A woman utilizing "feminine" skills

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Each character to their own! If she is a tailor, then sew away. If she is a butt-kicker, then kick away.
A reader should either fall in love with the characters attributes or relate to them.
I was told I better get thick skin before I allow people to read my stuff. So I am getting ready.

I don't know if anyone's welcomed you yet, but here i am, welcoming you. Welcome!

 

[FatCat]

Easy gender roles escribed here. Where does your romance in idea? A mans life is worth nothing, when do you see?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I've been having second thoughts lately about the climax of my main WIP, after a comment on the synopsis that disparaged the heroine's use of a stereotypically feminine skill (sewing) to save the life of one of the villain's victims rather than directly kicking the villain's butt. I have since changed the manuscript so that she does both (though she isn't the one to kill the villain, she does get a few good punches in), but I'm still waffling. This character is not usually prone to using violence unless in direct self-defense; she does at only a few points elsewhere in the book, and the rest of the time uses guile and wits to escape bad situations. Having her save the victimized character is more in line with her character, IMO. And the method she uses -- stitching up a wound -- is not meant to be stereotypical, but an extension of the characterization I established right from the start of the book. The heroine is an avid cosplayer who enjoys making her own costumes for Halloween and otherwise, so it makes perfect sense that she'd be good at sewing. (The difference/difficulty between sewing cloth and sewing skin is remarked upon as well.)

Maybe I'm just overreacting to one comment among many, but this one really stuck out to me. Is a twenty-first century woman making use of one feminine skill really that much of a bad thing?

It sounds like the complainer has a chip on his/her shoulder.

Personally, I like female characters to have qualities that are feminine. I would argue that making a female hero "masculine" is more of a slap in the face to women than having her know how to sew. Why must heroines be manly to be heroic?

Extend this complaint to all fantasy characters. How is it possible that a heroine grows up in a world where little girls are taught to sew and, even as a child, she wore pants instead of dresses and said, "I'm not into that sissy stuff, mom. Dad owns you and you're an insult to your gender for giving birth to me, you—you woman!"

In your story, she's a cosplayer! She sews awesomely! So no, a 21st century woman doing this is not a bad thing. The bad thing is when people try to tie everything to their rigid point of view: in this case, a female character displays a feminine quality; therefore, the woman who wrote her is anti-feminism. Absurd!

 

[Gurkhal]

Seems very odd to make a comment that sewing is a bad things or that women sewing is a bad thing, I would also ignore that comment. Focus on creating interesting characters that works in the story. A well-developed "girly" character will be more interesting to read about than a run-of-the-mill tomboy.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I went to church after writing my earlier comment. I ran a session with kids and teens, and "strength" was today's theme. I had the kids each come up with a display of strength. It didn't have to be physical, but of the physical moves, only girls came up with moves that few could imitate.

- Hold leg straight up overhead. No boy could do it.
- The splits. No boy dared to try.
- A backflip. She was the only one who could.

These girls style their hair, paint their nails, and wear pink and wear dresses when they want to. They are girly, and they out-awesomed the boys.

 

[CupofJoe]

I went to church after writing my earlier comment. I ran a session with kids and teens, and "strength" was today's theme. I had the kids each come up with a display of strength. It didn't have to be physical, but of the physical moves, only girls came up with moves that few could imitate.

- Hold leg straight up overhead. No boy could do it.
- The splits. No boy dared to try.
- A backflip. She was the only one who could.

These girls style their hair, paint their nails, and wear pink and wear dresses when they want to. They are girly, and they out-awesomed the boys.

I'm being playful here but that very awesomeness could be redefined as "girls being made to do gymnastics while the boys play [American] Football or Wrestling". As I said... being playful.
A reader can see whatever they want in writing even if the writer doesn't want or know about it...
But I agree that the range of possibility and realities for anyone is a lot larger than is easily seen.

 

[Miskatonic]

I went to church after writing my earlier comment. I ran a session with kids and teens, and "strength" was today's theme. I had the kids each come up with a display of strength. It didn't have to be physical, but of the physical moves, only girls came up with moves that few could imitate.

- Hold leg straight up overhead. No boy could do it.
- The splits. No boy dared to try.
- A backflip. She was the only one who could.

These girls style their hair, paint their nails, and wear pink and wear dresses when they want to. They are girly, and they out-awesomed the boys.

Dexterity and flexibility are not feats of strength. Sorry to nitpick.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

In an RPG, no. In real life, you need strong legs to do a back flip. Male and female gymnasts are quite muscular, and some of that does transfer to the kind of muscle you can use in the weight room. Male gymnasts tend to do the bars and other feats that make use of upper body strength.

And that's kind of my point. The girls who wow'd the boys did what the boys couldn't do. It's symbolic of what I want from a heroine: to solve a problem her way, even if her way is different from a man's.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

That's not to say a male hero can't sew or a female hero can't slug it out. I just don't see why anyone would get riled up over a character doing something naturally that is considered typical of that character's gender. If the person complaining thinks men and women all behave the same, then sewing shouldn't be a problem. Somebody has to sew, so the complainer should just assume men also sew.