Servants or Doormats?

[rj_anderson]

It seems to me that for most people nowadays, servant is a dirty word. We tend to think of it as a synonym for slave, associating it with drudgery, dependence, and bondage. Oh, sure, we may have to work for a living, we may have other people telling us what to do, but still we're employees, or contractors, or caregivers - definitely not servants.

Comments

[kristin_briana]

I completely agree! I was actually thinking about this recently, and how sad it is that so many fictional heroines have to be independent and rude and willful to be seen as good role models. I suddenly realized that in my story, the female MC is weak and willful and pathetic - until she falls in love. Until she makes the conscious choice to love this boy despite the fact that it could get her in huge trouble, despite the fact that it could possibly get her killed. She isn't strong until she is willing to be weak, willing to let go of her selfishness and her superficiality.

And then I wondered if feminists will try to kill me if this ever gets published. :P

[yahtzee63]

Yeah, all us feminists hate love. It's well known.

[kristin_briana]

Sorry, that was kind of a generalization, wasn't it? Unfortunately my WIP just doesn't have that many strong women in it. I'm just afraid some people might be offended by that.

[yahtzee63]

I josh you. For me, personally, I don't know that I would find a lack of strong women offensive unless there were tons of very well-developed, strong men, in which case it might make me feel like the author wasn't talking about these women but about Women. But if you are writing about a very superficial, strife-filled world (reading between the lines there, but that was my guess), I would imagine most of the male characters are in the same boat.

[rj_anderson]

That's a very good point. It's always obnoxious when one sex in a book seems to get all the strengths and virtues at the expense of the other; but if we're talking about individuals, I'd say anything goes.

[dichroic]

And What Diantha Did isn't feminist at all, no. (Actually I wish it were much more widely read. If there was ever a book dedicated to the difference between service and doormattery, that one's it.)