Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
Gender differences are reality. For a story to be believable men have to be men and women have to be women. All the "PC" delusions in the world aren't going to change that fact. And what exactly is the term "toxic masculinity" supposed to mean? Sounds like a stereotype to me.
I would say probably half (or more) of the books I've read in the past year have had strong female protagonists – all came across as realistic. One was a fantasy novel based on (or stolen from) the life of Joan of Arc (which the author admitted in the concluding "note to the reader.") But being a strong female protagonist doesn't mean she ceases to be a woman. You can't suspend disbelief that much (unless you have an agenda).
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I replied to a comment about this earlier, you can take a look at it. Yeah, I did word it poorly when I said they don't exist. They do exist, so my bad and I'm really sorry about making people get the wrong idea.
My take on toxic masculinity: in fantasy fiction - male heroes are often expected to want to fight all the time, to win all the time, to always want to be so manly and whatnot. They can feel that way, but my point is, wouldn't it be a bit more interesting if we didn't have this line of thinking all the time? A lot of stories seem to insinuate that if a character isn't masculine enough, if they don't want to fight and win enough, they're viewed as effeminate, unheroic and unsuitable for a hero. Which makes no sense to me.. Would be more fun to see them lose and have some other interests too. Same goes for female characters that are often cast as villains or damsels in distress. Thankfully this trend is changing.
My point was that stereotypes related to gender have been kind of restrictive in fiction. This just means things like the typical male hero who is constantly worried about fighting (don't get me wrong -- a lot of stories with this trope are fine). This isn't about political correctness, at least I didn't mean for it to be.
It's more just about, "can we get male heroes in fantasy who don't care so much about fighting all the time", and "how about female characters who are going to be more than just the usual "kick-ass"? Would like to see them with some interesting traits but at the same time, not losing their gender identity of course. I'm not asking for gender reversals here. I'm not asking for men to act like women or women to act like men. I'm just asking for some deviation from stereotypes and tropes in fiction. If that's your sort of story, then no judgement, but personally would be nice to see something different in modern fiction.
Nice to see fantasy is improving though.