I'm batting around a story idea - in fact, I've done a little bit with the first scene already. The theme relates to strong female characters as they are judged in terms of patriarchal society.
Most strong female characters in books are portrayed as strong because they have in some way accepted the patriarchal value system as the correct one and they have adapted themselves to it. I have female characters that fit into that category, as I look back at them.
This isn't too surprising because mainstream feminism in our real society has essentially bought in to patriarchy, and has ratified the value and judgment system that comes with it. They've effectively given up a potential first line in the war (if you want to call it that) for equality (namely, equality of valuation of women, not equality by adoption of and acting within patriarchy).
So the idea is to have a story in which the strong central female character rejects the patriarchal value system and is successful outside of it. In other words, she isn't a strong woman because she's adopted roles traditionally belonging to males and measured her worth as a result of doing so, she is strong because she brings value to roles traditionally belonging to females, and traditionally de-valued in patriarchy because of that association.
Getting to the question: can anyone recommend stories that reflect this. I can think of a few by Angela Carter, who was a well-known (in literary circles) writer of fantasy short stories with feminist themes. Apart from those stories, I can't think of many within the genre. I'd like to know more of what is out there before deciding whether this story will work.
Most strong female characters in books are portrayed as strong because they have in some way accepted the patriarchal value system as the correct one and they have adapted themselves to it. I have female characters that fit into that category, as I look back at them.
This isn't too surprising because mainstream feminism in our real society has essentially bought in to patriarchy, and has ratified the value and judgment system that comes with it. They've effectively given up a potential first line in the war (if you want to call it that) for equality (namely, equality of valuation of women, not equality by adoption of and acting within patriarchy).
So the idea is to have a story in which the strong central female character rejects the patriarchal value system and is successful outside of it. In other words, she isn't a strong woman because she's adopted roles traditionally belonging to males and measured her worth as a result of doing so, she is strong because she brings value to roles traditionally belonging to females, and traditionally de-valued in patriarchy because of that association.
Getting to the question: can anyone recommend stories that reflect this. I can think of a few by Angela Carter, who was a well-known (in literary circles) writer of fantasy short stories with feminist themes. Apart from those stories, I can't think of many within the genre. I'd like to know more of what is out there before deciding whether this story will work.