Over-Done Tropes—Women Can't Fight

In a 1994 Rolling Stone article, a reporter followed a gang-intervention counselor making field visits to recent gang school graduates after their release from prison. Embarrassed by the visit and desperate to reestablish his street-cred, one gang member starts an argument with his foster sister. When the girl (younger and smaller) cusses him out, gang boy takes a swing. The author wrote that the sister slammed into gang boy so hard her earrings flew from her ears. In the resulting mee-lee she beats gang boy to the ground.

Go ahead, assume they are weak.

This is one example of why some basis in reality is important no matter what flavor of fiction you write. 

In previous posts I’ve taken some well-worn over-done fiction tropes and deconstructed why the tropes are used. From there we explore why what makes the tropes over-done and/or outdated. Most importantly, I attempt to give examples of better ways to write.

Note: I did not say easier, I said better.

A writing trope is device specific to genre, e.g., the burned-out police detective, the ne’er-do-well family member, (usually a brother, usually with an addiction) the thief/hitman with one last score before retirement, are all crime-fiction tropes. Most have been done...to death. Some may argue that they are tropes (rather than cliches) because they are relatable/reliable guideposts for the reader.

For the reader or for the writer?

Today’s subject: women can’t fight. This is a scene-setting device cueing up the “real” hero, usually a dude, to rescue the fair maiden. In extreme examples like Taken, (movie) Deathwish, (book and movie) Spider Man, (comicbook) the victimized woman is the catalyst for the dude to “hero-up” and seek justice.

Slanging that thing around without any problems...and the knife, too.

 Honestly, it’s just lazy/unimaginative writing. 

In all fairness, damsels in distress has been a trope across all genres going back to Cervantes (at least). It was permissible, (sorta) for Cervantes. What role models did he have?

Of course, Shakespeare had just as many print guides (meaning “none”) but he was also a social commentator and a phenomenal student of contemporary events. He encountered Lady Elizabeth Russell, (among the first women to command a fortress and the first to claim the rights and rights/powers of sheriff). As a result Shakespeare’s women were FIERCE and he gave his best lines to Portia and Rosalind among many, many other women.

To be or NOT to be... f'd with.

Something-something-hundred-years later…

I’ve referenced Diana Gabaldon’s historical fiction piece, Outlander, before for lazy/irresponsible writing. The treatment of LGBTQ characters is irresponsible, to say the least. However her treatment of her heroine is not much better. 

Our protagonist, Claire (Caitriona Balfe, in the TV show) is perpetually abducted and/or brutalized. And considering that the books/show is marketed primarily to women, you would expect some arc to character. And, in true, high-fantasy style, Claire does develop/grow. She goes from intrepid WWII nurse to 1960s doctor, so, yeah, growth. 

Basically Claire's situation throughout Outlander.

Then, in season five, Claire gets manhandled, (yes, that’s the extent of the description) yet again. 

Yep, season five.

In the preceding four seasons, (based on five books) Claire has been beaten and tortured as well as taught to shoot and handle a knife. She has also killed multiple men. So, when Captain Bonnett seizes hold of her daughter, Claire pulls her trusty knife and holds it fully extended in front of her, just begging for Bonnett to take it from her, which he does. 

This action is so common in books, movies, and television that it is very nearly a setpiece. Women swing wide with an open-hand slaps, telegraph stabbing with a knife held ice-pick style, or they hold a gun at full-extension just begging for someone, (male) to punch, deflect, take away. Which, seemingly, ALWAYS happens. 

Just take it, the writer doesn't know what they're doing.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

In 1981 Robert B. Parker wrote intrepid-television reporter, Candy Sloan, in A Savage Place. About half-way through the novel, Candy realizes that Spenser, (Parker’s PI protagonist) will not be able to serve as a bodyguard forever. So, she has him teach her how to use a handgun. 

Spenser finds Candy after one of the big-bad guys shoots her with the gun Spenser armed her with. Spenser then avenges her. There is all kinds of moralized subtext on Spenser’s guilt (avenging his failure more than his client) and commentary on women “acting like men” but that’s a different rant for a different time.

