I feel like one of the real gamers should be posting this, but I live with three, two girls and one guy, and this came to my attention. If you aren't yet familiar, PS3 is putting out this game called Fat Princess, which is basically a game of capture the fattie flag with cute little sprites that splatter blood everywhere trying to get to the princess. But there's a catch! The people of these kingdoms are into noncon stuffing and feed the princess until she's morbidly obese and the little sprite warriors can't lift her.

Outside of a fetish porn site, it's a little creepy.

( CAKES! FORTY OF THEM! )

It’s just so frustrating. Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is great in many ways: it’s well-produced, well-acted, with great songs and comedy, and yet it could have been so much better if it had only realised that just because the hero and villain both fancy the same girl, that doesn’t stop her from being a person.

Full Essay Here

Joss Whedon's general response via the Washington Post

Langley Air Force Base, Va.: I've been reading some criticism (insert audible gasp here!) of "Dr Horrible" about the lack of a strong, empowered female lead. They claim that Penny is merely a prop for Dr Horrible and Captain Hammer to fight over.

What are your thoughts on that?

Joss Whedon: Hi! Here goes Typomania! If I don't get to a question, forgive. There are many, and i'm dodging the tough ones.

But, yeah, Penny is not the feminist icon of our age. And yes, she does exist in the narrative as part of Doc's fate -- but everyone in the story is there to move the story. Is she less real than Hammer? (Is ANYTHING?) We gave her a cause so she wouldn't JUST be the Pretty Girl but the fact is, neither Doc nor Hammer gives her the attention she deserves -- Doc's crush comes before he has the slightest idea what she cares about. Which is not uncommon. It reminds me of Sweeney todd, the Judge and Sweeney singing "Pretty Women" -- a beautiful duet with no insight whatsoever. Just images.

But we shoulda gave her more jokes.

Really Joss? Really?

I'm writing a series of articles about women in fiction, strong female characters, that kind of thing. I've just finished my first one, which is kind of an introductory piece. It touches on sexism in fandom and in the media and the trap that many female fans get caught in. It's also got a criteria for what makes a "strong female character."

I'd be really interested in some feedback before I continue.

Read the article here.

I just agreed to start tutoring my friend's 2nd grade sister in reading. I've only taught secondary English but I know I can handle this - I just need a little guidance with materials. She is going to be repeating the year due to her poor reading skills. He says that she loves fantastical stories...especially "princess" stuff.

Can anyone recommend good books for the 2nd grade level that might catch her interest? Anything romantic/fantasy would be good. Also, I feel it's my duty as a role model to introduce her to stories with stronger heroines that aren't always the typical "damsel in distress" which I think sends a horrible message to little girls if that's all they are exposed to (and my friend agrees). I know if it has the fantasy elements she likes she would still like stronger heroines since she refused to leave the room when her brother saw the japanese anime "Revolutionary Girl Utena" which turns the typical fairy tale upside down.

Please post your suggestions ASAP so I can start collecting books!!!

Thanks!

leia_naberrie is posting a poll/discussion on "Strong Female Characters" Here.

I think this is an interesting subject in that I have people arguing with me that representations that I find sexist and degrading male or female are in fact positive and wonderful (and then proceeding to tell me that I'm "trying/looking to be offended" or I don't really feel that way. I'm just supporting "insert het ship here." HAHAHA!). I suppose it would help to understand WHY people think that way. I offer you this link if you would like to participate, with a general warning not to engage this person too much, as I know of one case of her harassing/instigating harassment of another user. However, she seems to be simply gathering information, and she is asking for a wide range of responses.

I suppose you could in turn ask what makes for a "Strong POC Character," if we were going for this. I don't think there is a set answer in either case, but several red flags on what NOT to do, and the need for understanding that women and POC are PEOPLE and should be given that consideration at least before anything else.

I'll be catching up on Who posts when I've seen the rest of this season. Sci Fi is behind.

