this sequence of posts. To sum up, someone asks the question “Why aren’t there romance stories for men? Why is the romance genre is exclusively targeted at women?” And the provided answer (short version) is that, for women, love is something that “happens” to them. But men are the ones who have to work to make that happen. And this rings true to me. Here are some most loved romances by women to prove it. In Pride & Prejudice, Darcy pursues Lizzy. Lizzy just kinda sits back…
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Rape Revenge Movies: Who are they for?
I don’t remember when or why, but I found a list of a few “women’s revenge” movies that I added to my list and only now I’m getting around to seeing. So far I’ve seen “Bandit Queen“, “M.F.A.“, and I watched “Promising Young Woman” a little while ago. Bandit Queen seemed more like a fetishy “watch a woman get raped” film than a satisfying vengeance film. M.F.A. was the opposite–a woman falls into a pattern of violent revenge she can’t get out of. And Promising Young Woman is just… it’s just so good, it should’ve won the Oscar. Especially that scene in the dean’s office. So much tension, anger, only…
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We Need to Stop Using the “Strong” in “Strong Female Protagonist”
Or at least we need to change what it means. I think the trip-up is on the word strong. We say strong and we think this: We keep equating “strong” with “powerful”. Which is fine… ish. Women with atypical powers or abilities is good, in the same way that men with atypical powers or abilities is good. But the women above, even though they are powerful, still exist in service/subordination of men. Batman and Superman and Iron Man and the like are power fantasies. Black Widow and Catwoman and Black Cat are sex fantasies. They are intended to appeal to men and men only. When we say “powerful” female antagonists,…
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Eating My Words on Wonder Woman
Oh, look at all these words. Oh… yum… gulp… so delicious… so meaty. So good… so good to eat… so scrumptious… I’ve never eaten words as good as this before. This is delicious. Scrumpf… glomp… chew… oh so good… so satisfying… filling…can’t get enough… So in 2012, I wrote a blog about how we’d never see a Wonder Woman movie, or at least a good one. Let’s take a look at some of the points I made and why I was wrong. “…to make Wonder Woman translate to today’s audiences, you would have to alter her so radically that she wouldn’t resemble Wonder Woman anymore. … Someone’s going to leave…
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Anita Sarkeesian and the Adventures in Video Land
I feel like I gotta get this off my chest, because it’s been on my mind lately. (Don’t you love blog posts about stuff that happened weeks ago?) First some backstory you already know. Anita Sarkeesian has done a lot of YouTube videos, most notably stuff relating to feminism. I respected her views — I learned a lot about the Bechdel test, on how it’s best applied (as in not per movie, but on a less-than-scientific global/informal level). She made sound points. She seemed intelligent. She made a Kickstarter to do a series about women and/in video games. For some reason, this drew down the thunder of the Internet gods,…
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Some Bits about Feminism
PART 1: Males Get Stereotyped For Their Gender Too (But It’s Not Nearly As Bad As What Women Get) Every time I make a post about a controversial subject, I get page views. So here’s one. A few videos and other recent events have me thinking about things. None of the thoughts really have a cohesive theme, so here’s just a list. • Whenever people talk about gender platitudes, they always talk about those that aren’t in the majority — non-straight, non-white, non-male. Females are known for suffering from “gender boxing”, but males do too. There are male stereotypes too, both positive and negative. • But the consequences aren’t NEARLY…
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Thoughts About Wonder Woman
These days I’ve been thinking about Wonder Woman. One of my daughter’s friends had a Wonder Woman cake for her birthday (four years old) so I know her fanbase isn’t dead. She represents something important to women. Someone who can hold their own with the other super-people. Someone strong enough to stand with the G.I. Joes and He-Men. Independent, strong-willed, powerful. And unfortunately, we’ll never see her again. Barry Lyga recently wrote an article regarding why we won’t see a Wonder Woman movie. He argued that Wonder Woman’s portrayal is too inconsistent for a proper story. I agree, but I take it to the next level — even the consistencies…
