Whenever I write a book I think about the hero and how he is this take-charge guy, saving everyone and everything and how the heroine is that same way. I also appreciate that it hasn't always been so, that heroines used to cower in the corner and tell the hero to be careful.
So, how did the heroine in books get to be the hero's equal? It took a while.
In mythology the heroines are pretty gutsy gals. Athena is the goddess of war, and got a city named after her. Helen started that Trojan War and got condoms named after her, both pretty heady stuff. But even in mythology women were important mostly because they were some man's wife or mother or they were drop-dead gorgeous.
Things were even worse in fairytales. Little Red listened to a wolf. How stupid is that...though she did have great clothes with that cool hood and nifty basket. Cinderella, Snow White and a host of other dumb girls made really stupid choices...eating apples from strangers, following strangers into the woods, sleeping in strangers' beds...and they had to be rescued by men.
Shakespeare had some feisty heroines but they had to be that way because their parts were played by men. No gals on stage so Bill wrote with the male actors in mind. Shakespeare's heroines were really heroes in drag.
In Victorian times we get Jane Austin and smart women because we have a woman writing about women. In Jane's stories the heroines know how to manipulate the male dominated system to get what the women want. That's progress because women are not victims. Except at this time we also get the age of the grand operas where the only good heroine is a dead heroine. Progress lost.
In World War I the role of the man as hero is epitomized because we have real honest-to-goodness war heroes. But in 1937 something happens that changes the role of women forever. They get to vote. This is huge and is followed by WWII and Rosie Riveter. Women are now running the country because the men are off to war. They are making decisions other than what's for dinner and what should we name the new baby. Women are out of the kitchen, never going back, and want to read about women doing the same.
This brings us to Gone With The Wind and Scarlett's story of how she saved herself and her family. Scarlett O'Hara is the first real heroine! She is truly any man's equal...and then some.
Girls growing up in the fifties read Nancy Drew, girl detective, who solved mysteries for her father. Every girl read Nancy Drew and wanted to be Nancy Drew. She was smarter then any man in the story.
The sixties were a time of change and women not only burned their bras but took charge of their lives and realized they could be anything they wanted. Movies like Charlie's Angels and Aliens where Ripley saves the day and the little girl were popular. In Star Wars, Princess Leia was the top dog taking charge firing weapons telling the men what to do and how to do it. Leia set the pace for heroines evermore.
Today we get women characters as President of the US. Now that's really progress! Even the women living on Wisteria Lane are stay-at-home moms with attitude. Heroines have come a long, long way. They inspire, motivate, follow their own heart and head and take no grief from anyone. Their days of waiting to be rescued are gone for good.
