women in war

[marycatelli]

Two screeds on the topic:

Against Tiny Kung Fu Women: A Polemic

and

Verisimilitude and the Woman Warrior, With Some Relevance to Fantasy Tropes

Me, when I put a woman in battle, she's either a wizard or a cringing little thing who thereby lures the other guy into dropping his guard and then stabs him.

But I notice that in the discussion of fighting, no one mentions the real reason why the women weren't fighting.

Because they were either pregnant or nursing, neither of which mix well with war.  On average, a woman in medieval Europe was pregnant ten times.  This resulted in, on average, two children who lived to adulthood.  Took up a good chunk of her adulthood that way.

Sure, you can finesse it, most pseudo-medieval settings do have some kind of healing, but then, as long as it's pastoral, they are going to want more children.  More hands to work. Your only form of old-age insurance.  etc.

Besides, childbirth is hazardous to the health.  Why should women have risk their lives on the battlefield, too?

Comments

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

This is pretty much my perspective as well. But, hey, if it's fantasy, there should be room for the fantastical, however implausible.

[marycatelli]

Eh, as long as we're going to the fantastic, what's wrong with a fireball? Much prettier, too. 0:)

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

My own response, exactly. Why bother being a woman with a sword when most men are going to be as well-trained as you and have the advantage of muscle and speed all over again? Why not be a mage, where the men have no advantage at all?

[(Anonymous)]

Because you watched way too many fantasy cartoons as a child where the girl always was the mage, and never got to actually do anything effective with her magic because Network Practices objected to stuff like that? So you began to associate "female magic-user" with "captured every five minutes by every lame monster in six counties"?

[marycatelli]

Since I never watched any fantasy cartoons as a child, your speculation is obviously off-base.

Not to mention -- somewhat strange.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

You're right. That would be a problem.

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. Good reading, both your thoughts and the blog posts you linked to.

[marycatelli]

Glad you like it!