(is this where I say 'meta' or something?)
This post has been sitting in my feb15 catch-all text file for probably a month. I keep forgetting it's there, and so don't post it. Now I've noticed it again. I don't think I've managed to say all I wanted to say, sadly.
Mostly, it's a continuation of the conversation about female characters.
It's not a competition.
1. No matter the fandom, there's always some sort of friction between fans of the female characters. One is better than the other, one got the guy, one got the destiny, they were friends/weren't friends, etc. If you like one of them, you can't like the other--in most cases, this means slagging off on the other.
In SG-1 fandom, you can like Sam and Janet both, but Anise/Freya and any other woman who might get under Jack's radar is free game.
In BSG fandom, even if you ship Kara/Lee, hating Dee is de rigeur. You can't like Athena and Boomer both. If you like Tory, you loathe Cally, and vice versa.
fandomsecrets told me not long ago that I can like either Lady Gaga or Florence (of Florence + the Machine). Luckily, the comment-thread there is filled with people going, "bah, I like them both." And a more recent secret said they were both awesome.
These are just examples. There are hundreds, maybe thousands more (you can't like Tosh and Gwen and Rose and Martha and Donna without hating at least one...)
Here's the thing, though. It's possible to like more than one female character, even if they're in direct competition for a guy, destiny, money, etc. You don't have to hate Jool to love Sikozu. You don't had to intensely dislike Ezri to love Jadzia.
Variety is the spice of life, and this societally-programed competition thing BITES. Fight the man.
Which sort of leads to...
2. I keep seeing this thread in the recent debates: squeeing and happiness about these women who 'break gender roles', 'subvert traditions', etc. And I keep coming up against this little niggling sense of... unease...
If the women we're in love with, the women we promote, are women who exhibit male characteristics, how is this helping? It's still privileging male ideals and motives as better than female. Isn't the whole point of lauding female characters to enjoy them regardless of whether they break out of the pre-supposed little boxes or not?
I'm not even sure there's a way around this conclusion--I can go on about how I grew up with Blake's 7 and Doctor Who and the Misssion Impossible remake and Voltron and thought women could be fighters, princesses, villains, sexy, homely and everything-in-between, but that doesn't change the fact that society says a woman can only do this, and men do that, and therefore: if a woman does man things, that makes her better.
This whole idea that women aren't interesting unless they're not acting like women seems like a ridiculous cop-out, not to mention being limiting, in the end, to the women in question.
3. If you are bashing female characters, how are you any better than the boyslashers (or hetficcers who use the Other Woman as a harpy/whore/etc) who don't write them at all? Writing one token chick is not a free pass to be a raging asshole towards all of the others. You do not get a special token of gratitude for liking That One Chick who breaks stereotypes and gender roles. You like Faith or Aeryn or Kara or Roslin or Olivia Dunham? Great. You're not special. Get back to me when you also like Buffy and Willow and Dee and Chiana and Zhaan and Jool and Sikozu and Cally...
Mostly, it's a continuation of the conversation about female characters.
It's not a competition.
1. No matter the fandom, there's always some sort of friction between fans of the female characters. One is better than the other, one got the guy, one got the destiny, they were friends/weren't friends, etc. If you like one of them, you can't like the other--in most cases, this means slagging off on the other.
In SG-1 fandom, you can like Sam and Janet both, but Anise/Freya and any other woman who might get under Jack's radar is free game.
In BSG fandom, even if you ship Kara/Lee, hating Dee is de rigeur. You can't like Athena and Boomer both. If you like Tory, you loathe Cally, and vice versa.
fandomsecrets told me not long ago that I can like either Lady Gaga or Florence (of Florence + the Machine). Luckily, the comment-thread there is filled with people going, "bah, I like them both." And a more recent secret said they were both awesome.
These are just examples. There are hundreds, maybe thousands more (you can't like Tosh and Gwen and Rose and Martha and Donna without hating at least one...)
Here's the thing, though. It's possible to like more than one female character, even if they're in direct competition for a guy, destiny, money, etc. You don't have to hate Jool to love Sikozu. You don't had to intensely dislike Ezri to love Jadzia.
Variety is the spice of life, and this societally-programed competition thing BITES. Fight the man.
Which sort of leads to...
2. I keep seeing this thread in the recent debates: squeeing and happiness about these women who 'break gender roles', 'subvert traditions', etc. And I keep coming up against this little niggling sense of... unease...
If the women we're in love with, the women we promote, are women who exhibit male characteristics, how is this helping? It's still privileging male ideals and motives as better than female. Isn't the whole point of lauding female characters to enjoy them regardless of whether they break out of the pre-supposed little boxes or not?
I'm not even sure there's a way around this conclusion--I can go on about how I grew up with Blake's 7 and Doctor Who and the Misssion Impossible remake and Voltron and thought women could be fighters, princesses, villains, sexy, homely and everything-in-between, but that doesn't change the fact that society says a woman can only do this, and men do that, and therefore: if a woman does man things, that makes her better.
This whole idea that women aren't interesting unless they're not acting like women seems like a ridiculous cop-out, not to mention being limiting, in the end, to the women in question.
3. If you are bashing female characters, how are you any better than the boyslashers (or hetficcers who use the Other Woman as a harpy/whore/etc) who don't write them at all? Writing one token chick is not a free pass to be a raging asshole towards all of the others. You do not get a special token of gratitude for liking That One Chick who breaks stereotypes and gender roles. You like Faith or Aeryn or Kara or Roslin or Olivia Dunham? Great. You're not special. Get back to me when you also like Buffy and Willow and Dee and Chiana and Zhaan and Jool and Sikozu and Cally...