- Exploring the Immigrant Experience Through Literature - page 36 - Feminity in Fiction

Feminity in Fiction

The relationship between femininity and fiction has been an ever-evolving concept that differs according to time period and society. The role of women in literature has evolved through ages, yet the one thing that remains static throughout is the biased and stereotypical portrayal of women.

As someone who has been passionate about reading since a young age and takes interest in various genres of literature, seeing women in submissive characters has been a common occurrence for me. As I very often come across the argument that ‘stereotypical portrayal of women has been a thing of the Victorian era and that today’s female characters are as powerful as Wonder Woman’, I think of a number of female tropes that are repetitive in modern literature. I think of ‘the gold digger’, ‘the trophy wife’, ‘the dumb blonde’, ‘the feminazi’, ‘the hyper-masculinized woman’ and an unending list of problematic tropes misrepresenting the female identity. It is not merely the submissive tropes that are harmful but also the ‘masculinized’ versions of female characters do not do justice to female representation.

Much has been said about overtly problematic tropes that see women as submissive beings like ‘girly girl’ or ‘damsel in distress’, so I first take upon the tropes of women that are praised. The ‘one of the guys’ girl, the ‘cool girl’, the ‘tomboy’ are all problematic in the sense that these characters are praised for having masculine traits and denounce conventionally feminine traits. This does only associate a set of traits to men and women but also prioritises masculine traits over feminine ones. This creates a notion of male superiority, which is the premise of such characters. Such characters although might or might not adapt to the male gaze, they certainly depend upon male approval. Although these characters may sometimes be looked as the ones who deviate from stereotypical gender roles and pursues her own path but her deviation only goes so far.

These characters straddle the line between ‘masculine and ‘feminine’ behaviour in such a way that they are never overtly butch in the physical appearance or overtly loud or overtly dominant. Hence, these characters are only masculine to an extent that is praised by men and does not overpower them, which is what men, supposedly, like.

The strong and powerful trope of women, also called the ‘actiongirl’ or ‘badass’ archetype is supposed to be an antidote for years of portrayal of women as weaker sex. This character is meant to be the opposite of the unmotivated, un-opiniated characters of women who do not have personal goals and aspirations and portray womanhood as victimhood. On the other hand, the fairly common character in Action Genre, the actiongirl, is capable of beating men twice her size, faces dangerous foes and deadly obstacles and still emerges victorious. Such characters are also commonly seen in young adult novels these days, like ‘Thrown of Glass’ by Sarah J. Mass and ‘Shadowhunters’ novels by Cassandra Clare feature such female characters.

When I read books like this, where female characters are strong because they can fight, I feel that I am lacking something. Equating power or empowerment with unrealistic physical capabilities actually tramples over the feminine world to redefine what girl power actually looks like. This gives me the suggestion that in order to be on an equal footing to a man, I must act like one. It is unrealistic, narrows the definition of empowerment to physical abilities and once again, puts down femininity.

Even when women are given a chance to be powerful, smart, intelligent and possess leadership qualities in fiction, it very often shown in contrast to disempowering the abilities of their male counterparts. Taking the example of film version of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger is an able fighter while her counterpart, Ron Weasly, is a comic relief for the audience.

At many instances in the movie, Hermione’s abilities are made to stand out only after comparing it with the incompetence of Ron. This is based on the assumption that women being powerful on their own would not look realistic and hence, her abilities have to be compared against a man’s incompetence for it to look acceptable and real. This does not only indirectly trivialise female identity but also gives the idea that strong men and women cannot be co-existent. In conclusion, I would say that femininity and fiction has had a complex relationship. Disempowering and stereotyping female characters is not a thing of the past. It continuous to this day, however the manner and form of biased female representation has changed overtime. We have slowly and gradually move past the era of overtly sexist representation of femininity to the age of passively sexist female tropes spanning literature. We do not need unrealistically strong or pleasing female characters to adequately represent femininity but need realistic female characters that are determined and ambitious, commit mistakes and also receive failures sometimes, but are headstrong enough to get back up and struggle. We need female characters with real personalities, we need kind, smart, funny, shy and angry women.

Words by: Shivika Singh Design by: Isabel Brewster

Photographer: Hannah Layton, @laytonhannah Model: Amarie, @_.amariejones._