In which dudes abide.
It's actually been a really interesting week for fictional female characters.
Over on Alan Baxter's website, he talked about his Top 10 Favorite Characters, and at the end of it, he notes that his list is sausage-heavy. First off, well played to Alan Baxter for realizing that. Seriously. Second off, he asks commenters to weigh in with their favorite female characters in fiction. Double points.
And you know, I am mostly compliant.
So here's what I responded:
1. Burke (created by Andrew Vachss). Pure wish fulfillment. The beat-on little kid who grows up, chooses a good family and kills every last kid-whupping motherfucker in his way.
2. Rickey (created by Poppy Brite). A boiling hot-tempered chef who, every time push comes to shove, chooses his long-time, long-suffering lover G-man. Absolutely brilliant.
THAT SAID…
Let’s talk chicks, man.
Chicks, man.
3. Margo Green (created by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child). Museum curator, genetics whiz, unfettered sex bomb and all-around ass-kicker, Margo is fabulously level-headed, brilliant and man enough to apologize when she’s wrong.
4. Rangergrrrl (created by Tim Pratt). Okay, what barista *hasn’t* dreamed about an alternative Old West universe where she saves the world (as defined by Santa Cruz, CA’s cafe scene)?
5. Fuschia Groan (created by Mervyn Peake). She’s selfish and sudden and terrifyingly childlike, all of which are to be expected by someone raised without even the benefit of wolves.
6. Anna Pigeon (created by Nevada Barr). A fierce and feisty park ranger who has no intention of growing old gracefully or with an empty bed, Anna is all that is ass-kicking justice, fighting more often than not for the great outdoors. Because someone has to.
7. VI Warshawski (created by Sara Paretsky). I don’t *care*, haters. I don’t care if you want to say she’s superhuman at taking a beating, or that she’s mean as a spider or sometimes has poor decision-making skills. Hello, who doesn’t? She’s still a tough-as-nails PI making it on the mean streets of Chicago and never backing down.
8. Jane Marple (created by Agatha Christie). Oh my champion of the inherent strength and steely-eyed determination of the crone! That’s fine, young man, you go ahead and kill that person while I knit and call for the police and, you know, MAKE YOU FEEL TERRIBLE. It’s fine! I’ll wait here. Did you need an extra cardigan?
9. Death’s daughter, Susan (created by Terry Pratchett). Simply put, after all the shouting’s done and the fires are out, someone still needs to tip the wee out of the shoe.
Quite.
10. Angua (created by Terry Pratchett). The fantasy lover’s Lacey to Carrot’s Cagney, Angua isn’t taking no for an answer, but she isn’t sure about everything yes entails either. And then there’s the whole *cough* werewolf thing…
Now, I'm looking over that list and even though it's 80% women, I find it problematic in a couple of ways. Specifically, I'm finding that I heroize--shit y'all, is that even a word?--I elevate, let's use that one instead, I elevate certain characters I think, simply because they are women. To wit, Jane Marple.
Jane Marple is in fact, a badass. Don't try to debate that point with me or I'll cut you.
But looking at what I wrote, I'm noticing that I elevate Miss Marple to heroic status on account of her embodying some mythic Warrior Crone archetype, and half of that is elevation based on gender. Would she have been half as compelling as a sleuth/hero if she was an old dude? Likely not. At least not to me. She solves murders and enforces rigid social mores while knitting and being soft and fluffy, which are all characteristics associated with old women, not old men. Old men just get thin and cranky and need putting down they lose a lot of their power simply by being men who are no longer physically hale and dominant.
Whereas the archetype of an old woman drawing strength, gaining it, pulling it to her by means of speech and a craft that is typically women's work, that is a very loaded and gendered process.
So why is it so effective for me?
Come on over, everybody. It's time to poke me in my privilege.
Of course, I write this after reading about the newly named phenomenon of birthrape via wtf_sexism (women being vaginally violated during birth despite their protests) and noting that the first comment to that article is a dude objecting to use of the term rape which--thanks for stopping by, Slappy, and telling ladies how they should feel about their experiences--and after noting that the first response to my (okay, overlong) comment on Alan Baxter's article is "@Oddmonster Burke is awesome".
Wow. Clueboat now boarding, check your boarding pass...aw. That's a shame.
Now, do you think that commenter has a masculine user name? Three guesses.