Strong female characters in SF
Wired talks about the strong women of Battlestar Galactica, and gender equality in SF.
"Battlestar Galactica speaks to a broadening of women's roles in sci-fi that we began to see in the '90s with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, which introduced stronger female characters." ~ Professor Sue Brennan of Ohio State, quoted in the article.
Here I go, having thinky thoughts again today. Well, I've actually had these for awhile. I'm just writing them down right now.
This fuels my very strong personal belief that SF as a genre is on the verge of the type of makeover urban fantasy gave the fantasy genre. Women have always read both SF and F, but I don't think anyone can deny that the twin rise in popularity of paranormal romance and urban fantasy - genres which often cross over one another - have pulled in a huge female readership. Fantasy as a whole has benefited from the tidal wave of urban fantasy out there.
SF, IMO, stands on the precipice of the same thing. A scattering of books and series featuring strong SF heroines and romantic subplots have already made appearances in the last few years (Julie Czerneda, S. L. Viehl, Lisanne Norman), but more often than not, SF is still following the same tropes it always has. Fantasy was suffering from the same thing, once upon a time. The huge epic fantasy series used to be my favorite thing to read. Usually weighing in at 600-1000 pages per book, they almost always featured a young boy who would grow up into a powerful wizard/ruler/warrior - any of the above, or all three. Occasionally we saw a young girl instead of a young boy, but not as often. Say what you will, like the books or hate them, but Laurell K. Hamilton's success with Anita Blake came in the wake of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and soon after that success, others began popping up. I do think that Buffy's success had alittle something to do with it - people who loved Buffy and wanted more of something similar started looking for it, and books like the Anita Blake series were suddenly being passed around or recommended.
Now, urban fantasy very nearly dominates the genre, with bestsellers like LKH, Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher (whose books feature a male protagonist, a switch for the female dominated sub-genre), Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs, Rob Thurman, Carrie Vaughn, Lilllith St. Crow, and a slew of others. There is still room for the old epic fantasy series of yore, but I believe urban fantasy has revitalized the genre and helped draw tons of new readers - many of them female.
You know, back when I was in high school, I was the only girl who played D&D in our gaming group. I read F/SF, played Dungeons and Dragons, and let me tell you, that was a rare, rare thing. for years, the stereotype for the genre has been the nerdy young man who can't get a date, spending all his time reading or game playing in a fantasy environment. The stereotype existed because it was pretty true. Young men reading far outweighed the number of young women. I'm not so sure that's true anymore, and I believe absolutely that SF is headed in the same direction.
Why can't a show like BSG do for SF what Buffy began for Fantasy?
And this isn't rocket science. For decades, Romance has outsold every other genre. Why? Because droves of women buy them every month and read their favorite authors voraciously. Romance features female protagonists - over the years, those protags have gotten stronger and stronger, and it's no secret that women everywhere have a soft spot for a bit of romance. But it does get a little tiring, reading the same stories over and over. Romance started bringing in elements of other genres decades ago. But it's only in the last decade, really, that we've seen romance cross over into other genres on the bookshelves, and even then, there is a fierce battle among some readers as to what classifies as "paranormal romance" or "urban fantasy". But those readers aside, many, many women read both.
Just look at fandom! How many of us are female vs. male? I'd say a lot - 90% of my f-list for sure. And how many of us watch or write fic largely for whatever couple we're currently shipping? *raises hand* Now, imagine all those fans in the bookstore, looking for something that features characters like Kara Thrace, Sharon/Athena/Boomer, Six, or President Roslin?
SF needs what urban fantasy did for fantasy - and I, for one, think it's ready for it. I didn't write Nemesis with that strictly in mind. I wrote it, because that's the sort of thing I want to read.
Things like this article in Wired give me hope that it also might be the sort of thing lots of other people want to read, too. Maybe an agent or editor out there will feel the same way (I really hope!). It's tough to remain hopeful as the economy struggles and doomsday news seems to be cropping up everywhere. I'll take whatever slim carrot I can get.
