𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐒, WRITING TIPS

* . ʷʳⁱᵗⁱⁿᵍ ˢᵗʳᵒⁿᵍ ᶠᵉᵐᵃˡᵉ ᶜʰᵃʳᵃᶜᵗᵉʳˢ.

༉˚*ೃ 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒.

nowadays, the phrase "strong female character" seems to have negative connotations, and especially is looked down on by men. it seemed that any female character (captain marvel, rey, korra, jane foster, ellie, abby) can't be powerful without being called a "feminist agenda" or a "mary sue", which is dumb, just to put it frankly. there's a lot of hypocrisy surrounding how a male character is treated vs a female character is treated when they do the same things, or have the same personality type. this is nothing new, but the dudebros (particularly in marvel) have been getting pretty loud lately.

one of the big things that i feel like has become associated with the phrase "strong female character" over the recent years is that for a woman to be strong, she needs to reject her femininity. it's the "not like other girls" trope but on screen. and what this chapter will be trying to convey is that there should not be a type for a strong woman. women who reject stereotypical femininity can be strong, and women who embrace femininity can be strong. this is something that seems to have been convoluted through the years.

and while i will be writing a full chapter soon about how to be writing strong characters in general — e.g. balancing them out with flaws, etc. — this chapter will mainly cover how misogyny and internalised misogyny have skewed the idea of what it means to be a "strong, powerful woman", and harmful tropes to avoid.

i think my focal point of this chapter is: FEMININITY ≠ WEAKNESS.

so often, "strong" female characters in film and literature are shown to reject femininity and anything remotely feminine, which has somehow become the standard for female characters shown to be powerful and strong. this ideology that "strong" women must not be feminine is inherently misogynist, though i feel like many writers and executive producers, etc, miss the point of why.

"NON-FEMININITY = STRONG CHARACTER".   →      *   .    &