Jack’s answer to “Are there any female characters in this book?” > Likes and Comments

I've heard this type of thing before, and I really don't get it. I think it's just fashionable right now to look for signs of misogyny--and if you go looking for it, you're going to find it, real or not.
First of all, our narrator is a decent, somewhat idealistic 15-year-old boy. Yeah, attraction to the opposite sex and thoughts of mighty deeds kind of come with the territory. But the female characters are many and complex. Mentioned on this thread are Denna, Auri, and Fela--but what about Devi, whose alar is like "the ocean in storm"? The herbalist from whom he learns to doubt the efficacy of arrowroot? Hespe, from whom he gets one of his most important stories? Meluan (probably his own aunt) who really runs Maer's court?
I could go on and on, but as an old woman, I'm going to leave you with a thought: You're not honoring women by focusing on all the ways you think they've been slighted. It's a form of misogyny all of its own.

Normally I would entirely agree and I suspect that the two dimensional portrayal of women is more due to Rothfuss being a terrible hack than any purposeful misogyny on his part.

However, the fact is that the female characters in the book are badly done (although most of the male characters are a bit two dimensional as well). Even Devi immediately fancies Kvothe (like pretty much every other female character) and repeatedly throws herself at him. I'm not sure that she is the hill to die on for great female representation in literature.

I would also note (because I'm an awful pedant) that the narrator is not a 15 year old boy, it's an older (mid-late 20s) man telling (reliably or not) a story from his youth.