The Female Power Fantasy?

Irrelevant. Write the character based on what that individual would do, not their sex.

 

Power fantasies are kind of dreadful, regardless of what gender they're for. Speaking as a woman, I don't think the two are particularly different. Power (both physical/magical and political), good looks, money, an attractive/interesting lover. Aside from the fact that female power fantasies are usually less misogynistic, the two are basically identical. We're all people, we want the same things.

 

That.

Gender is one of the major things that affects social interaction (imagine for a moment a world where nobody knew anybody's gender!). This is the nature vs. nurture debate. At their core, humans want the same basic things. Gender determines how they react to each other trying to get those basic things. When other people react to a person, that person will adjust his/her behavior accordingly (typically). So...back to Svrt's.

 

I guess that "power fantasy", whatever the gender themes, has something to do with writers basing their heroes on themselves. Honestly I don't know if that's always a bad thing. What's important is that your character is capable of experiencing tension and conflict even if they do certain things you would love to do yourself.

I also question whether gender has to influence social interactions within a fantasy society to the same extent it does in our world. Some might think it "realistic" or culturally faithful to portray a superficially medieval society as the stereotypical patriarchy, but that would only matter if you care about sticking to the realities of history. In that case why not stick to historical fiction?

 

If you really want to see what a "female power fantasy" looks like... (I can't believe I'm about to say this) read fan-fiction.

 

Personally? I can't give an answer to the question that isn't kind of silly. What does a woman's power fantasy look like to me?

-I come home to an empty sink because the dishes are done, without having to ask.

-Coming home to the kids' homework being done (for those that have children), again without having to ask.

-Finding out the shower works properly or the doorknob isn't going to fall off in my hand because the around the house stuff that I'm physically capable of doing, but cannot do within the confines of a relationship because that would somehow make a man less of a man, is done without having to ask.

Honestly, to me, power looks a lot like respect...and who doesn't need respect in their life?

I think the better question(s) to be asking are about what power is or isn't. Is it an individual thing, wherein one person can decide they have power and therefore act like they actually have power or is it an outside societal observation and power is in how other people view/treat a person?

If you can answer whether or not power is an internal vs. external thing the following questions become much easier to answer: Is money power? Is class power? Is religion power? Is belief power? Is knowledge power? Is sex power? Are there cases where these aren't true?

 

Upon reading the OP I immediately thought of The Black Jewels Trilogy. I don't have much of an opinion on the books, some things I like, some things I don't, but it might be a good one for the OP to read. Lot's of "role reversal" though even that term is somewhat indelicate. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "Female Power Fantasy" but it is fantasy and there is a lot of female power in it. Not that it's lacking in 'Male Power.' I guess it's hard to describe exactly what the book does with the female/male interaction that made me think of it. Be warned though, it's R rated and I know some people avoid that kind of thing, and I don't want anyone offended by me suggesting it.

 

I often see Bayonetta mentioned as a woman who's sexualized as an active and powerful figure in a way that's more commonly associated with male characters like Kratos. (The other character who tends to come up is Aeon Flux.)

 

Sorry for the Necro, Logos&Eidos but you're more or less correct on your use of Bayonetta, but I would have used a rather long series of chickflick movies from the last decade instead. If you want to emphasize the Truth Hurts statement you made, here's a documentary (youtube com/watch?v=x5KlGljHT8g) on it you might be interested in.

Particularly, watch the movies "How to be Single" and "The Other Woman".
If you prefer to read instead...Well, there's literally millions of female author Romance Novels which portray it perfectly. The general slang for them is "bodice rippers" and "harlequin".
If you prefer video games, other than Bayonetta, Try "The Sims". You as the player are playing out the female power fantasy in all it's positive, negative and neutral lights.

Simply stated though:
The male power fantasy is to be the Hero. Find a problem. Solve the problem. Get the girl. Have the respect of those you aided. With the anti-hero male power fantasy, add an element of redemption in there, for the former failed hero or former villain.
The female power fantasy is to avoid accountability for your actions and receive the benefits of being the hero. Regardless of whether they're genuinely the hero or the thinly veiled villain.

I expect you've already written your piece, given this thread is 2 years old, but my suggestion for other browsers is to ignore the female power fantasy and do what Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Black Widow did. Write a male power fantasy with a likable feminine female character as the lead. Guys with boobs like captain marvel's recent runs repel both men and women.

 

Write a power fantasy for a female character and she'll be called a Mary Sue or SJW propaganda or "man with boobs". Write her as a male fantasy and she gets called an object of male gaze and misogynist.

If your character isn't Ripley or Sarah Connor (the only two good female characters ever according to the internet) then you'll be criticized whatever you write. So just don't even worry about it and write whatever YOU want to see, forget writing to a specific audience's "fantasy", because not for nothing, if they want a pure power fantasy, an RPG game is a better medium for it.

That and audiences aren't writers. They only vaguely know what they want. In the abstract.

 

Honestly, in this world, just having power is a dream for the vast majority of women.

 

Annoyingkid Bwahahahahaha.... sorta, kinda, not entirely? There's also Buffy.
Mythopoet If you wana go that simple, that's the fantasy of the a great many men too. But the subject line was the Power Fantasy, which is a pretty well defined thing.

 

Yeah but I've never seen men say Buffy. It's always James Cameron's Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley. Thats their two, in every debate. Basically the same characters in the same genre written by the same man. Both traumatized women who are stalked by a horror and who spend most the time running and hiding from said horror and who learn to appreciate their maternal role. Ripley with Newt and Connor with John.

 

Okay, Buffy, there you go. And I could make some criticisms of Ripley and Sarah if I liked.

Isn't the answer to this always, write them as people?

This is like 2014, original poster is gone. I don't know, I don't think I set out to write male or female power anything, It just rings too untrue to me.