Tevun-Krus #9 - Spunky Heroine SF

A Little Bit of Feminism & A Lot a Bit to Gain

A thoughtful little ditty full of run-on sentences and sass by @parishsp. 

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Isn’t it funny how the world works sometimes?

Just last week, a friend of mine posted as their status in the blue cyber universe on this interweb thingamajig something to the effect of feminism is bad because it breeds apathy for the (sometimes—and in this specific case— tragic) plight of women. He spun the image of feminism in a negative light, and even though it had lots of likes, this girl right here was more amused than offended, but still a little bit of both. 

So, much to the demise of the world and the delight of my ego, I hit reply...

I define feminism not as the mission to eradicate femininity, I typed, but the mission for equal rights and wages for women.

Boom, roasted. Take that scholarly slam.

What then transpired was a back-and-forth showdown of sorts under the original comment that eventually moved to the realm of personal messages (I do have some sense of professionalism …sometimes). And what it equaled was two people standing or drastically different sides of a subject we should all cheer for:

Feminism.

The celebration of women.

A you go girl mentality that saturates our brains and our lives in such a way that we don’t need to fight over defining words such as Feminism to begin with.

Think with me for a moment…

I once had a professor in undergrad who, when asked his opinion of Black History Month here in the US of A replied that he thought it was sad that we didn’t celebrate the achievements of all people, all the time, so much so that we needed a month set aside to highlight a certain demographic.

He left us all to ponder the thought that if something, x, has a day, or a month, to its self, then there is a grand possibility that x is largely forgotten outside of its official time of celebration or recognition.

Enter: Black History Month.

Enter: Feminism.

Enter: The Spunky Heroine.

Now listen, I am quite aware that the plight of the Science Fiction Spunky Heroine does not equate the women’s rights movement. Nor does it have much of anything to do with the sacrifices and tragedies of racial minorities throughout history.  

I do think, however, that it bears asking: Why does there have to be a Spunky Heroine subgenre to begin with?

Take a minute and name your top ten scifi protagonists.

How many of them are women?

When I started writing this article, I proposed that question to our friend, Google. In response, Google gave me numerous links to lists upon lists of “Top (10/25/50) SciFi Protagonists”. Most of theses lists either came straight from movies, or were some sort of combination of movies and books, but the most alarming thing?

Yes. You guessed it: There were so few women.

The consistent female players were Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, and Katniss Everdeen. I mean, I may have thrown in Offred from A Handmaid’s Tale, but that would be because that happens to be one of my own personal favorites, and I believe she was one smart, brave lady in a time where neither would serve her well. If you look at the classics of science fiction (Dune, Ender’s Game, 1984) there are few female protagonists to be found.

This is a shame, because women have so much to offer writing as a whole. I love to hear or read interviews with George R.R. Martin, especially when they ask him about how he writes such believable women characters. My favorite response of his about writing women is when he replies that women are people and he writes about people.

Spunky Heroine isn’t solely about writing with a female protagonist, though. To truly qualify as Spunky Heroine, your protagonist needs to be female, yes, but also a little kick-ass.

Have you truly ever known a woman who wasn’t both woman and a little kick ass?

I have a strong belief in my life that every person has something to offer. I also have a sincere love for crafting stories where the main character wrestles autonomously (ie: within themselves). Because, let’s face it, the biggest battles any one of us will most likely ever face, happen within our own minds, our own insides, in that place where our emotions, passions, and desires smolder and spark and give life to laughter, pain, anger, and love. And if we break it down to its most simplest of parts, women are more notably driven by these things, which means that women fight the hardest of hard battles more often than their counterparts. This is not to say that men do not feel/ have emotions/ and/or feel inner turmoil. But if you sat a man and a woman side-by-side, at least in my experience, the women will use “I feel…” twice for every time a man will say “I think…” And besides, I said we were breaking it way, way down. Please don’t take this as a excuse to say women are controlled by their emotions. If you do, I pray your best girlfriend or mother will cuff your head (gently) tonight.

My bottom line is this: Women are tough.

They are complex.

They are servants and warriors, tacticians and planners. They love deeply and naturally, value relationships, and work for the good of those around them. They are fierce forces to be reckoned with.

As an author, what more could you want from your protagonist?

I have so many beautiful women in my life, and many parts of them come to life in my stories.

In The Cadet, Brix is a little bit stoic and a lot a bit unafraid. This is my mentor, Jenneyb, who has battled with a brain tumor for approximately 25 years now. She's the sassiest woman I know. 

In Superator, Nelee is my grandmother, my mother, my best friend, and every woman who has ever sacrificed anything to the point of having nothing left.

Melanie, in To the Edges is every girl I have ever counseled who thought there was no hope, nothing good left inside of them or in the world, only to have had their world radically transformed by hope.

Listen, men are not evil. I love men, and they make great protagonists. But they shouldn’t be the only thing we write about because they are not the only thing out there.

I write women as the protagonist in most of my stories because I think they are strong enough to take it. Maybe you should try it. You might be surprised by the load they can bear, and how far they carry your story.

So! As much as we love some good, sexy Spunky Heroine, let’s band together and write about some everyday women, every day. They’re all badass in their own way. Let’s be real, we don’t want women to be the exception; especially when we have so much to gain from having them grace our pages. We should want to give them equal playing time, and--I would say-- we might just all be a little better off because of it.