I find it deeply ironic that The Odyssey, an over 2000 year old epic poem, that was written in a time period that was no doubt more patriarchal and misogynistic than today on average, managed be more "feminist" (putting feminist in quotes because the concept of feminism as a political movent did not exist back then) in it's writing of Penelope, where her strength was directly tied to her womanhood, where her femininity was in fact her strength, not her weakness, compared to quote unquote feminist retellings or au's that position Penelope as a warrior, inadvertently implying that she is strong despite or in spite of her womanhood, or because she rejected the traditionally feminine, and instead assign her strength to what could be considered toxicly masculine ideals of strength (that the only way for a character to be strong, man or woman, is for them to be physically capable of fighting, emotionally stoic, etc.)
And this not to say that women cannot or should not be warriors or the like, they absolutely should! But more so that *only* having women be shown as strong through our still horrifically misogynistic ideal of strength that equates what is viewed as traditionally masculine with said strength creates a dichotomy where the traits that are the opposite (and as such viewed as feminine) are then presented as weaknesses. It gets worse when a feminine character (because this does not just apply to women, but to any character that would be considered feminine or presented as feminine by the text) is either assumed weak by the audience despite the opposite being presented or, because of those traits (as is often the case with female characters) have their entire character overhauled to better suit what we as a (western) culture associate with strength, which also is what we associate with masculinity.
I guess it is just frustrating to see people be so...dismissive of Penelope's actual accomplishments in the Odyssey solely due to the fact that they where not achieved with weaponry or physical strength. She *is* strong! She doesn't need to be able to wield a spear for that to be true, she doesn't have to be emotionally stoic for that to be true. Hell, *Odysseus* himself, who does more closely fulfill traditional ideals of strength, is not emotionally stoic! He weeps, he is afraid, he loses himself to anger, but never does the text present him as weak for these emotions! Neither does the text present Penelope as weak for hers!
Idk, just stop trying to put characters into neat little boxes. A weaver can be strong and resilient, and a warrior can be emotionally open and vulnerable (and vice versa!) These are complex characters, whose strengths do not lie in one thing solely, but rather in the combination of who they are in their entirety.
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
titsay
stormborns
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