Breaking the Double Standard
Some friends and I were discussing the concept of writers writing characters of the opposite gender and how effective and realistic these attempts can be. I honestly think gender has nothing to do with your ability to create a believable character. I mentioned in our conversation that I thought a poor portrayal of characters of the opposite sex did not reflect on the writer’s abilities based on gender, but just on their skills as a writer in general. Part of being a good writer is observing other people and trying to look at things from their perspective as you develop your characters – otherwise every character you create would just be another version of you, or a very one-dimensional arch-type, and that doesn’t make for good story-telling. The best writers can move seamlessly from complex character to complex character, no matter what their differences.
Admittedly, some writers do present the other gender in their stories without trying to gain some understanding of what it means to be a man if you are a woman, or to be a woman if you are man. That’s why you’ll come across carbon copy heroes who are physically strong, dashing, stoic, and confident, and carbon copy female characters who are loving and sweet but always in need of a rescue. Either these writers don’t attempt to do the story justice and offer an original character with a complex personality, perhaps out of fear of getting it wrong and being critiqued for it, or they are too lazy to try. I personally feel that the books with these types of characters come across as trite and formulaic.
I’m a strong believer that the hero or heroine of a tale should demonstrate some form of flaw, not super-human perfection, and more complexity than the arch-type norm, or they just aren’t being portrayed realistically. When it comes to the development of male and female characters, I have noticed that there is one “flaw” that is usually deemed acceptable in a hero, but often shunned in a heroine, and that “flaw” is promiscuity (not everyone considers it a bad thing, but it is frowned upon socially). The double standard in life carries over into literature, and while a male character who is promiscuous will be viewed in a mostly positive light, despite the fact that the character is a “player”, a “womanizer” or a “horndog” – lightly negative terms - a female character with the same trait is rarely cast as a heroine. The “slut”, “temptress” or “man-eater”, much more negative connotations here, more often is positioned as a villain in the tale.
I’ve tried to break the double standard, by presenting a couple of different heroines in my stories who are promiscuous, but I do find I meet with critique from those who support the notion that a promiscuous heroine is not a real heroine. Nia, from Magic University, has met with a lot of adversity in her life, including what many would consider an unfair exile from her people, loss of family, struggles with poverty and choosing a suitable career in an alien culture, and finding love in a world where she is very different from the people around her. She doesn’t always cope with her troubles in the most appropriate way, choosing brief affairs with men to make her feel better about herself and to fill some of those gaps in her life temporarily, but that shouldn’t make her any less of a heroine. She has moments in the story where she takes a stand and shows her integrity, and in later books in the series, she goes on to place herself at risk and make sacrifices for the sake of others, the mark of a real hero.
I refuse to tone down her impulsive nature for the sake of appeasing some people’s sensibilities. I have heroines who are alcoholics, who are outlaws and who have fractured psyches, as well. It’s their flaws and how they manage despite them that make them interesting.
A second heroine, in my yet to be published Elements of Genocide, Andreyelle, is also promiscuous, but she comes from a culture where promiscuity is acceptable, if not encouraged. She does not, however, derive much satisfaction from her brief and shallow interactions, and is searching for something more fulfilling. That doesn’t change the fact that she doesn’t see that kind of behaviour as harmful in anyway, and one of the other characters who scorns her for her liberal ways eventually learns something from her that helps him to grow.
I even have examples where I’ve challenged the double standard in some of my shorter works, like my female pirate, Adrianna Perla, from “Cat and Mouse,” who has no qualms about following her libido.
I guess my point is that while you will find a variety of Don Juans and Casanovas in fiction, I think writers have been neglectful of the female equivalent, most likely because of the social double standard. But that doesn’t mean that can’t be changed. I encourage other writers, male and female alike, to break that double standard. It can make for a very interesting read.
Admittedly, some writers do present the other gender in their stories without trying to gain some understanding of what it means to be a man if you are a woman, or to be a woman if you are man. That’s why you’ll come across carbon copy heroes who are physically strong, dashing, stoic, and confident, and carbon copy female characters who are loving and sweet but always in need of a rescue. Either these writers don’t attempt to do the story justice and offer an original character with a complex personality, perhaps out of fear of getting it wrong and being critiqued for it, or they are too lazy to try. I personally feel that the books with these types of characters come across as trite and formulaic.
I’m a strong believer that the hero or heroine of a tale should demonstrate some form of flaw, not super-human perfection, and more complexity than the arch-type norm, or they just aren’t being portrayed realistically. When it comes to the development of male and female characters, I have noticed that there is one “flaw” that is usually deemed acceptable in a hero, but often shunned in a heroine, and that “flaw” is promiscuity (not everyone considers it a bad thing, but it is frowned upon socially). The double standard in life carries over into literature, and while a male character who is promiscuous will be viewed in a mostly positive light, despite the fact that the character is a “player”, a “womanizer” or a “horndog” – lightly negative terms - a female character with the same trait is rarely cast as a heroine. The “slut”, “temptress” or “man-eater”, much more negative connotations here, more often is positioned as a villain in the tale.
