The Bastardization of Femininity in YA Media

Have you ever noticed that in action movies and TV shows, the women always seem to run and fight in heels? Does it seem odd to you that female characters who are supposed to be “strong” and “independent” make a point not to care too much about their appearance, but always seem to wear the same sharp eye makeup look? Do you ever read a book about with a female character that is supposed to represent the author’s plug in of feminism, but she’s surrounded by an all male cast and seems to look down on other women?

None of this is news, per say. Various corners of the internet have seen the swirl of discussion around terms such as “weaponized femininity” and “Not-Like-Other-Girls;” but there’s yet to be a proper integrated discussion about how falling into these traps of distorted feminism is permeating mainstream media at an alarming rate and, therefore, solidifying the modern day’s version of ostracizing of femininity.

Let’s take a step back: what do I mean when I say “distorted feminism?” I use that term here to designate the good intention to portray women as strong, independent, reliable, and important characters while relying on methods that lend itself to a regression in the treatment of women rather than an overall positive uplift.

The easiest example to demonstrate this is the “Not-Like-Other-Girls” trope. This discussion, however, is like beating a dead horse. It is worth mentioning, though, that these days writers will try to signify a female character’s competence by showing just how much better she as at certain things than men, surrounding her with a mostly male cast in the process and depriving her of any meaningful relationships with other women. Too many women in a woman’s life is too girly for an audience. Somehow, it stops being action and starts being a chick drama I guess.

But I’m more interested in talking about my next two points, which are more likely to slip under the radar, but contribute greatly to how femininity is bastardized today.

First, there’s “weaponized femininity.” The portrayal of women as fierce, athletic, and competent while they’re wearing heels and makeup and have perfect hair. But you never see them put effort into their appearance (because that would mean they Care and like putting the effort into being pretty). They’re just like that. On one hand, it’s satisfying the male gaze when a male writer writes a female character like this. On the other hand, female writers fall into this trap because it’s an appealing trope to buy into.

And then there’s the idea of gaining strength through the rejection of femininity. This is perpetuated when a writer creates their strong female character and then creates a distinction between her and another more outwardly feminine character, demonizing the more feminine character while hailing the one that isn’t.

Both weaponized femininity and the dichotomy between feminine and less feminine heroines arise from the well intended notion to portray feminist ideologies in stories. But they end up betraying feminism because essentially what this does is create an idea of what is acceptable femininity. The kinds of traits that a woman is allowed to encompass without warranting the usual condescension that often follows anything remotely feminine. We can take women seriously if they look pretty, but they cannot TRY to look pretty. A woman can be sexual and strong, but only if she’s written like she’s the blade of a knife more than she is a real human being. If you’re any girlier than this, you’re weak. Better yet, you’re a stuck up bitch. You still air on the side of useless because you’re probably thinking about how cute that shade of pink for your nails would be and it just isn’t helpful at all.

As if women aren’t complex enough beings to enjoy getting manicures AND still best a man while wearing more appropriate and safe footwear. If you get emotional and cry when you do, there’s no way you’ve got a spine and any sense of courage and independence at all, right?

I write about these things in the context of YA media because weaponized femininity and the dichotomy between female heroines is quite prevalent in this genre–one that girls in important stages of their life subscribe to–and sees these things swept under the rug often as well. In fact, I’m rather astonished as to how many widely acclaimed YA book series fall prey to these portrayals. For example:

• Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle juxtaposes the main character, Blue, with her cousin Orla–the sexy and more appearance concerned one who wears bikini tops on boating trips and Blue simply cannot deal with it sometimes.
• Harry Potter lifts Ginny Weasley, the beautiful and resilient athlete, onto a pedestal by having Harry compare her to Cho Chang, the really pretty (traumatized and grief-stricken) girl who cried too much for Harry’s liking.
• Throne of Glass by Sarah. J. Maas stars a pretty protagonist who constantly espouses how much better she is than women because she’s a deadly assassin and not a ninny-head who gossips all the time.
• Victora/VE Schwab, I’ve read A Darker Shade of Magic, This Savage Song, and Vicious, and loved them. But why do all the female characters feel like they’ve been written into the mold of a sleek weapon rather than a human being?
• Rick Riordan made Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, That One Vain Bitch. Of her daughters, one is quite feminine with an affinity for beauty and makeup and is unnecessarily mean (Drew), one dreaded being associated with everything Aphrodite stood for and made it a point not to be like That (Piper), and the other one was actually written pretty well but was killed off and Rick hasn’t written a decent openly feminine character since (Silena).

Creating this idea of acceptable femininity is just as harmful as positing the notion that femininity is inferior to masculinity. It shoehorns young people into a limited set of traits they should aspire to grow into. They’re allowed to be feminine, but only just. And they have to be feminine in a certain way, or else they aren’t taken seriously at all. There is now a distinction between being strong and being girly, and it destroys self esteem by still shaming certain aspects of femininity that they might lean into. As well-intentioned as a lot of popular methods of portraying feminism are in YA media, they still distort the principles of feminism by selecting only a few standards as worthy enough to be uplifted. And writers must be much more vigilant and self reflective in this regard.

Of course, that’s not to say that masculine leaning women are praised much either. In the same fell swoop that media today sets a boundary on just what kind of femininity is acceptable, there is also a stigma around how masculine a woman can be, once again lending itself to how we’re shoehorned into what is deemed acceptable. But this is a topic that requires a completely separate discussion due to the fact that truly masculine leaning heroines are practically non-existent. And if they exist, they aren’t worthy of attention.

Essentially, no matter how far we’ve come and no matter how much feminism is taking hold in YA, we’re unfortunately far from making a healthy portrayal of women mainstream.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading this ramble! I appreciate your diligence and attention.