I write a lot of fiction, and read a good amount of it, too. So it’s hard not to think about characterization a lot.

“Is it sexist to portray women as…”

Well, there’s the thing.

“Is it sexist to portray women as…”

There it is. Plural. Implying that the broad brush is being loaded up with a hefty dose of Misogynist Mauve and poised to paint a very, very broad stroke in order to portray a large, diverse group of people.

Some women are outspoken, some are soft-spoken. Some won’t leave the house until they’re dressed to the nines, some will throw on yoga pants and a t-shirt and feel great. Some are kind, some are mean, some are athletic, some are out of shape, some can fire shotguns and some abhor weapons… and between and beyond all these extremes are millions and billions of in-betweens that describe some women, but certainly not all women, too.

So, “is it sexist to portray a woman as…”?

Maybe, maybe not. Much like men, women are quite human and may possess several positive or negative personality traits. Like a man, a woman may or may not be a good person.

You just have to watch it, because many of the women in our media – on TV, in movies – are essentially the same handful of people. Many of whom are shrill, nut-cracking, shrieking harpies. This is hardly a representative sample of all women, who, let me remind you once again, are also regular people.

So, really, when feminist thinkers are upset at the portrayal of a female character in a film or TV show or video game or even novel (hey, literature ain’t perfect either), it’s not an overreaction over one character. It’s because, more than likely, we’ve all seen that same two-dimensional female character before, submitted for our viewing/reading/whatevering pleasure, often by a man, and we’re tired of it. Male characters get to be diverse all the time, so why not females? (Yes, I am aware that we do have good examples of female characters in many forms of media, but the males are way, way ahead.)

Of course, there’s the other side, too. click to read more »