Weak Female Character Rant

Why do so many novels feature a weak female Heroine? I DESPISE them! Often the powerless female is paired with an Alpha Male or at least a Studly Hard-ass. I’m not talking about physical strength here. I’m talking about strength of personality, willpower, and circumstances. So many times I have read about the woman who is an abuse victim and the man saves her, or the woman who is poor and a rich man comes to the rescue. Then there is the ever-popular woman who is abducted or pushed around by a man yet ends up in love with him. Let’s not forget the woman who vacillates over her love for the man and stagnates in indecision. Variations on the theme are endless and authors keep writing it into their stories while readers keep buying those stories.

So what is it about people who want to envision a weak woman with a strong man? Is this just the survival of the species instinct where women desire stronger men? Do we women enjoy reading about a woman who is weaker than we are and therefore feel superior? Do we seek validation for our own weaknesses? I really would like to hear your opinions on this!

One of the main reasons I love reading and writing Urban Fantasy is that the heroine often gets to be strong and kick some ass. Give me a woman who knows her mind. Give me a heroine who saves the day. Give me a female character who meets her man on equal footing with comparable strengths. This doesn’t mean that the hero and heroine can’t help each other. They can! Just please stop with the one-way ‘man saves poor weak needy woman’ plots! Uggh! A weak heroine is hardly heroic at all!

I believe that reading about strong female heroines helps empower us in our real lives because we get to pretend we are them for a while and eventually we get used to being them.

Lilo

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