Strong Female Characters are a Compulsion

We may choose to not believe it, but gender does affect reading. Even critically acclaimed books with strong female protagonists like Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones, contain more male characters than female. A book about women that isn't a book about love simply isn't normal. In today’s world, we need more books that tell tales of girls learning to be themselves the way that many girls growing up today will: alone. Strong female characters are a role model for young girls. Pride and Prejudice, a classic novel, is a strong example of this. The female protagonist is strong and doesn’t adhere to conventions when it comes to something she believes in, and that was during the 19th century.

But, strong female characters are even more important for boys than girls. Supergirl, a show featuring Superman's biological cousin, is immensely popular among youngsters. This is just an example that female protagonists are becoming more and more common, not only in entertainment aimed at girls, but in the massive blockbusters historically marketed to adolescent boys. In other words, we’re raising a generation of boys who think that watching a show about a female superhero is no big deal.

Influential fictional women have shown us what empowerment looks like. This is mainly because fictional female characters have already fought and conquered battlegrounds that women are still fighting in real life.

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