So—Is Epic Fantasy Misogynist? Part 1

A few weeks ago, on April 16, I posted on "Why Write Epic Fantasy?", and in that post I noted that—in my explorations on the epic fantasy topic over the previous few weeks—I had found a few disheartening trends in what folk were thinking and saying out there about my beloved subgenre. The first of these trends was the assertion that:

"epic fantasy as a genre is misogynist, both in the storytelling and the attention paid to female authors of the genre (i.e. your chances of being a successful epic fantasy author are considerably reduced if you're a gal)"

I have been mulling over the first part of this assertion/observation for the past few weeks, while working on the second instalment of my own epic fantasy series, The Wall of Night. (I mulled briefly over the second part as well, i.e. re the attention paid to female authors in the genre, but quickly decided that even if the observation is 100% true there's absolutely nothing I can do about it anyway, other than write the very best stories that I am capable of, hope that my own love of epic fantasy shines through to others who feel the same way about the subgenre, and generally hope for the best.)

I have invested more energy in reflecting on whether it really is true that epic fantasy is misogynist—by which I mean: does it, as a subgenre of Fantasy-SciFi consistently convey an inherent hatred of women?  I use the phrase "hatred of women" because that is the dictionary meaning of misogyny.  I define my own discussion in terms of whether or not epic fantasy "consistently conveys an inherent hatred of women", because in order to make such an assertion about any class of writing I would argue that one or two examples, however odious, do not make a trend.

So then I had to reflect on what would constitute an inherent hatred of women in epic fantasy.

Firstly, I decided that it can't just be that bad stuff, such as rape, abuse, oppression, happens to women in the story. The reason for my approach is that—as discussed in the earlier posts on epic fantasy, here—these stories are almost always about large scale, world changing events, frequently wars. And if an author is trying to be realistic about war and social conflict, then bad stuff is going to happen to characters, and probably—more often, rather than less—that bad stuff is going to happen to women. The reality is that war is a brutal business and those brutalised in the conflict tend to commit further brutal acts. So the presence of those acts within the book do not, on their own, necessarily constitute misogyny.

The frequency and enthusiasm with which such brutal acts are included in the story, and the degree of detail that the author feels compelled to go into, however, might well cross the line from realism/authenticity into misogyny. The context of the story—i.e. is it about war, or about a society that systematically oppresses women?—is definitely an important consideration, as is whether the story simply accepts the status quo of violence/oppression/exclusion or in some way examines/questions its validity. The range of women characters and their experiences are definitely also an important aspect. For example, are either all, or the majority of, the women in the story present as sex/abuse focii? Or does the story instead contain a range of characters—some of whom happen to be women—with a range of  personalities and approaches to life and resolving the difficulties that arise through the story—which may/may not include difficulties that arise for women in an oppressive society? (Although I'll admit to enjoying books where the female characters get to deal with problems in life/the universe/everything other than an oppressive patriarchy and variants on sexual abuse.)

For me, personally, I think it comes down to: whatever the circumstances of the story, do women figure as unique characters/personalities? And when they figure, do they figure positively or negatively (i.e. are women, sometimes at least, strong, powerful, compassionate, wise—or are they always weak, venal or irrelevant?) Or could there even, just possibly, be 'all sorts and conditions' of female characters, just as there is often a mixed bag of male characters?

I am not in a position to undertake a comprehensive survey of the entire body of epic fantasy against the above considerations. But tomorrow I will begin looking at a couple of well known series in more detail and discuss any conclusions reached against my overall reading in the genre, which has been reasonably extensive over a number of years.