Linksgiving (Strong Female Characters)

I have a folder in my bookmarks of all the really interesting sites that people point out to me so that I can post them on here. And recently - or rather, over the past two years - that folder has gotten kind of really incredibly full. So for a couple weeks, we're going to do something a little different for Linksgiving.

That's right - we're going theme week.

This week's theme is Strong Female Characters, and gender in the media. Have fun!

1. "The Truth About Strong Female Characters" from io9.com. Are we erasing the experiences of normal women when we insist that every lady on film be a stone cold badass?

2. "At Sword's Point: Humor as a Weapon", an interview with the late Betty Swords, a feminist humorist about how comedy can be powerful.

3. "The Ethics of Feminist Revenge", a piece that looks at feminist action/revenge movies and how we are still shocked to see women acting out.

4. "An Imagined Girls' Night Out" from ThoughtCatalog, where Buffy, Katniss, and Hermione all stare at Bella Swan in utter confusion.

5. "Why Talking About Gender in Movies Still Matters (Even Though It Shouldn't)" from The Mary Sue. Exactly what it sounds like.

6. "What Women Want in Female Videogame Protagonists" from The Mary Sue. Also exactly what it sounds like.

7. "The Princess and the PR" from Women and Hollywood. A quick look a the whole Merida scandal from this past spring, and what Jon Stewart had to say about the sexualizing of a princess.

8. "TV's New Wave of Women: Smart, Strong, Borderline Insane" from New York Times Magazine. I think you can guess what this is about.

9. "Women Make Small Incremental Gains Onscreen and Behind the Scenes" from Women and Hollywood. Looks like representation of women in the media is getting a little better, numbers wise. A little.

Have some lists.

10. "10 of the Most Powerful Female Characters in Literature" from Flavorwire.

11. "The Five Most Pathetic Female Film Characters of All Time" from The Guardian.

12. "10 Believable Butt-Kicking Babes" from Entertainment Weekly.

13. "10 Characters Whose Gender Was Swapped In Production" from The Mary Sue.

And finally, a cute little palate cleanser, featuring Katy Perry.



That's it for this week. Next week's Linksgiving will be on Body Image, and we're just going to keep doing Theme Weeks until I run out of links. So, you know, forever. Woo!