When the Hero Menstruates – Writing Authentic Female Fantasy Heroes
There is a joke along the lines of no fantasy hero ever needing to use the toilet or owning a pair of socks but behind any levity these images conjure, lies the decisions writers make about which of their hero’s bodily functions to include in the narrative and which to ignore.
The Physical Needs of the Fantasy Hero
Humans need to eat, drink, urinate and defecate, and female humans of a certain age usually menstruate. As fantasy heroes are often on quests that require journeys far beyond the home, the need to find food (and shelter) is central to their undertaking, and this need often generates dangers/conflict that drive the narrative.
When to Include Physical Functions
It is fine for a hero to be exhausted, frozen, boiling, starving, wounded, dirty, sleep-deprived and even vomiting (although not too graphically), so the question becomes when, if ever, is it fine for the hero to step behind a tree and lower their breeches, trews, leggings etc (and even more unspeakably, search about for the equivalent of toilet paper). And the answer to this question is it is fine when this act helps drive/or adds powerfully to the narrative.
Readers Know Heroes are Human
In many respects, narratives are about eliminating the mundane to highlight the important, and so empower it. Readers do not need descriptions of heroes waking up each day, washing, finding the aforementioned tree, combing their hair, lacing their boots etc before they confront the unspeakable terrors deep in the Wildwoods. These activities are a given and explicating them only slows the narrative and risks the bored reader skipping ahead or worse still, giving up. But is menstruation in the same category?
Female Heroes as Male Heroes in Drag
It may be an obvious thing to say, but women are not men. Regardless of the nature/nurture debate, women and men do not think alike, feel alike, and their bodies certainly do not function alike and yet, very often, female heroes in both visual and textual narratives are presented as glammed up versions of male heroes. They fight the same, they kill the same, and they most certainly do not menstruate.
The Taboo of Menstruation
There is still reticence about acknowledging menstruation in the media, advertising, or even in more private polite conversations, so why bring it up as a writer of fantasy? Well, writers don’t have to, of course, for the same reason defecation and urination can be ignored, but this blog is about building authentic female heroes and depending on the narrative, including menstruation can be part of this process. Thus, menstruation, or its lack, is important to three of my female heroes: Kira (in The Kira Chronicles serieshttps://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07D63Z91H Severine (in Messenger: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07CTPNW23; and Viv in the Angel Caste series: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01MXBVFRI, one of which will now be explored in more detail.
Empowering the Female Hero: Kira of The Kira Chronicles series
Brought up by a cold and distant father, it is only a helper/servant who comments on how rarely Kira bleeds and admonishes her to ‘put some flesh on your bones, or you’ll never carry.’ Kira is unconcerned; mothering ‘the last thing on her mind.’ Later, after falling in love with the male hero (Tierken), Kira has a brief interval of happiness where she reaches a healthy weight and menstruates but by then the relationship is fraught. Out on patrol, she asks for time alone, a euphemism for relieving herself, and follows Tierken away from the men into the trees and starts to remove her trousers and underwear. Exasperated, he demands to know why. “‘I bleed, Tierken.’ Comprehension dawned and for the first time since they had set out, he looked other than angry.’”
The reference to menstruation serves a number of purposes. Firstly, it reminds the reader Kira is female, and so fundamentally different to the males who surround her in the series. Secondly, it raises the possibility of pregnancy, given Kira is in a relationship with the male hero. Thirdly, it strengthens Kira’s bond with the widow of the enemy leader who is also a victim of male aggression. And lastly, while avoiding spoilers, it is fundamental to how the prophecy unfolds and the story ends.
In terms of Deep Fantasy, with its focus on the hero’s psychological journey, it highlights Kira’s potential to create life as well as save it (as a Healer), and to finally heal herself, and more broadly, to heal her rift with Tierken, mend her own fractured people, and ameliorate the breach that continues to feed warfare.
Menstruation, Pregnancy, and Rape in Fantasy
Acknowledging menstruation inevitably highlights two other differences between female and male heroes: the potential for pregnancy and the potential for rape (although less commonly, male heroes might also be raped). I have utilised both elements in other of my Deep Fantasy narratives that feature female heroes, and will explore them further in future blogs.
