The 'Strong Female Character' | A Whole New Fictional Stereotype

*images via: Katniss//Tauriel//Black Widow//Furiosa//Merida//Tris

Like with every aspect of feminism, there's been a resurgence of fiction female protagonists filed under the guise of 'strong female character'. The stereotype comes as a response to calls to stop portraying women as weak or victims in a male world, and raise them up as heroes in their own right... when we think of 'strong' women in film, TV or books we can definitely count on the likes of Katniss, Black Widow, Tris Prior, Tauriel, Merida or even more recently Furiosa (Mad Max) to fit into this box of kick-ass women. And whilst they are fantastic characters and absolutely wonderful to see on screen they all do seem share a few characteristics.

All of these women seem to wield some sort of weapon; are heavily involved in some sort of military/battle/fight scene in their respective franchises; all seem to have some serious angst-ridden backstory and/or Achilles heel vulnerability which gets exploited at the first but them ultimately makes them 'stronger'; and they often inhabit a world that is still ridiculously patriarchal (they also often are embroiled in some sort of romantic tryst whilst trying to save the world but that's a whole other blog post really.) In short these women are warriors in the most literal and metaphorical sense. They fight for their place in their stories are for that reason are considered 'strong female characters'.

Now I'm not knocking this premise - if anything we've been dying to see these kinds of women in the media for years. But isn't it funny how we've gone from playing the damsel in distress to suddenly shooting arrows or planning the demise of corrupt governments. It's almost as if in our quest for gender equality in media our female protagonists have become more like soldiers, adopting more masculine traits, which seems a bit counter-productive to the cause.

I understand why this has happened. As a compromise for the lack of women on screen, filmmakers, producers and writers seem to overcompensate by making the female protagonists all knowing, all powerful, and weapon wielding super humans. As if giving Black Widow a gun is gonna take away from the fact that she was the only female Avenger before Age of Ultron? Their heart is in the right place but the execution is somewhat lacking.

What these warrior women also enforce is this misconception that the 'strong' part of the 'strong female character' is a physical trait that these women need to have. In all these instances the women are physically fighting their demons to be considered on par with their male counterparts.

But surely vulnerability, compassion and quiet intelligence should also be considered strong traits for women to have? I seriously wish there was more emphasis on characters who do break down and come back 'stronger' without having to don armor to do it. Characters like Hazel in TFIOS, Eleanor in Eleanor & Park, or even Elsa in Frozen are all equally as strong as they mentally deal with their demons. In my opinion these deserve to fall under the 'strong female protagonist' descriptor too.

I'm not knocking this new stereotype completely. I'd much rather see women portrayed as physically capable to do just as much as the boys, but I'd love to see this description expanded out so don't discount mental strength and 'softer' traits as important characteristics too.