I’ve tried to break the double standard, by presenting a couple of different heroines in my stories who are promiscuous, but I do find I meet with critique from those who support the notion that a promiscuous heroine is not a real heroine. Nia, from Magic University, has met with a lot of adversity in her life, including what many would consider an unfair exile from her people, loss of family, struggles with poverty and choosing a suitable career in an alien culture, and finding love in a world where she is very different from the people around her. She doesn’t always cope with her troubles in the most appropriate way, choosing brief affairs with men to make her feel better about herself and to fill some of those gaps in her life temporarily, but that shouldn’t make her any less of a heroine. She has moments in the story where she takes a stand and shows her integrity, and in later books in the series, she goes on to place herself at risk and make sacrifices for the sake of others, the mark of a real hero.
I refuse to tone down her impulsive nature for the sake of appeasing some people’s sensibilities. I have heroines who are alcoholics, who are outlaws and who have fractured psyches, as well. It’s their flaws and how they manage despite them that make them interesting.
A second heroine, in my yet to be published Elements of Genocide, Andreyelle, is also promiscuous, but she comes from a culture where promiscuity is acceptable, if not encouraged. She does not, however, derive much satisfaction from her brief and shallow interactions, and is searching for something more fulfilling. That doesn’t change the fact that she doesn’t see that kind of behaviour as harmful in anyway, and one of the other characters who scorns her for her liberal ways eventually learns something from her that helps him to grow.
I even have examples where I’ve challenged the double standard in some of my shorter works, like my female pirate, Adrianna Perla, from “Cat and Mouse,” who has no qualms about following her libido.
I guess my point is that while you will find a variety of Don Juans and Casanovas in fiction, I think writers have been neglectful of the female equivalent, most likely because of the social double standard. But that doesn’t mean that can’t be changed. I encourage other writers, male and female alike, to break that double standard. It can make for a very interesting read.
date
newest »
newest »
Perhaps it's different in the fantasy genre which I read and write often and which tends to have medieval sensibilities. I suppose if you are talking genres like the paranormal romances or erotica, promiscuity is more typical in heroic female protagonists, but that hasn't been my experience with my genre of choice. Traditionally, the heroic fantasy maiden is pure, and once married is true to her spouse. You might run into the occasional barbarian woman in a fantasy novel who is promiscuous, or the odd female rogue who sleeps around, but in either case it is still portrayed in a negative light - she is "uncivilized" or "crass", whereas the equivalent male character is just sowing his wild oats.Considering your background, I can understand your outlook regarding this subject. I do have many female and male characters who share your views, and in Magic University, there is a discussion regarding the idea early in the book. One of the characters makes it clear that she doesn't think Nia's behaviour is appropriate, but at the same time, she also points out she thinks her partner's behaviour is worse, since he has a betrothed and Nia does not. I like to present a variety of perspectives, and let people come to their own conclusions. All I ask is that people not vilify female characters for behaviour that they would deem acceptable in a male character. If you would take them both to task for the same behaviour, clearly, there's no double standard there.
Chantal wrote: "All I ask is that people not vilify female characters for behaviour that they would deem acceptable in a male character." Chantal, that's a 100% reasonable thing to ask; I'm with you all the way there!Presenting a variety of perspectives for readers to think about and come to their own conclusions is a good, constructive approach. If more modern fiction writers did that, it might actually encourage readers TO think!
My story collection The Smoking Gun Sisterhood (which is currently out of print) features female protagonists, on one side of the law or the other, who pack guns and kick butt. The focus of the stories tends to be on action, not male/female relationships; but aspects of the latter are touched on sometimes (more in some stories than others). Where that comes up, I basically tried to present constructive sexual messages, and only one of the heroines is promiscuous. But she's not depicted as being an evil person because of it (of course, she's a professional assassin, which makes her occasional one-night stands look like a pretty minor transgression by comparison --but even given her occupation, she's not as bad a human being as you might think). Where her promiscuity is touched on in passing, I tried to explain it understandably, and to bring out the fact that she didn't find it a fulfilling substitute for real intimacy. If I ever get the collection back in print, I hope readers will take a balanced view of her character, and not "vilify" her as beyond the pale, or beyond redemption, just because she's been sexually active!
In my own writing, the characters' sex lives aren't generally an area of interest, so I haven't had to deal with this in practice. Being an evangelical Christian, I believe that human happiness is best served when people respect sex as an expression of marital love; so where my writing does touch on that area, I try to convey the message that NOT everybody is promiscuous, that women deserve respect, and that faithful love is a good thing. It's important, IMO, to have some fiction that conveys that idea, in a popular culture where virtually all the messages people are bombarded with proclaim the opposite. I'm very opposed to the traditional double standard, which I think is disgustingly sexist; I don't like selfish, sexually exploitative treatment of other people as things to be used, whether it's by a male or a female character.
That said, fiction has to reflect life, and writers who create a character have to let that character be free to be who he/she intrinsically is --even if their morals aren't the same as the writer's. And in fiction as in life, there are men and women who are promiscuous, for a variety of reasons; they aren't necessarily unsympathetic characters or bad humans for it. A writer can create them, and depict the truth of their lives, without endorsing the promiscuity; and a reader can like them despite some behavior he/she might not approve of. C. L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry is one of my favorite characters in sword-and-sorcery fantasy, and she remarks in one story that she's "no stranger to the ways of light loving." Like her hot temper and her swearing, that's a vice realistically common to her class in that time and place, but she's a good person at her core, who (like your Nia) has integrity and willingness to risk and sacrifice for others. She is who she is, and Moore, I think, did exactly right to portray her just the way she did. So I guess that's my round-about way of arriving at the conclusion that I basically agree with you. :-)