"Battlestar Galactica speaks to a broadening of women's roles in sci-fi that we began to see in the '90s with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, which introduced stronger female characters." ~ Professor Sue Brennan of Ohio State, quoted in the article.
Here I go, having thinky thoughts again today. Well, I've actually had these for awhile. I'm just writing them down right now.
This fuels my very strong personal belief that SF as a genre is on the verge of the type of makeover urban fantasy gave the fantasy genre. Women have always read both SF and F, but I don't think anyone can deny that the twin rise in popularity of paranormal romance and urban fantasy - genres which often cross over one another - have pulled in a huge female readership. Fantasy as a whole has benefited from the tidal wave of urban fantasy out there.
SF, IMO, stands on the precipice of the same thing. A scattering of books and series featuring strong SF heroines and romantic subplots have already made appearances in the last few years (Julie Czerneda, S. L. Viehl, Lisanne Norman), but more often than not, SF is still following the same tropes it always has. Fantasy was suffering from the same thing, once upon a time. The huge epic fantasy series used to be my favorite thing to read. Usually weighing in at 600-1000 pages per book, they almost always featured a young boy who would grow up into a powerful wizard/ruler/warrior - any of the above, or all three. Occasionally we saw a young girl instead of a young boy, but not as often. Say what you will, like the books or hate them, but Laurell K. Hamilton's success with Anita Blake came in the wake of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and soon after that success, others began popping up. I do think that Buffy's success had alittle something to do with it - people who loved Buffy and wanted more of something similar started looking for it, and books like the Anita Blake series were suddenly being passed around or recommended.
Now, urban fantasy very nearly dominates the genre, with bestsellers like LKH, Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher (whose books feature a male protagonist, a switch for the female dominated sub-genre), Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs, Rob Thurman, Carrie Vaughn, Lilllith St. Crow, and a slew of others. There is still room for the old epic fantasy series of yore, but I believe urban fantasy has revitalized the genre and helped draw tons of new readers - many of them female.
You know, back when I was in high school, I was the only girl who played D&D in our gaming group. I read F/SF, played Dungeons and Dragons, and let me tell you, that was a rare, rare thing. for years, the stereotype for the genre has been the nerdy young man who can't get a date, spending all his time reading or game playing in a fantasy environment. The stereotype existed because it was pretty true. Young men reading far outweighed the number of young women. I'm not so sure that's true anymore, and I believe absolutely that SF is headed in the same direction.
Why can't a show like BSG do for SF what Buffy began for Fantasy?
And this isn't rocket science. For decades, Romance has outsold every other genre. Why? Because droves of women buy them every month and read their favorite authors voraciously. Romance features female protagonists - over the years, those protags have gotten stronger and stronger, and it's no secret that women everywhere have a soft spot for a bit of romance. But it does get a little tiring, reading the same stories over and over. Romance started bringing in elements of other genres decades ago. But it's only in the last decade, really, that we've seen romance cross over into other genres on the bookshelves, and even then, there is a fierce battle among some readers as to what classifies as "paranormal romance" or "urban fantasy". But those readers aside, many, many women read both.
Just look at fandom! How many of us are female vs. male? I'd say a lot - 90% of my f-list for sure. And how many of us watch or write fic largely for whatever couple we're currently shipping? *raises hand* Now, imagine all those fans in the bookstore, looking for something that features characters like Kara Thrace, Sharon/Athena/Boomer, Six, or President Roslin?
SF needs what urban fantasy did for fantasy - and I, for one, think it's ready for it. I didn't write Nemesis with that strictly in mind. I wrote it, because that's the sort of thing I want to read.
Things like this article in Wired give me hope that it also might be the sort of thing lots of other people want to read, too. Maybe an agent or editor out there will feel the same way (I really hope!). It's tough to remain hopeful as the economy struggles and doomsday news seems to be cropping up everywhere. I'll take whatever slim carrot I can get.