Xena was the beginning of sea change in entertainment that took a while to build, but is now in full force, and that has gone beyond even the female warrior archetype. It's morphed into a full frontal push to create and show imaginary genderless worlds, or at least ideals in such worlds, hoping that where Hollywood leads, the real culture will follow. And the blatant propaganda is ruining entertainment for me.
The ultimate problem for me is that this push is not grounded in reality. Men and women ARE different, not just physically but in many other ways. Xena was annoying in that it was never really clear how she had the physical ability she did, but one could infer there was some supernatural element to it. Buffy the Vampire hunter at least made this explicit. And at least in both those shows there an element of 'this is not necessarily the female ideal--these are very exceptional women'. Furthermore, the tension of being exceptional in this way was often explored in a more sophisticated way than just 'if you don't think a woman is just like a man, you are a sexist retrograde'.
But now the warrior woman trope is everywhere. Women compete with men physically in countless shows with no explanation why, as if skill alone can even out male biological advantages. Furthermore, being this type of woman psychologically is often presented as some female ideal that all women should aspire too. Any male resistance to it is presented as pure sexism. There is no interesting exploration of the innate psychological tensions when women lead and even dominate men this way.
I get that female viewers want storylines that represent strong women with agency who are not just appendages to men, or means to motivate men. I agree. This was a problem before, though I do believe that there is an interesting underlying gender asymmetry. Not everyone can have primary agency, and far more women are ultimately happier harnessing their own agency in support of the right type of male agency than the reverse. That said, agency is a continuum, not an absolute. There are many strong women with their own goals and desires. Entertainment should showcase this more than it used to. But they should do it the right way.
Treating women like men is a cheap cop out. There are plenty of ways to show strong women with agency still acting like women. I get that there is a lot variety among women with respect to how traditionally feminine they are. I have no problem with there being some female characters that are quite masculine in many respects by traditional standards, and vice versa. But let's show a more representative sample with respect to how gender truly works, for men and women. Let's show the complexity and difficulties when a character breaks traditional gender roles. And for God's sake, lets stop ignoring physical reality with respect to female limitations. Show me how a woman can be a strong leader, even adventurous, while still being at a huge disadvantage to men with respect to fist fighting or running through jungle traps and mazes and the like. Let's get back to reality.
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