“Strong Female Characters” Arguments

If someone says “strong female character,” they are usually talking about a character who is the opposite of a “damsel in distress,” and is more than just a love interest for a male character. She takes action on her own, and is more than just a plot device.

However, like all things, she is not without her controversies.

• If a woman has any sort of physical strength, some will yell “that is unrealistic.”
• If she needs rescuing, some will yell “women shouldn’t have to be saved.”
• There is the idea that for a female character to be strong, they have to also be able to fight.

Its a complex topic, and you are more than welcome to not agree with me. What is below just happens to be my personal opinions on the subject.

Women Can Be Stronger Than Average Men

Let’s get the big one out of the way first: yes, on average men are stronger and taller when compared to the average woman. However, there are women who are stronger and taller than the average man, because averages are not absolutes.

Becca Swanson: 694.4 lb (315.0 kg) Deadlift	Average Man of The Same Weight: 96 lbs
Zeng Jinlian: 246.3 cm (8 ft 1 in)	Average Man: 167.2 cm (5 ft 6 in)

The men’s world records for strength and height are larger numbers, but the main issue people seem to have is often with what is considered averages. If a stronger-than-average female character were to out-strength an average man in a story, people would call it “unrealistic.”

It is true that on average men are stronger than women, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be allowed to have a female character that sits outside the average. It doesn’t mean there will be no one stronger than her in the story, just that she sits above the average.

On average, women are more flexible than men, but it is unlikely anyone would even notice if you had a male character be more flexible than the average woman. Similarly, I am a rather fit woman, and, shamefully, I can’t touch my toes without bending my legs. Averages are not absolutes.

Being Physically Weaker Is Fine

When people think “strong female character” a lot of people will think that means either physical strength or fighting ability. This leads to female characters with no training jumping into fights against men with training, and yet somehow she wins. I understand her not wanting to just stand there, but having her fight and win against masses of seasoned fighters can feel off.

In Irish mythology Scáthach is a legendary female warrior who trains fighters at Dún Scáith on the Isle of Skye (Scotland). If you were to write that as a character, you’ve already implied she has training and experience, so I would be fine with reading it.

However, if you have a castle under attack and the pampered princess picks up a sword and somehow doesn’t instantly die, that comes off as a little odd to me. Even people with a lot of fighting experience struggle while fighting more than one person at a time. Sure there is “natural talent” but even that only goes so far. Instead, she could be rescued, or she could find a different way to fight.

Physical strength is not the only way to win a fight. For example, what Ripply from Alien and Mulan from Disney’s Animated Mulan have in common is that both the main characters end up with an opponent that is bigger and stronger, so Ripply and Mulan use their intellect and creativity to win. They are still strong characters, just not the strongest in the physical sense, and they get by without it.

Another strong character is Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle. In it, a young woman is cursed into old age, and fights to find the place she fits in. In her shoes, many people would simply give up, but she never does. The three strengths that help her through her adventure are her empathy for others, facing her fears, and learning to love herself. The plot would not continue and the other characters would not be saved without her.

Being Rescued

Just as there is nothing wrong with a woman being strong, there is also nothing wrong with weakness, and there is no shame in needing to be rescued. Everyone needs help sometimes, and humans tend to thrive in communities for a reason; we are supposed to help each other. However, some people seem to think (for both male and female characters) that being rescued even once cancels out all the other moments of prior strength, so they instead have their favourite character be unstoppable.

There is a market for “power fantasy” stories where the goal is to have the main character be so perfect, that the readers never have to worry. However, for stories where this is not the goal and seemingly happens unintentionally (perhaps thanks to character favouritism on the writers part), it can turn some readers away.

Being rescued even once shows how big the danger really is (raising the stakes), and shows that the other characters in your story are actually there for a reason.

For an example of what I don’t like, one story I read had two main characters — a male and female — and the female character did all the rescuing and got all the flashy scenes, while the male character was just the romantic interest in distress outside of using a little magic. Both characters were portrayed as main characters, but instead of creating a balance where they help each other as a team, the male character barely needed to be there at all.

In my opinion, a good team of characters has a balance of helping each other, otherwise you might as well just have one main character on a solo quest.