I hate “feisty” female characters, particularly the Rebellious Princess.  I liked Jasmin (from Aladdin) well enough because her rebellion fueled the story aside from being just a character trait, but the trope of “rich/powerful/beautiful and still disgruntled” smacks too often to me of Cursed With Awesome and/or “Wangsty.”  I mean, really.  Thousands of little girls across the world want to be princesses and these characters have to whine about it?

I guess the big thing that bugs me about the Rebellious Princess is the brashness.  I’m not a brash person.  I don’t like brash people.  I just don’t.  They’re loud and pushy and startle me and I find their personalities obnoxious.

Still, American women seem to have embraced the rebellious, brash, feisty woman.

Embraced a little too hard, in fact, like that’s the only acceptable female role model anymore.  It bugs me because it seems to be a hard pendulum swing away from the modest and demure female archetype society pressed on us in the past.  Thus demure became taboo as a role model because it doesn’t “empower” young girls.

And yet, by denying more feminine female characters their place, haven’t we disempowered young women who are demure by nature?  Isn’t it equally important to encourage self-respect in young women who don’t fit the ideal America has envisioned for them? And isn’t one way of empowering these young women giving them their own role models to look up to?

I read (somewhere) that while the tomboy role model (Ranma 1/2’s Akane) is popular in Japan, the housewifey role model (Ranma 1/2’s Kasumi) is equally popular; yet housewifey characters are hated in the US due to their previous overuse and social implications.

So perhaps my real gripe here is that the role models I’ve been given aren’t easy for me to relate to, or even (as a writer) that an entire character type has been booted from our culture for no other reason than appearances and backlash.

I’m not asking for the old ways back.  I just want a greater assortment of strong female role models in our culture without bigotry or prejudice insinuating itself.  I spent my youth trying to conform to the available tomboyish role models while secretly pining for pink notebooks and My Little Pony t-shirts.  I felt oppressed by the role models given me, like I wasn’t allowed to be girly.  It took marrying Alex (irony) to feel enough freedom to delve into cute skirts and pink mouse pads.  I still Pwn Face with the boys in video games, but I’m not afraid anymore to also collect the game’s pretty dresses and cute pets and gush over them.

And that’s what I want the girls of today and tomorrow to know:

It’s okay to be yourself, even if society doesn’t approve.