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]

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.