[Poggio]

It is my opinion that stereotypes are small truths reflected upon society’s behavior that then become generalizations that were recycled from the original stereotype. I am amused at how fast everyone is quick to point out the Disney princesses character flaws given that for a long time women were pretty much these princesses: Domestic homebodies that had the responsibilities of the house hold. That Disney is generally the first exposure to manners children have. And that with each new wave of artist/writers the characters generally get a makeover. Once upon a time the princesses were Cinderella, Snow white and Aura. In my age it was Belle, Jasmine, and Arielle. I am not including Mulan and Pocahontas. They are not actually princesses but historical figures. Now the children have Tiana, Sofia, Raphanzel and the Sisters from Frozen.


As far as books go… with the exception of YA fiction I have not read a novel series were the main female lead does not go from awesome to slutface. It may be that I like the wrong type of books. It just bothers me when Romance becomes the man focus of a story to where it debilitates any awesome aspects of the female lead. As if that is the reason she only exist negating all of her bad-assery I do tend to identify with tragic females that have lost something and use that as empowerment. Though book wise I cannot give a good example. Most of the items I have read as of late have been male narratives, with the exception of the last Tad Williams book I read.


As for males, again they are boiled down too and more then often the writing doesn’t delve into a males character it just goes for the males action. I really think that is just a product of today’s writing. The last book I read felt like a list of actions the characters were going through. As far as males go though I think the trend Is less so making them bravdo and more so either going for lackluster sex god (who is the prettiest damn thing on earth but just boring. Why females want some jackass snark I don’t even know. ) or trying to be anti heroic. I can say that men of my fathers age are seen less in novels now. I tend to read more about emotionally charged men then I care to and less of the strong stoic archetypes.

I do not think there is such a thing as gender neutrality. An individual can be in real life but in popular media, the dollar runs the world and if a character is not identifiable it usually doesn’t work. I have also never met a person truly gender neutral. Some social aspects of either gender tend to be bred into us from when we are little. And while the spectrum of gender has more shades now I think its still too hard to completely find a grey. People will make assumptions based on gender, characters will react to a situation differently based on their upbringing as that specified gender. It would be hard to undo 2000 years of social constructs, as well as more if you believe certain aspects of religion.