I'll save my own damn self, thank you.
What with ComiCon upon us, I thought I should share this very interesting roundtable discussion I found concerning the way women and media aimed specifically at girls is viewed by fandom at large. I will warn that this (and my comments below) are almost painfully nerdy. Do be warned! (ETA: This commentary became a freakin' novel. It is LONG. I
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You've pretty much summed up my feelings towards fictional strong female leads. I never liked A Separate Peace because I thought the two leads were the extremes of what I don't like about men - one was pushed around and the other was an asshole living vicariously. At first, I didn't want to touch Joy Luck Club because it seemed so highly acclaimed by Asianphiles, neither did I like my crew being called "The Joy Luck Club" because we were Asian. One day, I picked it up, and I liked it based on differences between second and first gen. Asian Americans. It was not until I saw the movie I regarded it as a feminist piece only because I thought, "Cool! There are actual AsianAm women who could ACT!" Sadly, not many can.
Sailor Moon also changed my life the same way it changed your's. People dog on Sailor Moon because she fights in a mini-skirt, but it's nothing worse than say...Ikki Tousen. I grew up liking magical girl stuff because I could relate - clumsy unachiever girl grows up while she kicks ass and takes names. I got so tired of the Flying Hero Barbies (who only rescued horses) bits. Not to mention, after ten years, females needed another Jem and the Holograms.
Suffice to say, most girls in today's anime fandom don't really see what I've seen back then. They often mention lack of likeable female characters, hence why they crossplay. I can cite that sentiment several times from cosplay.com. Plenty of 90s anime had lots of strong female leads - even if they were dumb in the begnning, they surely shone through by the end. To me, shoujo is more about the girl growing up to be strong and independant. Shounen is more focused on testerone and powering up.
Then again, who can say a girl can't use their femimine assets to their advantage. Hence, why I like Sex and the City. Even the female heterosexual audience is left out at times (ie: yaoi). Carrie and her friends won't talk about how awesome yaoi is...well, with the exception of one episode. Cynthia Nixon says it best that SATC is the ultimate fantasy for females - cute do-able guys on every corner, strong-well-written characters, witty dialogue, etc.
In addition, when I was 10, I felt turned off by DC and Marvel female leads because they looked so oversexized. I remember one instance of The Simpsons where Lisa mention about girl-friendly comics, and I asked myself, "where is the stuff for me?" That's why shoujo manga / anime felt much more comfortable to me when I was 11.
What I like, in general, is well written stories and characters (regadless of race, color, creed, gender, orientation, etc).
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