Comments | smittywing: Not done yet!

smittywing

Not done yet!

Jan 30, 2010 21:18

I had to contemplate whether to use this icon, which got across the message of this post, with one that actually had Emily Prentiss in it, because she is also the message of this post. (If she wasn't going to be Zatanna, she would actually make a pretty good Huntress. I'm just saying.)

So anyway, mingsmommy has posted right after I made a rec post twice ( Read more... )

fic recs, recs, when we were awesome, criminal minds

Comments 10

mingsmommy January 31 2010, 02:28:35 UTC

Suitably embarrassed.

But thank you so much for the kind words.

Honestly, I'm not sure I ever cared/noticed the strength of female characters until I became the mother to a daughter and realized how few strong women there are as role models. But women are strong in so many more ways than they're given credit for.

wojelah January 31 2010, 02:51:04 UTC

So very true - both Smitty's remarks and yours.

smittywing January 31 2010, 03:16:33 UTC

Right after my sister's wedding, my mother was telling me about the day I was born (I'm the oldest) and how she looked at me and realized that she was entirely responsible for me and my well-being, and how scary that was. So really, I think you have to be strong just to have a kid. One of my frustrations with fandom is how women are acceptably strong if they are badass and beat people up and have devastatingly witty comebacks. And I just think there are other ways to show strength, and one of those is overcoming fear, and one of those is messing up and finding a better way to do things, and I feel like those portrayals don't get the credit they deserve. But that's just me being preachy. :) Thank you for letting me use you as an example of excellent feminist stories.

thepouncer January 31 2010, 02:49:21 UTC

Hetty!

smittywing January 31 2010, 03:27:13 UTC

That is almost too easy. Hetty is, in the parlance of Sherlock Holmes, THE Woman. She is tough and cagey, she is shrewd and logical, she has power and she uses it carefully, she holds markers that she cashes in cautiously. She is not afraid to say what's on her mind, but shares her true thoughts only with those who deserves them. She has Been There and Done That, and she has the French Maid outfit to prove it. She clearly lived her life by saying yes, by agreeing to wild and crazy things, to doing what was asked of her, and by doing it well. She has come to a detente with the things she's not proud of, and she's not going to make the same mistakes again. She knows how to throw a punch and what makes a good shirt, how to play hard to get and how to actually be hard to get. She cares about her people and she knows how to keep their trust and loyalty, how to share just enough of herself to keep from seeming untouchable, and how to hide enough to give herself away. Even better, she learned all this in decades where few women had ( ... )

wojelah January 31 2010, 02:51:15 UTC

Weir.

smittywing January 31 2010, 03:59:10 UTC

I feel like Weir's awesomeness comes about in a very Watsonian way - in that the writers consistently confused "writing women" and "writing aliens" and half of her awesome was the way she was played and the other half was entirely by accident ( ... )

wojelah January 31 2010, 23:18:01 UTC

I remember some of these ridiculous things. :)

I think that's a very interesting and accurate synopsis of Weir - and fits well with your earlier remarks about not having to be Aeryn to be awesome.

geeklite January 31 2010, 03:46:54 UTC

Garcia!

smittywing January 31 2010, 04:12:08 UTC

OMG Garcia. I was saying in an earlier comment that I have issues when people get all judgey about women on tv who don't meet the Aeryn Sun standard. And Garcia is just a fabulous example of how you can NOT be Aeryn Sun and still be the most amazing thing on the planet.

There are endless reasons I love Garcia but a big one is when she's telling Derek about her past in Penelope. The whole thing where she overcame seriously crippling depression and managed to get a job by breaking the law just owns me. I love that has style and attitude and that she is not afraid to be herself, and she is not afraid to speak up when there's something she doesn't want to do, and how, if it is ultimately the right thing to do, or will at least lead to a desired end, she will put aside her distaste and do what needs doing. Most of all, I love that she makes everyone around her a better person - the ep where Hotch comes to her and apologizes for making her poke around in places she didn't want to go, and tells her that he doesn't want to make her ( ... )