Characterization and Power Imbalances in Romance Writing
Ah, characterization. One of the big touchy issues of writing fanfiction. We all have our own visions of the characters from our favorite shows, because we’re only given these outside views, not what’s going on in their heads, so we have to make our best guesses. The most amazing thing is how so many variant approaches can all feel equally right. There are lots of versions of our favorite characters out there, and a lot of them work for me. But I’m not here to talk about characterizations that work, rather where characterizations seem to fail. In particular, I am talking about Jack and Sam in ship fic. Now, it probably goes without saying that my absolute squick is a Sam that is weepy and weak or vindictive and stalkerish. Followed closely by a Jack that is dumb or emotionally out of control. But I’m not really here to talk about those either. I’m looking at the muzzy grey area in between, the ones we don’t usually even pause to think about.
Sam/Jack is a tricky relationship in some ways, because of their ranks in the Air Force. I know this is one reason some people are really put off by even the possibility of Sam/Jack, because they can’t get past that power imbalance. And it is a power imbalance. A huge one. It doesn’t matter what you believe about Jack personally and what he would or wouldn’t do. As a higher ranked officer, a commander of a lower ranking female officer, any action on his part (a proposition, a seduction, making a case for why it’s okay, even being the small last straw pushing them into something) amounts to sexual harassment. There’s a reason that rule is there, because as a subordinate, she’s not in a position to say no. And as much as we’d like to think this is just a power thing (that it would be equally wrong for a higher-ranking female officer to seduce a low-ranking male), I think having the subordinate be a woman adds an even greater imbalance.
We like to think we live in a nice equal world now, where women get to vote and own property and get a divorce and get paid equally (hypothetically) and have the right to say no (hypothetically) and have control over their reproductive systems (hypothetically). But for thousands of years women have been subordinate in position, importance, physicality, and power. This didn’t just disappear when women started burning bras in the seventies. What’s forty years of chipping away in the face of a concrete fortress built over millennia?
The coding for romance is a particularly interesting incarnation of this, perhaps slower to change than other facets of our lives. A lot of romance is still geared towards a dominant male and subordinate female (as in all historical romances, and even a lot of contemporary ones). A lot of women still pledge to ‘obey’ their husband in their wedding vows. I’m not trying to judge these things, I’m just pointing out that this gender imbalance is still there in a thousand insidious ways, most of which we would never even pause to think twice about. We don’t wonder what it means that some part of our brain likes men to be powerful and physical and to sweep in a save the damsel in distress, that we prefer our ‘strong’ women to work behind the scenes in typically acceptable manners, like Lizzie Bennet and her sharp tongue or Scarlet O’Hara and her drapery dresses. That our monkey brains primitive psyches are still looking for a broad chest and big hands to give us strong offspring and protect us from other aggressors. There are, of course, great exceptions to this, and things are changing (age of the geek, baby), but it still permeates the romance genre in general. (Just go pick up any random book in the romance section next time you are in a bookstore. See who is the sexual aggressor, where the characters fall on the scale of power balance. What’s your inherent gut reaction to seeing a relationship with not so much a powerful woman, as a powerless man? Who is attractive to you there?)
So what does this all have to do with Sam/Jack fic? Basically that I have noticed a large amount of Sam/Jack fic that seems to feature an alpha male version of Jack. And I’m not talking about the infamous ‘Jack rapes Sam out of love’ or ‘Jack stalks Sam and punishes her for dating someone else’. (I would really, really, really hope that we can all agree these are not only out of character, but not remotely 'romantic'.) I’m actually talking about something much subtler, the insidious power imbalances between them that can leak into the characterizations in fic in word and deed. Often I can’t even put a finger on exactly what-what word, sentence, action-really does it for me, it’s more just like this little alarm in my head that dings and says, ‘Stop reading this.’ I just get squicked. It's something as subtle as the way they speak to each other, the way decisions are made, but sometimes even who has the upper hand in the relationship. Maybe I am more sensative to it in Sam/Jack fic than any other het fic because of the obvious military power imbalance, which makes it a heck of a lot harder to ignore. I don't know.
They say reading fic can be really telling, that sometimes you read something and you feel like you are reading a personal statement by the author rather than a fic about the characters. And it makes you wonder if they actually believe in the romance of power imbalances, or just haven’t given it any thought. If maybe we are limiting ourselves because women have always come from a place of submission and we just aren’t in the practice of seeing it any other way. It's not what comes naturally.
I’m not asking anyone to defend their reading habits, but rather asking us to all think about how what we read (and write) reinforces a romantic vision of power imbalances and what that means for feminism and gender equality. And before you comment that there is a difference between fantasy and reality, fiction and fantasy are very telling. It speaks of what we as a culture value and it transmits those values to future generations. It's powerful.
