These days, a heroine who sits on a silken cushion, weeping gently into a lace handkerchief, her tears sparkling in her eyes, her nose never becoming red, while she waits patiently for chapter after chapter until the hero overcomes all ills and rescues her, is frowned upon.
So are long, run-on sentences like the one above. Both sentences like the above one, and heroines as described therein, used to be the mainstay of romance. No longer.
Today’s heroine is permitted to have red eyes and a nose to rival Rudolph’s if she cries. But more importantly, she is expected to be digging her way out of the dungeon with a spoon, while pretending to sit on her silken cushion. Or even better, slapping her guard upside the head with a brick inside in the cushion and escaping all by herself.
Women are no longer a man’s property, and part of that empowerment means the heroine is expected to be an active leader in the story. The hero is still Alpha, but the heroine is no doormat, or piece of property. She makes him work for everything she permits him to have and is right beside him, as they save the world together.
So answer me this riddle? Why is it so rare to have a female werewolf or vampire who turns the Alpha human male? Why do male vampires and werewolves still turn human heroines?
Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com
5 comments:
Because as far as we've come as women there is a barrier that some women will not, even in books, let other women cross. They see only the man as being dominant enough to make chnge - which is crazy considering women are the catalyst for change.
Very true. It does seem as though other women are just as likely to try to keep women down as men.
Helen
Because it's fiction and in the fantasy world, a lot of women still like the feeling of being whisked off their feet and rescued from the mundane world. That's why they'll always sell.
Yes, that makes sense too. We all need to escape from reality some days.
Helen
Hah! Timing is everything. In one of my current wips, SHE's the thing while HE's trotting along after, trying to keep up. YES!
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