The Physical Needs of the Fantasy Hero
Humans need to eat, drink, urinate and defecate, and female humans of a certain age usually menstruate. As fantasy heroes are often on quests that require journeys far beyond the home, the need to find food (and shelter) is central to their undertaking, and this need often generates dangers/conflict that drive the narrative.
When to Include Physical Functions
It is fine for a hero to be exhausted, frozen, boiling, starving, wounded, dirty, sleep-deprived and even vomiting (although not too graphically), so the question becomes when, if ever, is it fine for the hero to step behind a tree and lower their breeches, trews, leggings etc (and even more unspeakably, search about for the equivalent of toilet paper). And the answer to this question is it is fine when this act helps drive/or adds powerfully to the narrative.
Readers Know Heroes are Human
In many respects, narratives are about eliminating the mundane to highlight the important, and so empower it. Readers do not need descriptions of heroes waking up each day, washing, finding the aforementioned tree, combing their hair, lacing their boots etc before they confront the unspeakable terrors deep in the Wildwoods. These activities are a given and explicating them only slows the narrative and risks the bored reader skipping ahead or worse still, giving up. But is menstruation in the same category?
Female Heroes as Male Heroes in Drag
It may be an obvious thing to say, but women are not men. Regardless of the nature/nurture debate, women and men do not think alike, feel alike, and their bodies certainly do not function alike and yet, very often, female heroes in both visual and textual narratives are presented as glammed up versions of male heroes. They fight the same, they kill the same, and they most certainly do not menstruate.
The Taboo of Menstruation
There is still reticence about acknowledging menstruation in the media, advertising, or even in more private polite conversations, so why bring it up as a writer of fantasy? Well, writers don’t have to, of course, for the same reason defecation and urination can be ignored, but this blog is about building authentic female heroes and depending on the narrative, including menstruation can be part of this process. Thus, menstruation, or its lack, is important to three of my female heroes: Kira (in The Kira Chronicles serieshttps://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07D63Z91H Severine (in Messenger: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07CTPNW23; and Viv in the Angel Caste series: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01MXBVFRI, one of which will now be explored in more detail.
Empowering the Female Hero: Kira of The Kira Chronicles series
Brought up by a cold and distant father, it is only a helper/servant who comments on how rarely Kira bleeds and admonishes her to ‘put some flesh on your bones, or you’ll never carry.’ Kira is unconcerned; mothering ‘the last thing on her mind.’ Later, after falling in love with the male hero (Tierken), Kira has a brief interval of happiness where she reaches a healthy weight and menstruates but by then the relationship is fraught. Out on patrol, she asks for time alone, a euphemism for relieving herself, and follows Tierken away from the men into the trees and starts to remove her trousers and underwear. Exasperated, he demands to know why. “‘I bleed, Tierken.’ Comprehension dawned and for the first time since they had set out, he looked other than angry.’”
The reference to menstruation serves a number of purposes. Firstly, it reminds the reader Kira is female, and so fundamentally different to the males who surround her in the series. Secondly, it raises the possibility of pregnancy, given Kira is in a relationship with the male hero. Thirdly, it strengthens Kira’s bond with the widow of the enemy leader who is also a victim of male aggression. And lastly, while avoiding spoilers, it is fundamental to how the prophecy unfolds and the story ends.
In terms of Deep Fantasy, with its focus on the hero’s psychological journey, it highlights Kira’s potential to create life as well as save it (as a Healer), and to finally heal herself, and more broadly, to heal her rift with Tierken, mend her own fractured people, and ameliorate the breach that continues to feed warfare.
Menstruation, Pregnancy, and Rape in Fantasy
Acknowledging menstruation inevitably highlights two other differences between female and male heroes: the potential for pregnancy and the potential for rape (although less commonly, male heroes might also be raped). I have utilised both elements in other of my Deep Fantasy narratives that feature female heroes, and will explore them further in future blogs.
No comments have been added yet.
