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beccastareyesJust because you are at the top of the dogpile doesn't mean you are in charged. Conversely, just because you are not royalty, doesn't mean you don't have power.
Have you ever noticed that much of bad fantasy involves the young and royal? Now, to some extent, I understand this -- most fantays is medevial, and the lower-class folks didn't have much mobility to go adventuring. But, most of them seem to assume that the king/queen is the one in charge of the country and that, say, women are forbidden from assuming the throne, then the country must be OMG!horribly opressive and that the women there must all either be brainwashed slaves of the patriarchy or stifled under the thumbs of the oppressors. Most of these people also seem to assume that if a female cannot kick the butt of a male character, or is, *gasp* not focused on combat at all, she must be a weak character and deserving of scorn.
Reminds me aof a stroy. We were discussing Things Fall Apart (the author's name escapes me, save that I remember he's Nigerian, and that world history classes love to use the book as a suppliment -- I've read it in my last two), specifically gender roles. This pretty much amounted to 'men get the power and women get the scraps' -- ah the fun of examining gender roles through our modern tints. Then I asked "What about the priestess? If she says the supernatural forces don't like something, even the chief listens and jumps to correct it." No one, not even the professor, had thought about it like that.
I'm working on converting some of the worldbuilding material I did for my comic for a fantasy setting (probably 19th century technology, with high magic supplimenting it -- I don't care for medevial settings). I usually describe it as a materiarchy (I'm trying to make sure it doesn't fall into either the 'Amazon Warriors' cliche or the 'Enlightened Sisters of Nature' one), but it's more that they have a highly rigid set of gender roles... and they lean towards matriarchy. Basically, the only way men can get power in the setting is through the military -- the military is considered beneath women, as any idiot can swing a sword or fire a gun, but things like politcs and trade take intelligence and tact -- or the unreliable route of becoming a priest or a mage (two of the few jobs that both sexes are allowed to do) and fighting one's way past the 'Old Girls' Club' and gender stereotypes. The last two are unlikely, but have been known to happen, especially if I pick a time when the rate of change and growth in society are starting to pick up. The Queen is traditionally advised by a council of the leader of the main religion, the head of the military, the leader of the mage's guild, and a representative from the parliment (presently, usually a merchant or scholar, but, it used to be a noble). That means, at least one of the advisors to the Queen is male. Consider when the first female appointee to the US Cabinet was. (Here's a hint, it didn't happen before 1900)
But, reverse my genders for a second. Then imagine I was a popular published author. I would have Mary Sue writers up the wall with noble young ladies fighting the opression of their parents and finding true love in a culture where the sexes are equal -- probably with a handsome prince. Never mind that there are ways for both genders to amass power that work in-setting.
I wish more people would look not at who's at the top, but who's actually running things. The Emperor of Japan is the n-th descendant of the Sun Goddess and the head of the Shinto faith. However, for most of jpana's history, he was little more than a puppet figure -- heck, during the Feudal Era, the Shogun was about as ineffectual as the emperor.
Have you ever noticed that much of bad fantasy involves the young and royal? Now, to some extent, I understand this -- most fantays is medevial, and the lower-class folks didn't have much mobility to go adventuring. But, most of them seem to assume that the king/queen is the one in charge of the country and that, say, women are forbidden from assuming the throne, then the country must be OMG!horribly opressive and that the women there must all either be brainwashed slaves of the patriarchy or stifled under the thumbs of the oppressors. Most of these people also seem to assume that if a female cannot kick the butt of a male character, or is, *gasp* not focused on combat at all, she must be a weak character and deserving of scorn.
Reminds me aof a stroy. We were discussing Things Fall Apart (the author's name escapes me, save that I remember he's Nigerian, and that world history classes love to use the book as a suppliment -- I've read it in my last two), specifically gender roles. This pretty much amounted to 'men get the power and women get the scraps' -- ah the fun of examining gender roles through our modern tints. Then I asked "What about the priestess? If she says the supernatural forces don't like something, even the chief listens and jumps to correct it." No one, not even the professor, had thought about it like that.
I'm working on converting some of the worldbuilding material I did for my comic for a fantasy setting (probably 19th century technology, with high magic supplimenting it -- I don't care for medevial settings). I usually describe it as a materiarchy (I'm trying to make sure it doesn't fall into either the 'Amazon Warriors' cliche or the 'Enlightened Sisters of Nature' one), but it's more that they have a highly rigid set of gender roles... and they lean towards matriarchy. Basically, the only way men can get power in the setting is through the military -- the military is considered beneath women, as any idiot can swing a sword or fire a gun, but things like politcs and trade take intelligence and tact -- or the unreliable route of becoming a priest or a mage (two of the few jobs that both sexes are allowed to do) and fighting one's way past the 'Old Girls' Club' and gender stereotypes. The last two are unlikely, but have been known to happen, especially if I pick a time when the rate of change and growth in society are starting to pick up. The Queen is traditionally advised by a council of the leader of the main religion, the head of the military, the leader of the mage's guild, and a representative from the parliment (presently, usually a merchant or scholar, but, it used to be a noble). That means, at least one of the advisors to the Queen is male. Consider when the first female appointee to the US Cabinet was. (Here's a hint, it didn't happen before 1900)
But, reverse my genders for a second. Then imagine I was a popular published author. I would have Mary Sue writers up the wall with noble young ladies fighting the opression of their parents and finding true love in a culture where the sexes are equal -- probably with a handsome prince. Never mind that there are ways for both genders to amass power that work in-setting.
I wish more people would look not at who's at the top, but who's actually running things. The Emperor of Japan is the n-th descendant of the Sun Goddess and the head of the Shinto faith. However, for most of jpana's history, he was little more than a puppet figure -- heck, during the Feudal Era, the Shogun was about as ineffectual as the emperor.
