Finchbearer
Istar
You reject my feedback, and that’s okay.Your answer to the prompt would be, presumably, "I wouldn't." That's fine.
"Damsel -not- in distress," in 2024, is as common a trope as the one it subverts.
Some people will never tire of one, some the other.
I respect that you would avoid ever having a male save a female in your own writing.
This is only one (hypothetical) scene in an entire (hypothetical) book, which may contain many other strong, independent female characters that don't need no man.
Not only did I prioritize presenting her as a very competent character, I even justified her danger by suggesting the people she works for are purposefully trying to put her in a situation outside of her wheelhouse in which she would die.
I think I officially change my (EDIT: hypothetical) outline. No more eunuch! Poof! Gone! Now it's a female were-gorilla. I don't wanna hear another word about the eunuch, he's been officially redacted.
Although I will note that your comment
Is very telling.
Doesn't EVEN have balls.
Not everyone has the same storytelling priorities as you do.
1. No character in a good story should be perfectly competent, that's bad storytelling, even (is everyone sitting down?) If she's a woman.
2. If a woman is dressed provocatively, make sure she's doing it on purpose and for a plot-reason. If the character isn't purposefully sexualizing herself, please don't have a man overtly and openly sexualizing her unless he isn't a good guy. That's when the "male gaze" actually does get really annoying.
3. If your MC is a boy, he can save a girl. That's okay. Just don't over use it.
We’re on different pages in terms of the subject at hand and that’s also okay.
I mean, do we need to get into the definition of a eunuch? A eunuch is literally a castrated male, a male without testicles. Technically my pet cat is a eunuch, but he’s still male.
Character flaws I agree can create a powerful arc, but if every female in your story does not have agency, every male does, then you don’t have a balanced gender positive story.
If a woman is dressed provocatively there could be 100 varying reasons for this, and it really IMO depends on what genre you’re writing in, and is also dependent on the context, but if it’s only used as a plot device in a non-erotica / romance genre of story then I would ask if it really needs to be there.
In my own writing I do have male characters look after or influence my female characters, taking on that ‘caring’ or ‘chivalrous’ role, but there are always reason for this beyond driving the plot or over relying on common ‘tropes’ or stereotypes, or at least that’s what I hope is the case.