The tough girl stereotype (And why it's very hit and miss)

So we've talked about Disney Princesses and mothers and villainesses. All have their fair share of stereotypes and things that bother me.

But surprisingly, one of the stereotypes that bugs me the most is the one that goes on the opposite end of the spectrum from the damsel in distress. And that is the tough girl.

Now don't take that the wrong way. I like strong female characters a lot. I'm all for women who can defend themselves and fight with the guys. I love Mulan, I love Katniss, and I love Eowyn who I mentioned in my first post on this topic. But there's something that they do right that others don't do right.

I'm going to break down my pet peeves about the tough girl into a few groups:

1. Nonsensical emotional range:

You know how there's always that tough woman in fantasy or Urban fantasy who takes out ten guys all by herself then says a witty one liner... after killing ten people? That's always bothered me, with men and women heroes. I'm someone who generally likes the loss of life to have weight. When someone dies, I don't like it when it's brushed off especially not with humor. Now in war movies I understand they can't linger on the deaths because it's war and death happens all the time. But they certainly don't make one liners.

With characters who are bad ass killing machines with no problems cutting people down, it usually makes more sense for them to be... non emotional. Because if you have a sense of humor after years of killing people (At least the witty, sarcastic "look at me being witty" sense) you must be pretty sadistic. And I don't want to see that in a main character unless it's supposed to be there. This is prevalent in male characters (James Bond anyone) but especially in tough female characters these days. Writers want their character to be cool and collected and badass but also be funny. And that just. doesn't. work with me. It's not realistic, and it's almost sadistic if you think about it.

It's like in the last Harry Potter movie where Neville blew up a bridge and sent hundreds of wizards falling and screaming to their gruesome deaths. He climbs up onto a bridge and says "That went well."

Except with a girl instead.

An example of a character who handles the gruesome nature of death with a realistic attitude is Katniss from the Hunger Games. She was prepared to kill for survival but she was still disgusted when she did it. She didn't ever laugh or crack a witty one liner with Rue after they blew up the supplies. When she did make a witty retort it was because she knew the audience was watching and she needed to give them a show, which goes to show what people like to watch. That was very well done. It made sense.

Other characters, not so much.

2. Physical downsides of being a woman

I know women like to say: We can be just as strong as the guys. And we can... but not in the same ways. Biologically it isn't possible for us to build as much muscle mass. The average size of women is also considerably less than the size of men. Because of this downside, a punch from a woman may not make as great of an impact as a punch from a man.

Now obviously some women can be stronger than some men because there are wimpy guys or just guys who aren't particularly strong. But think about women in fantasy and urban fantasy: They're usually attractive. That means skinny. That means not as much muscle mass. And if I read about said skinny girl taking down four men twice her size, I'm often tempted to call BS, especially if it's won on strength alone like a fist fight. If the woman has skill with a gun or knife, I'll buy that, because skill with weapons doesn't necessarily mean strength.

This can be done right too. I actually like it when books acknowledge the physical weaknesses of their main heroine. An example of who does this well is Mulan. This movie is constantly making fun of the difference between men and women and pointing out Mulan's disadvantages. She beats the bad guys by using her brain. She shot a cannon at a mountain, caused an avalanche, and destroyed most of the hun army. That's awesome.

Her final fight with the main villain is also awesome, even though I do call BS on her being able to knock his feet out from under him. I mean, his leg is about as thick as her whole body. But she is smart and doesn't try to confront him just with a sword... because she would probably lose. Because Shan Yu is three times her size and is a warrior who has practiced with the sword a lot more than her.

Another character who does this well is Arya from Game of Thrones (I've only seen the TV show so I'm going off of that). This is a tough female character but she's a kid, and a very small kid. But she is taught to use her sword in a way that suits her size, by reverting others force against them and by being quicker than her opponent. She loses fights but that doesn't make her unlikable. That makes her realistic and a better character.

3. Dislikeability

A woman who is too tough and too strong and played up to have little to know flaws... can often come across as an unlikeable character. That's the worst thing. When an author expects people to get behind this character who often has the previous flaws I've talked about, even though the character is actually selfish, cold and just has no redeeming values.

I hate to bring this up, because I know a lot of people like this book, but Tris, from Divergent, pisses me off so much. I've heard she's popular, I know this book is popular but I just can't stand her. I find her selfish, cold and very unrealistic. She actually fails at all three of the things I've mentioned. Someone who becomes more of a robot than an actual character I want to relate to. Her mother and father and many of her friends are killed in the same day and yet she doesn't bat an eyelash. 

I know I said that if a tough girl is to be done right, maybe they have to be colder. But Tris didn't start out that way. She just morphed from a pretty normal teenage girl to this harsh, unlikeable, "brave" person and it was supposed to be OK. If this was on purpose it would have been fine but we're supposed to like this character. And I just can't get over how mean spirited she is. It's not like with Katniss where she's not only trying to play to the crowd but she also does recognize her flaws and tries not to lose herself. Tris is also trying to play to her new sector and get recognition but she does lose herself along the way. The book just doesn't realize it. Which is really sad.

I'll talk more about this in my eventual review of Divergent and leave it at that for now. Maybe it's just a personal thing but Tris really rubbed me the wrong way.

So that's all for the tough girl. I may do something else on this in the future but until then we'll leave it at this.

And yes... tomorrow is the inevitable Bella Swan rant.

Be afraid.

-Authoress Anonymous