ETA: Apparently it's the season to talk about this kind of thing.
nnaylime started it with an open discussion Here.
And pellucid ask about the writers 'ruining' your fav female characters Here.

There’s this issue you’re not allowed to discuss: that women are needy. Men can go for longer, more happily, without women. That’s the truth. We don’t, as little boys, play at being married - we try to avoid it for as long as possible. Meanwhile women are out there hunting for husbands.

More at IO9

It really bothers me that a lot of RPG classes reflect gender stereotyping. What bothers me more is that it's so difficult to complain about, because most people interpret it as dismissing a character simply for being a healer or a mage. Those people are right when they say there's nothing wrong with the more inactive, back-row classes like healers or mages, but the issue here is distribution. As an example I went to the Final Fantasy Wiki, which I know is not representative of all RPGs but seemed like a fairly good start-off point, looked at the class categorized and tallied my results.

( Conclusion: Women Belong In The Back Row. )

It frustrates me that female characters seem to be, by and large, streamlined into roles that keep them away from the heavy combat. Does anyone else feel the same?

Sorry to those unfamiliar with Doctor Who, I just had to post after tonight's ep.

For those who haven't been watching I was amazed, once again, to see one of my favorite characters on Doctor Who save the day. Not just a random, happy episode. A pivotal episode. And a pivotal moment.

Rose is the companion of The Doctor, or she was back in season 1 and 2. And today she returned for an episode to save the life of the Doctor and the Universe.

The first time Rose saved the day was in season 1. She looks into the Doctor and deus ex machina fashion, takes on the powers of creation as the goddess Bad Wolf to entropy the Daleks to death. This was probably the first time I've ever seen a tv show allow the sidekick/love interest a shot at super abilities that save the universe single handedly.

One can argue that Buffy saved the day repeatedly, but there was something more meaningful to me in Rose's character. That she didn't have to do anything, but she does anyways because of her pure love. And that she's allowed to do so in such a powerful way where all her power causes her to absolutely glow. Because there are supermen, but this time there was a super woman.

Something I've noticed about AMVs/Fanvids, along with starless_watch:

It seems like the more sexist or woman-hating/woman-bashing a song is, the more likely it is to become really overused for fanvids, especially shipping ones. This is especially applicable to songs that pit women against one another. Examples:

Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi
Paramore - Misery Business
Any Number of People - Holding Out for a Hero

Thoughts?

I think what I like about SatC is that it's an American dream story that women can relate to. No, most women aren't going to be able to catch jobs that allow them to throw away money on Louis Vuitton bags. But the world is so often shaped by male perspective. Every sitcom is your average beer guzzling Joe with his hot starter wife and every comic book hero is your average male nerd exemplified. Oh and of course rescuing the fair damsel.

Read more at Salymander Speaks.

Dear Fandom Femmes,

I've been getting a lot of requests to the community from people who have clearly not read the rules and/or have their journals entirely friendslocked. The purpose of having membership moderated in this comm is so that I can screen out trolls and troublemakers who might come in here and belittle our interests. So you might imagine that it makes it very difficult for me to decide who is screwing around and who genuinely would like to join a community comprised of entirely feminst fen, when I have no access to your posts and none of your interests look like they involve you in feminism.

Please, if you want to join, read the profile on the userinfo and give it another go. You can STILL COMMENT without joining (for now), as long as you continue to follow the rules.

Secondly, we have a lot of members and a dearth of posts. Content comes from members. If you have concerns about your canon/fandom that you feel other feminists might want to discuss, go ahead and link or post here.

Love ♥
Thine Mod

I'm new-ish. I think I may have been a member once before, or I had at least friended the comm. That was a whiiiile back and school got in the way; I frequented When Fangirls Attack for a while, but I'm more a Television critic than Comic critic. I don't have many truly feminist friends, so I wanted to join, or rejoin :) Anyway, my main point in posting is to pimp my blog, Salymander Speaks. Which, separate from my personal LJ, is me trying to write somewhat scholarly, or at least thoughtful, Feminist Media Criticism. And my latest essay is "Young & Experimenting" Buffy as Patriarchy's Sexual Feminine Ideal More at my other blog!

