Adler's Law = No matter how admirable or impressive a woman, real or fictional, is recognized to be, there will always be at least one person on the Internet who will try to downplay and undermine her and her accomplishments.

See people claiming that Percy Shelley secretly wrote Frankenstein instead of Mary, calling Cleopatra an incompetent ruler ( Read more... )

Here's an interesting link that I found which could serve as an addition or an expansion of the well-known Bechdel Test. The purpose of the article is to explore women's roles in movies, but I think that one can also use this test for books and other forms of media as well: http://www.flickfilosopher.com/2015/01/where-are-the-women-rating-criteria- ( Read more... )

Looking through critiques of the webcomic,“Starfighter” (which I haven’t reviewed yet) and one comment stood out to me:

“Saying Cain didn’t rape Abel because he secretley “wanted it” ignores the fact that Cain would have proceeded regardless of whether Abel enjoyed it.”

(-Elf on an Elk)

Because I think that that statement applies to any fictional ( Read more... )

I won’t deny it; I like romance. For me, a romance should be an equal partnership of respect and passion and love between people.

But, of course, what defines “equal?” For example, fans of the Tony Stark/Pepper Potts cite them as equals, even though Tony Stark is a technological genius and billionaire with a super-powered mechanical suit and ( Read more... )

From the author of “The Rape of James Bond,” (which I posted about here: http://aikaterini.livejournal.com/70414.html) comes this article, which is also very thought-provoking: http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/08/i-hate-strong-female-characters.

Some highlights:

-          “No one ever asks if a male character is “strong”. Nor if he’s ( Read more... )

This is a fantastic and incisive article that echoes a lot of my frustrations with the apologia for the constant usage and misuse of rape in fiction: http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/03/rape-james-bond

You can also find it here: http://sophiamcdougall.com/2013/03/13/the-rape-of-james-bond/

Here are a few highlights:

( Read more... )

There have been plenty of fans who disliked HBP because of the romance. But what if Harry Potter had travelled the same path that many other YA fantasy books have travelled and gone even further?

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( A.K.A. Harry as the Strong Female Protagonist, Ginny as the Sexy and Brooding Love Interest, and Draco as the Shamed Mean Girl... )

(Note to self: avoid writing these)

From http://www.springhole.net/writing/romance_novel_mistakes.htm:

Woman of Ice: This woman is independent, self-reliant, and tough as nails. At least, until the right guy comes along and suddenly all of her enemies are too powerful to overcome and she must rely on him to save her. In other words, she melts.

( Read more... )

Where do I begin with Madame Red, Ciel Phantomhive’s aunt? She is the sister of Ciel’s mother, who fell in love with her brother-in-law because he once told her that her red hair, which she had believed to be so ugly, was beautiful (because that’s a solid reason for true love, right?). Fortunately, she nursed no grudges against her sister for ( Read more... )

So, I’ve already mentioned in my post about “Young Miss Holmes” (or “Christie High Tension,” which is the Japanese title) how the manga is similar to “Black Butler” or “Kuroshitsuji.” I mentioned in my post that I preferred “Young Miss Holmes,” but that explaining why would be best saved for another post. Well, here it is.

Before I begin, I would ( Read more... )