If you try to take that pistol from her, you're getting shot.

As if by contrast, Starling, (Thomas Harris' FBI cadette) debuted a couple of years after A Savage Place. She is the hero of the book. There is no man coming to save her. In fact, her boss and mentor are both several hundred miles away when Starling is knee-deep in the sh—tuff. But Starling is Quantico-trained. She keeps her Model 19 close to her body (so serial killer Buffalo Bill can’t snatch it from her) and, when Bill gets too close, she uses the weapon to devastating effect.

Yeah, but in the real world…

Rhonda Rousy might not be able to beat Mike Tyson, but Gina Carano would give him a run for his money until the weight advantage worked against her. Women regularly kick ass, often punching WAY above their weight. That’s neither hyperbole nor female idealization. 

Facts

Anne Bonny sailed with a pirate crew out of Jamaica, armed with a machete and a brace of pistols. Disguised as a man, Deborah Sampson, fought in Washington’s Continental Army. Also dressed as a man, Cathay Williams served in the Union Army. U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth flew combat missions in Iraq. Aileen Wuornos killed seven, (that we know of) men. These are simply among the best known (by me) instances of women who can (and damn-well do) fight.

It’s easy to dismiss fictionalized accounts based on dramatic license but to do so is a disservice to the reader/viewer. It is also dishonest. 

But you’re saying, “Wait a minute, let’s talk about how most of these examples involve military training. Even Starling was FBI trained and drilled on gun-retention and pistol combat at Quantico, while Candy Sloan was informally taught by some guy.” 

She got the same training as those dudes. Sure.

Do you suppose the foster-sister, who the gang boy took a swing at, had formal training? Or do you think maybe she had a lifetime of scuffles with boys and girls? You may not learn perfect form from getting knocked around by other kids but you learn how to dodge a punch, take a punch, and most importantly, deliver a punch. And as with anything else, the more you do it, the better you get at it.

In The Red Dragon, Will Graham informally teaches his girlfriend, Molly, how to use a handgun days before Frances “Tooth Fairy” Dolarhyde ambushes them. Drawing on what Will taught her, Molly runs for her life, drawing the Tooth Fairy away from her critically wounded boyfriend. Then, after she draws the Tooth Fairy into her house, into her bedroom—where she keeps her weapon—she “blows a rat hole” in his chest.

Harris understood that a) it is much more satisfying for the prey to “get” the predator and b) it pays off on the peril rather than exploit violence against women for cheap thrills.

“But, but, I write fantasy where ladies in fine dresses don’t fight…”

"I wear a fine dress, also, fight me."

In Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone—Inej Ghafa aka the Wraith is a spy. Sculking and dealing in shadows all around the ladies in fancy dresses. She is imminently skilled with knives and adept at hand-to-hand combat. But when she encounters a bigger, stronger adversary, (seriously, his name is “Mogens” which means “powerful”) Inej suffers a bloody defeat and is nearly killed. 

Also NOT to be f'd with.

Knowing she must face him again, Inej struggles to find something to offset Mogens’ size and strength. Rather than step into the space as the hero, Kaz, her boss, (who has his own challenges) offers her a tactic. Look for the tell, the gesture, expression, or habit that precedes an attack. Kaz, (a slight man, dependent on a cane to counter a pronounced limp) is skilled at leveraging tells, from a lifetime of competing against men with full use of both legs. 

"You protected me better than any saint," Kaz Brekker to Inej Ghafa

Inej faces Mogens again, armed with Kaz’ tactic. Rather than react to Mogens’ attacks in fear or even in defense, Inej plays to her own strengths. By using her agility against his advance and anticipating his moves, she plays a very physical chess match and destroys Mogens with his own tools.

As with any work of fiction, you have the license to write any character you choose. If you want to write about the defenseless little woman, futilely beating her little fists against the barbarian’s chest, hey, it’s your story. Just consider how much more that set-up scene, that character, that person can be.

I own none of the photos here. All are used for instructional/educational purposes as covered by the Fair Use Doctrine.