Awesome Women Meme

[bofoddity]

Now THIS is a meme to get behind. Taken from various journals.

So I was adding some new interests to my LJ profile (because I, uh... have some new interests. Yes.) and found myself feeling defensive every time I typed a female name, thinking, basically, FUCK YOU, SHE'S AWESOME, because I felt as if someone somewhere was going to be criticizing my love for them.

So, anyway, then I made a list of women who make me want to say FUCK YOU, SHE'S AWESOME. They are far from the only women who are awesome, or the only women people need to be told to step off of, but they are the top ten I feel that way about, right now, off the top of my head.

If you want to argue with me about the awesomeness of any of these women, I am afraid I will simply be referring you to the subject line. THAT IS ALL.

So, here's mine.

A note: With these women, I really mean that FUCK YOU part. Most women on this list tend to get unreasonable treatment from fandom for crappy reasons, so please, keep the bashing to yourselves. I won't apologize for liking them. :P Also, this hardly contains all female characters I like.

1. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
2. Dawn Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
3. Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
4. Cordelia Chase (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel)
5. Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)
6. Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII)
7. Lana Lang (Smallville)
8. Lois Lane (Smallville + general)
9. Kara Kent (Smallville)
10. Debra Morgan (Dexter)
11. Maria LaGuerta (Dexter)
12. Rita Bennett (Dexter)
13. Sister Peter Marie (Oz)
14. Gloria Nathan (Oz)
15. Leia Organa (Star Wars)
16. Temperance Brennan (Bones)
17. Juliet Burke (Lost)
18. Sun Kwon (Lost)
19. Elle Bishop (Heroes)
20. Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean)
21. Anna Williams (Tekken)
22. Heather Morris/Cheryl Mason/Alessa Gillespie (Silent Hill 3)
23. Cybil Bennett (Silent Hill + movie)
24. Betty Suarez (Ugly Betty)
25. Nancy Botwin (Weeds)

Comments

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Anyone who bashes Heather can kiss my ass. Excuse my language.

And I don't even want to know why someone would bash Cybil. If she weren't a decent person she'd kick their ass for it I'm sure.

I like Tifa and... I guess that's it as far as women on there I know, but I have a feeling I'd like them. I should do this meme. I might.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

When it comes to Heather-bashing, all language is acceptable. She seems to be more liked than Henry but still gets no slack for not being James. :( Cybil is actually one of the few women on my list who isn't constantly bashed, but I've seen some negative comments about her. Movie version, mostly, though it doesn't make sense either way.

There are just so many great women out there, but for some reason it's only the Sarah Connor/Ellen Ripley/action chick types that get the love. (Although, Elizabeth from PotC seems to fit the type and she gets bashed a lot.) So it was nice to see this meme. I just hope nobody starts wank over it.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

And nearly everybody loves Integra Hellsing. To the point that, while I love her too, I'm tired of seeing "I don't hate all anime women! I like Integra Hellsing!" (It seriously makes me twitch.)

See, I like James but Henry is an innocent figure and James isn't, so I'll take Henry over James despite his "lack of personality." OK, he does have that but it's deliberate and meaningful and I love him anyway. (And I'm not trying to bash James; he's a great character and maybe he is a better-done character than Henry but I wonder sometimes if some people missed part of the point of the game there. Though I do have friends who are big fans of James who I do not think missed the point.)

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen only one person ever express dislike of Integra, so she definitely applies. It's not like I don't like these women myself, but I really hate the implication that they're the only acceptable type of women to like. And the "but I don't hate her!" excuse. Grr!

I like both James and Henry, but if I had to pick between them, I would go with Henry. He may be more of a blank sheet than other protagonists, but I disagree with the idea that he has no personality at all. It may show as tiny touches only, but it's still there.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I disagree with the idea that he has no personality at all. It may show as tiny touches only, but it's still there.

Agreed. To an extent you see more of a personality as the game goes on and he interacts with Eileen in particular. (I'm not saying that out of Henry/Eileen shipping tendencies, though I have them; I mean it about plain canon.)

And again, I think his seriously underdone emotional response was done on purpose to show his disconnection from society and people. (And in the game events, reality also.) I'm not saying people can't say they don't like him and the idea doesn't work (though I wouldn't really agree), but it's not like they just forgot to give him a personality.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

And again, I think his seriously underdone emotional response was done on purpose to show his disconnection from society and people. (And in the game events, reality also.)

Yes, EXACTLY. I too believe it was intentional, and that's part of the reason why SH4 honestly worked for me as a game. Henry's detachment from the world increased the claustrophobia of being stuck in a hostile apartment for me, not to mention that he talks so little to the other characters. Not only was he stuck to the apartment, but to his own mind and body due to lack of social skills. That made the game really effective for me.

[kimouski.livejournal.com]

Hooray for women! Down with crappy misogynists!

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

The official meme battle cry!

[kimouski.livejournal.com]

You know (and I know you do because we've discussed this before), this is one of the biggest turn-offs about fandom. I will NEVER understand why women can't promote their own sex in fiction.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Heartily seconded.

[kimouski.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure which is worse, actually: Mary Sues or female misogynists. I tend to view both as gross extremes.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I tend to get more annoyed than angry with Mary Sues, but fandom misogyny can actually me angry. I mean, I try to keep it in perspective but it does. Plus Mary Sues can be so funny...

But actually they often tie in together. "All the canon females suck so I'm making my own perfect character."

[kimouski.livejournal.com]

I rarely read fanfiction, so I guess I don't often encounter Mary Sues, but they're pretty harmless. Fandom misogyny, however, isn't just confined to fiction, and you're right: it's angering, and disappointing, as well, because it represents a personal philosophy. It isn't about bad writing, it's about bad thinking (in my opinion).

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree completely.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

They are, but I've actually grown more accepting of Mary Sues over time. They're exaggerations, sure, and tend to come with bashing of canon characters, but at least they operate on the idea that it's okay to write about females. And really, what makes them different from any other fantasies that people write out?

Also, regarding your earlier comment, it does amaze me over and over again that celebrating female characters and asking fandom why it doesn't write more about women is constantly seen as a bad thing.

[kimouski.livejournal.com]

The bad part is that you can't just blame it on teens. I've seen adult women embrace this kind of thinking, and it just blows my mind.