Now I know everyone can come up with a zillion examples of fics that they have huge characterization problems with, including my own. But I’m not really talking about this to get wank started or to vilify anyone, and honestly? I'd rather not hear it. What I really want is for people to talk about these issues, to consider them. To be thoughtful when we read. Because if we don’t turn these stones and do the legwork, who will?
Sam/Jack is a tricky relationship in some ways, because of their ranks in the Air Force. I know this is one reason some people are really put off by even the possibility of Sam/Jack, because they can’t get past that power imbalance. And it is a power imbalance. A huge one. It doesn’t matter what you believe about Jack personally and what he would or wouldn’t do. As a higher ranked officer, a commander of a lower ranking female officer, any action on his part (a proposition, a seduction, making a case for why it’s okay, even being the small last straw pushing them into something) amounts to sexual harassment. There’s a reason that rule is there, because as a subordinate, she’s not in a position to say no. And as much as we’d like to think this is just a power thing (that it would be equally wrong for a higher-ranking female officer to seduce a low-ranking male), I think having the subordinate be a woman adds an even greater imbalance.
We like to think we live in a nice equal world now, where women get to vote and own property and get a divorce and get paid equally (hypothetically) and have the right to say no (hypothetically) and have control over their reproductive systems (hypothetically). But for thousands of years women have been subordinate in position, importance, physicality, and power. This didn’t just disappear when women started burning bras in the seventies. What’s forty years of chipping away in the face of a concrete fortress built over millennia?
The coding for romance is a particularly interesting incarnation of this, perhaps slower to change than other facets of our lives. A lot of romance is still geared towards a dominant male and subordinate female (as in all historical romances, and even a lot of contemporary ones). A lot of women still pledge to ‘obey’ their husband in their wedding vows. I’m not trying to judge these things, I’m just pointing out that this gender imbalance is still there in a thousand insidious ways, most of which we would never even pause to think twice about. We don’t wonder what it means that some part of our brain likes men to be powerful and physical and to sweep in a save the damsel in distress, that we prefer our ‘strong’ women to work behind the scenes in typically acceptable manners, like Lizzie Bennet and her sharp tongue or Scarlet O’Hara and her drapery dresses. That our monkey brains primitive psyches are still looking for a broad chest and big hands to give us strong offspring and protect us from other aggressors. There are, of course, great exceptions to this, and things are changing (age of the geek, baby), but it still permeates the romance genre in general. (Just go pick up any random book in the romance section next time you are in a bookstore. See who is the sexual aggressor, where the characters fall on the scale of power balance. What’s your inherent gut reaction to seeing a relationship with not so much a powerful woman, as a powerless man? Who is attractive to you there?)
So what does this all have to do with Sam/Jack fic? Basically that I have noticed a large amount of Sam/Jack fic that seems to feature an alpha male version of Jack. And I’m not talking about the infamous ‘Jack rapes Sam out of love’ or ‘Jack stalks Sam and punishes her for dating someone else’. (I would really, really, really hope that we can all agree these are not only out of character, but not remotely 'romantic'.) I’m actually talking about something much subtler, the insidious power imbalances between them that can leak into the characterizations in fic in word and deed. Often I can’t even put a finger on exactly what-what word, sentence, action-really does it for me, it’s more just like this little alarm in my head that dings and says, ‘Stop reading this.’ I just get squicked. It's something as subtle as the way they speak to each other, the way decisions are made, but sometimes even who has the upper hand in the relationship. Maybe I am more sensative to it in Sam/Jack fic than any other het fic because of the obvious military power imbalance, which makes it a heck of a lot harder to ignore. I don't know.
They say reading fic can be really telling, that sometimes you read something and you feel like you are reading a personal statement by the author rather than a fic about the characters. And it makes you wonder if they actually believe in the romance of power imbalances, or just haven’t given it any thought. If maybe we are limiting ourselves because women have always come from a place of submission and we just aren’t in the practice of seeing it any other way. It's not what comes naturally.
I’m not asking anyone to defend their reading habits, but rather asking us to all think about how what we read (and write) reinforces a romantic vision of power imbalances and what that means for feminism and gender equality. And before you comment that there is a difference between fantasy and reality, fiction and fantasy are very telling. It speaks of what we as a culture value and it transmits those values to future generations. It's powerful.
Now I know everyone can come up with a zillion examples of fics that they have huge characterization problems with, including my own. But I’m not really talking about this to get wank started or to vilify anyone, and honestly? I'd rather not hear it. What I really want is for people to talk about these issues, to consider them. To be thoughtful when we read. Because if we don’t turn these stones and do the legwork, who will?