I know I'm totally biased, because I love the show to pieces, but the constant dismissing of its core audience is just so tiring.

It made # 4 in the USA Today poll about which shows fans want to be kept, and statistics said that about 3/4 of its supporters were women. It made # 2 in its timeslot after the 200th episode of Law & Order SVU. Still, no news on renewal yet.

Bascially, at first, they said the audience was too old, specifically, women over fifty. There was this one guy who claimed in a blog the show was sexist for excluding men, another one who basically said 'there's nothing special about it, it only is for women and gay men'. And, of course, the first pilot was killed because allegedly it had a too complicated plot which the journalists were unable to follow.

What made it complicated? Oh, right, women in charge. The changes mostly included giving characters a lesser rank and have them obsess more about potential dates.

Even with all those changes not to the better, though, there is something that some people seem to find dangerous. Women bonding together! Watch out, it's anarchy!

Edited after Episode 12, "And The Truth Will (Sometimes) Set You Free:

Thanks to everybody who commented on this post. After this week's episode, I've got to say I was kind of stunned, not in a good way.

I didn't need to hear Lindsay say, "what happened that night wasn't, because you were drunk or irresponsible, you were just unconscious." Drunk or drugged, it doesn't make a difference, it would always still be rape!

And I felt like they were setting up the characters for cheap thrills quite a bit. I rallied everybody I knew to watch, because I never saw that happen.

And all in all, it's just more evidence how ABC wants this show to go down. It gained 540,000 viewers from one week to another... the result? Rumors of cancellation are going around again.

Just, WTF?

How do you navigate fandom knowing that
1) fictional men tend to be given more developed, more active and more relevant roles/personalities/etc than fictional women
2) popular fandom demonizes fictional women and glorifies fictional men?

The two are at odds with eachother, after all. Is the only solution to take what you get and appreciate it, even as you see all female characters relegated to support roles that are all similar to one another?

Is it an homage to some other celebrity spread?
And if so which one?

x-posted

ETD the image.

(Dear mods, I hope this is allowed, as our only goal is to bring those smart gals back on TV and reach as many folks who might be interested to join, as possible.)

There have been examples in the past of how fans have brought back a show that seemed doomed. Those examples give us hope as we're now trying to save Women's Murder Club from the fate of cancellation.

 

 

We're making noise. Want to join us?

 

bring_wmc_back

 

Save Women's Murder Club

http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/171658.html

1 - addresses the 'oh no, we're being oppressed' attitude some men take to WisCon's existence

2 - Noted bigot Orson Scott Card receives YA lit award for literature that helps youth understand their feelings. Irony is a little bit more dead.

I am SO GLAD I posted earlier and that I'm not the only one who has been unhappy the woman-hating junk in season 3 of Supernatural.

I wanted to make this a separate post because I didn't want this link to get lost. If the mods want me to amend the last post and tack this note on to avoid clutter, though, I will certainly do that.

There is a songvid that tackles the treatment of women in Supernatural, particularly the violence against women: Women's Work by sisabet and sockkpuppett. It's an amazing vid - a disturbing vid (there are some pretty heavy violence triggers) - but it's very satisfying to me right now. I feel vindicated.

So go download it, watch it, and tell the vidder what a wonderful job she did.

Yeah. So disappointed in my new favorite show right now. When does the last season of Battlestar Galactica start again? 'Cause seriously, I need to see me some well-developed women characters.

ETA: I would like to re-iterate that this is an incredibly intense vid; it pretty much goes from one scene of violence to another. If you are not at all sure you can handle that, or want to, please, by all means, don't. I just put the link here because I still thought the vid said some meaningful things about violence and violence against women as portrayed in pop culture.

Spoilers for seasons 1-3 of Supernatural, including all the episodes that have aired so far in the US.

( in which I gripe about misogyny in season 3; this is a bit long and probably too analytical )