Ladies FTW
Jul. 23rd, 2008 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophieisgodIn honour of the whole WOMEN ARE FABULOUS shindig at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anythingbutgrey's journal, have some fierceness.
QUOTE-BASED FEROCITY
We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released.
-- Jean Houston
Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.
-- Katherine Mansfield
[Katherine Mansfield wrote some of the best short stories I've ever read, was from New Zealand and also suitably bohemian and independent. Read "The Doll's House" and "How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped"]
She wanted something to happen - something, anything: she did not know what.
-- Kate Chopin
[The Awakening is a gorgeous piece of proto-feminism. Read it at Project Gutenberg.]
I think we still believe that ambition is for boys.
-- Jeanette Winterson
Felicity ignores us. She walks out to the, an apparition in white and blue velvet, her head held high as they stare in awe at her, the goddess. I don't know yet what power feels like. But this is surely what it looks like, and I think I'm beginning to understand why those ancient women had to hide in caves. Why our parents and teachers and suitors want us to behave properly and predictably. It's not that they want to protect us; it's that they fear us.
-- Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
[I've posted this quote at least once in my journal, and definitely in other places too, for the simple reason that it is exactly the sort of thing that writers for young women should be doing. Girls should be realising how fucking strong they are, getting to grips with their incredible inherent power, not defining their entire existence by their relationships and pining away, Stephenie Meyer. Teenage girls will fuck you up with their awesomeness if you let them. Read these books.]
You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman.
-- Jane Galvin Lewis
I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.
-- Mary Wollstonecraft
[I love these two quotes pretty hardcore. For me, feminism is about equality; it isn't about promoting women at the expense of men, it's about recognising the strength of women, it's about equal rights and it's about fairness. Now, since equality would seem fairly impossible to argue against, I was pretty stunned to discover that not everyone agreed. The fight is still important. The mere existence of organisations like this boggles my mind. How can women not believe that their sex deserves equality?]
FANDOM-BASED FEROCITY
There is much fierceness on display in fandom, so here are just a few of my favourite strong fictional females.
MARTHA JONES, Doctor Who
She saved the world and that. She is mucho hardcore and I love her. In fact, all the companions belong here, because they all want something more from their lives. Yay for adventurers!
JAL, Skins
Jal is awesome because she lives her life entirely on her own terms. She doesn't take shit from anyone, she loves fiercely, she makes her own decisions. She deals with tragedy. She's a fucking good musician.
EOWYN, LotR
One of my very favourite fictional females, she's a fighter in every possible sense of the word. For her country, for love, against the social restrictions imposed on her. There must be much love for a woman who is that awesome with a sword.
ELIZABETH SWANN, PotC
Say what you want about Keira Knightley, but Elizabeth is anachronistically feminist, and pretty hardcore to go along with it. She starts off stuck in a corset, and she ends up king of the pirates. WOMEN ARE AWESOME AND CAN DO ANYTHING.
BELLE, Beauty & the Beast
Belle was a princess for every girl who loved to read. She wanted out of small town life, she found escapism in books, and she had an open mind and an open heart.
KARA THRACE, Battlestar Galactica
This emotionally fucked-up, hard-drinking, no-bullshit pilot is one of the strongest characters on a television show renowned for the strength of its characters. She's the best pilot in the fleet, an unfaithful wife, and the harbinger of the doom of humanity (depending on whom you listen to). She is scary and sexy and unreasonable and tied up in all sorts of crazy mythological allusions ('sup, Aurora), and yet the fact that she's a woman doesn't play into it at all. It's just a fact, it's not a character trait. It doesn't matter. And that is why everyone in the world ever should watch BSG. There's a reason I have this tag.
Next up, music post! And if you can, contribute to the meme. It is kicking all sorts of internet arse. ♥
anythingbutgrey's journal, have some fierceness.QUOTE-BASED FEROCITY
We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released.
-- Jean Houston
Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.
-- Katherine Mansfield
[Katherine Mansfield wrote some of the best short stories I've ever read, was from New Zealand and also suitably bohemian and independent. Read "The Doll's House" and "How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped"]
She wanted something to happen - something, anything: she did not know what.
-- Kate Chopin
[The Awakening is a gorgeous piece of proto-feminism. Read it at Project Gutenberg.]
I think we still believe that ambition is for boys.
-- Jeanette Winterson
Felicity ignores us. She walks out to the, an apparition in white and blue velvet, her head held high as they stare in awe at her, the goddess. I don't know yet what power feels like. But this is surely what it looks like, and I think I'm beginning to understand why those ancient women had to hide in caves. Why our parents and teachers and suitors want us to behave properly and predictably. It's not that they want to protect us; it's that they fear us.
-- Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
[I've posted this quote at least once in my journal, and definitely in other places too, for the simple reason that it is exactly the sort of thing that writers for young women should be doing. Girls should be realising how fucking strong they are, getting to grips with their incredible inherent power, not defining their entire existence by their relationships and pining away, Stephenie Meyer. Teenage girls will fuck you up with their awesomeness if you let them. Read these books.]
You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman.
-- Jane Galvin Lewis
I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.
-- Mary Wollstonecraft
[I love these two quotes pretty hardcore. For me, feminism is about equality; it isn't about promoting women at the expense of men, it's about recognising the strength of women, it's about equal rights and it's about fairness. Now, since equality would seem fairly impossible to argue against, I was pretty stunned to discover that not everyone agreed. The fight is still important. The mere existence of organisations like this boggles my mind. How can women not believe that their sex deserves equality?]
FANDOM-BASED FEROCITY
There is much fierceness on display in fandom, so here are just a few of my favourite strong fictional females.
She saved the world and that. She is mucho hardcore and I love her. In fact, all the companions belong here, because they all want something more from their lives. Yay for adventurers!
JAL, Skins
Jal is awesome because she lives her life entirely on her own terms. She doesn't take shit from anyone, she loves fiercely, she makes her own decisions. She deals with tragedy. She's a fucking good musician.
EOWYN, LotR
One of my very favourite fictional females, she's a fighter in every possible sense of the word. For her country, for love, against the social restrictions imposed on her. There must be much love for a woman who is that awesome with a sword.
ELIZABETH SWANN, PotC
Say what you want about Keira Knightley, but Elizabeth is anachronistically feminist, and pretty hardcore to go along with it. She starts off stuck in a corset, and she ends up king of the pirates. WOMEN ARE AWESOME AND CAN DO ANYTHING.
BELLE, Beauty & the Beast
Belle was a princess for every girl who loved to read. She wanted out of small town life, she found escapism in books, and she had an open mind and an open heart.
KARA THRACE, Battlestar Galactica
This emotionally fucked-up, hard-drinking, no-bullshit pilot is one of the strongest characters on a television show renowned for the strength of its characters. She's the best pilot in the fleet, an unfaithful wife, and the harbinger of the doom of humanity (depending on whom you listen to). She is scary and sexy and unreasonable and tied up in all sorts of crazy mythological allusions ('sup, Aurora), and yet the fact that she's a woman doesn't play into it at all. It's just a fact, it's not a character trait. It doesn't matter. And that is why everyone in the world ever should watch BSG. There's a reason I have this tag.
Next up, music post! And if you can, contribute to the meme. It is kicking all sorts of internet arse. ♥
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-05 01:37 pm (UTC)