On Strong Female Characters

I'm a huge fan of sci-fi/fantasy/action plot lines. I love superheroes. I love space. I love aliens. I love mythical creatures. I especially love when women are portrayed as human in these tales. What I HATE about these genres is that they seem especially prone to Strong Female Characters.

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with characters who identify as female being bad-ass and standing up for herself and saving the day. What I'm referring to is the exhausting pattern of tropes that lead to Strong Female Characters, who are often only "Strong" under the male gaze.

Their outfits are rarely practical, and really only make the women look sexy. They generally do not achieve anything the men do, but they achieve something just big enough for the writer to say, "See? She did SOMETHING." My least favorite is when they are hyper-sexual, with a sex drive that no human could possibly have. And they're always conventionally pretty.

I'm not saying that I'm against strong female characters, but what I'm upset about is the fact that now, the only strong female characters that we get are cut from the same cookie cutter. Quite frankly, I don't give a shit about Strong Women. Show me weak women, show me evil women, show me women with daddy issues, mommy issues, living in poverty, being a villain, being the hero, winning, losing, crying, laughing, having sex (real sex, not porn), kicking ass and taking name, being a coward whose absolutely useless in battle.

What I'm saying is that I DON'T want all female characters to be flawless Strong Female Characters. I want characters based off of real human characteristics. I love the fact that George RR Martin wrote Sansa Stark to be such a wilting flower. Because you know what? There are real women that exist in the world that DO fantasize about their crush and ultimately end up in a quasi-abusive relationship. There ARE real women who are so naive as to not leave a bag of dicks similar to Joffery.

I've had to sit for twenty-some-odd years watching story upon story about weak men being slimy little rat bastards and STILL considered the hero. I want women who are flawed and REAL. I could not care less if they were sassy and didn't need no man...

...What I care most about is the fact that even when the image of women you're putting out into the world is a positive one, it does not negate the fact that it is still only ONE image.

Strong Female Character or not, we can't keep telling the same story over and over again. Do you know how many stupid fucking comic panels I've looked at JUST encasing Bruce Wayne's self-loathing alone? How hard is it to write some dimension into female characters. Make Wonder Woman cry. Make Cat-woman have a day where she just cant stand to look herself in the mirror. Make Harley get into an argument with the Joker and tell him she's leaving, only for her to end up going back to him. Make Poison Ivy stop mid-way in seducing a man because her best friend calls or her test results from her newest plant experiment came back.

Either way, can we please do something so that there isn't just ONE narrative for women being told?

What Goes Down Must Come Up

Let's mark this in the books for the worst summer on record. The summer I got my wisdom teeth pulled was more enjoyable than this summer, just let that sink in for a second.

But I want to start this off in January. I received a letter from my college stating that I was being put on academic probation due to my GPA being too low to meet the institution's standards. So that semester I decided it would be a great idea to take three senior-level lab courses. I made a lot of mistakes last school year. A lot of stupid mistakes.

In May I stopped sleeping and eating normally, and I had a couple of emotional breakdowns a week. I dropped a lot of weight and felt awful all the time. Living on coffee and snacks, with maybe a sandwich added in here and there, I was sleeping at irregular times during the day and not at night. It all culminated in me sobbing in a courtyard outside a dormitory after my friend joked that I was a mess.

What ended up happening was this; I didn't get the grades I needed to stay at my school. So shortly thereafter in June, I got a letter telling me that I was dismissed from the college but that I could appeal the dismissal. It was a piece of paper that basically said, "You messed up big time- we're kicking you out. But you can try to convince us otherwise." I cried for what felt like weeks. And I cried in front of the Academic Standings board during my appeal. Openly and quite embarrassingly cried, if I'm being honest. They asked if I would be willing to change majors, and I said yes. So they allowed me back in, on the condition that I changed my major to Communications.

So lets keep a list of all of the things that have made this summer absolute crap, starting with my dismissal:

1. Dismissal from college
2. Allowed back on the condition I switch my major, aka start from scratch after three years of work
3. Consequentially lost my scholarship on account of my GPA being so low
4. Sat at home alone for the entire month of June because I was stranded without a car
5. I've had a lot of time to sit and hate myself a lot and I think I reached an all time high for self-loathing, I really do.

There are more, but those are the top offenders as to why this has been the worst summer on record for my entire life. It's been an uphill battle to not head down a path of self destruction.

The only good thing this summer has given me is the drive to push myself up from rock bottom. I have a fresh start, and I would be a fool not to use it to my advantage.

Everything might come up roses after all.