You know, I also want to rant about my anger of "girls are smart and take care of the boys" and "boys are annoyed at insufferable smart girls" trope but I think that's enough anger for one day.
I will say though, if someone pokes me about it later on, I may or may not actually remember to write an analysis of Hermione Granger from Harry Potter and Annabeth Chase from Percy Jackson to delve into how and how not to write smart female characters.
Actually, damn I can't help myself:
Yes, I know I have a bias against JKR for her opinions in general (there are many I disagree with), but the way Hermione was handled and demeaned through the books and parts of the movies is so infuriating and blatantly sexist, and then comparing that with Annabeth who is only treated as mean because she was literally hostile to the main characters at first as a child of Athena to a child of Poseidon to gain her mother's attention and whose fatal flaw is pride is so clear. Because, despite being the same type of trope, she was still was respected by Percy and Grover the entire time rather than be othered for no other reason besides being a "stuck up know it all" as a girl who likes books and is smart and that was it, then constantly the butt of Ron and Harry's jokes and then apparently okay with it and didn't mind being belittled all the time. There was no basis to pretend she was mean and horrible (she wasn't, she was just smart) or arrogant (again, yes she's proud but that's not a reason to be so damn disrespectful especially when she's smart and actively right about something and is really just called arrogant for being loud about being smart if anything, she's not even self absorbed or anything). There is a difference and it shows. And yes, the way strong women in Harry Potter were handled vs how strong women in Percy Jackson and various other books are handled also shows a very strong bias to the idea that "women are strong because they're smarter than boys" and "boys are naturally always stronger than girls" which is bullshit.
Compare with the fact Grover is not physically strong at all, but he can use nature magic and music, he can think, he is smart and knows certain topics even the others don't because he's older, the fact that Clarisse is literally one of the strongest fighters in camp, a girl, not because she's smart but because she's a physically strong daughter of Ares and Annabeth is strong because she's smart and wise, but they don't cancel each other out as better or worse, just two different ways for women and girls to be strong.
Sexism has a basis in Harry Potter's characters, it's there and present all the time and not really addressed, just a part of how each character is written; Ginny is strong but not as much as the boys, she has to go out of her way to be treated as such even as a tomboy, Luna is only strong because she's smart, so is Hermione, so are most of the female cast, whereas the boys are often shown doing physical tasks and being strong in them, even the weakest of them are shown to be generally stronger. Boys who are clever are shown to not be as smart as the girls generally are, the boys who don't meet physical expectations are clumsy and othered. The girls who aren't as smart are absolutely othered and the boys are always, generally, shown to be the ones making stupid decisions that have to be "fixed" by a girl who known better (usually Hermione or Ginny). Whereas in other narratives such as Percy Jackson, again, it is very clear that being a girl or boy wasn't a defining part of their character, just a thing that's there and while, yes, Annabeth is part of that trope, it's very clear that she's a unique case for one and also not the one taking care of the boys all the damn time. If anything? Grover is the one doing that. Hell, even Nico is shown to be smarter than he is physically strong and more powerful in the sense of his connection to his father than any "boys are dkb and brawny". Sex and gender doesn't make them who they are; their abilities and ideals do.
That's my biggest issue here, it's not a simple "oh so clearly Hermione is a bad example but Annabeth is a good one", it's that women in general are treated very different and talked about on different terms. There's a basis a to why Annabeth is the way she is but other girls aren't, why she was hostile at first, why she acted arrogant, why she's proud and what she is even proud in. There's specifics, there's reasons and connections to her story and the plot. But Hermione? She's smart. Therefore she's arrogant, apparently, when she voices her opinion from a book. What specifically makes her arrogant? Talking loud and proud about what she knows. Yes, she wants to be better, yes she wants to be strong. Because she's Muggle born and raised, you know, Just like Harry? Who was raised ignorant of magic and also wants to prove himself? Why is Hermione the only one called arrogant when she is only as proud as Harry, if not less later on as The Chosen One deal gets stuck in his head? I'm not saying he doesn't face consequences or is never called out for it, but I am saying that he is never socially ostracized for it. He's never seen as too much, but Hermione is just by default of being smart and being too open about it. If it was critised as sexist, a theme even, maybe I could be more sympathetic but it's just. Not. It's just shown as okay and a part of how the world is and even that it's somehow correct; that it is arrogant for a girl who's smart to talk up too much when clearly the boys known better but oh there's also stupid and need her to mother them? For some reason? Yeah that pisses me off, especially when you could have a reason for it at least. But nah, Hermione Granger's crime is trying to fit in too much, trying to catch up, trying too damn hard because we all know girls are supposed to shut up and take care of men silently while lot pretending they know too much. And yes, that was sarcasm.
The problem is that, again, with narratives like Percy Jackson or Six of Crows or Deltora Quest or any other thing in existence, it's not that every single female character is only useful as a someone to set the boys straight, but Ginny, Hermione, Luna all had that same damn role. I want more for women, I want more behind a caretaker who is chided for talking too much about her damn well earned accomplishments. And you know how wasn't chided? Annabeth fucking Chase. Not once did the narrative claim that her arrogance was built on anything false, that she was a know it all, just that she was smart and he used it and yes she was fucking right and everyone acknowledges it. Percy does, and he's not an idiot he's street smart and knows shit. And he actually doesn't hassle her for it, he doesn't go over to Grover and whisper "what a lunatic" for the crime of wanting attention and affection which apparently was a crime for Hermione trying to fit in. The same acts, different treatment that's the whole freaking problem.
Anyway that was enough of that, uh, please support strong female characters who are well written and not treated badly by the narrative. Also indie authors and new upcoming authors! Especially the ones who treat their characters the same regardless of gender!
The recipient of the 2019 J. Paul Getty Medal discusses how understanding Cicero can help decipher the rise of populism
By ANNA SOMERS COCKS
“The world may be gaping in astonishment at the mess the UK is making with Brexit, but in the arts it can still hack it. Nearly half of this week’s Emmy awards went to British TV programmes, and Mary Beard, a professor of classics at Cambridge university who is one of the UK’s most distinguished academics and a household name because of her TV programmes, has won the J. Paul Getty Trust’s highest accolade, the J. Paul Getty Medal, together with the US artists Ed Ruscha and Lorna Simpson.”
