Today, I've got Jenna Bennett discussing the Non-asskicking heroines and why they need to exist as well.
Once upon a time, just after
the original release of Fortune’s Hero
back in 2012, the heroine in that book was featured on a list of non-kickbutt
heroines in science fiction romance.
Yes, you read that correctly.
NON-kickbutt.
Elsa Brandeis is a doctor. A
medical doctor. Quite good at what she does. Good enough to be chosen by the
venerable Doctor Sterling to be his most favored assistant, thus making her second
in command to the chief of medicine—AKA chief torturer—in the penal colony on
the moon Marica-3.
She’s also, according to
Quinn Conlan, the hero of Fortune’s Hero,
“tight-assed, militant, and frigid,” as well as quite beautiful.
What she isn’t, is kickbutt.
She’s a doctor. A scientist. Brainy and cerebral, mostly uninterested in what
goes on outside the lab. She dresses in lab coats and ugly sack-like dresses in
dull colors, along with lace-up shoes and what Quinn calls “granny-wear”—white
synthetic underthings. There isn’t a silver bikini anywhere in the book, let
alone a pair of thigh-high boots.
She doesn’t carry a weapon, and wouldn’t know how to use one if she did. She certainly wouldn’t have any
idea how to pilot a spaceship or save the world. Not unless the world was dying
of bubonic plague. That she might be able to do something about.
I didn’t make her this way
because I have anything against kickbutt heroines, in SFR or anywhere else. I
quite enjoy them, in their place.
I do think, however, that
there’s a tendency to think that every heroine in the future will be—or should
be—kickbutt. Soldier. Mercenary. Galactic bounty hunter.
And it makes sense, in a way.
It’s the future, after all, and women won’t have to abide by outdated gender
roles. We’ll have the freedom to be all that we can be, in the future. We’ll be
equal. Anything men can do, we can do too, and better. At least in the pages of
a book.
Nothing wrong with a woman
who wants to kick butt and restore order to the universe. If that’s what blows
her skirt up—pun totally intended—more power to her. Someone has to do it, and
it might as well be a woman. And I do sincerely hope—and like the idea
of—societies in the future wherein women really are equal, in all ways that
matter.
But women are not all
kickbutt, any more than all men are. Some of us don’t want to be. Some of us
want to be doctors instead. Or nurses. Or accountants. Or writers.
And there’s nothing wrong
with that. A lot of the time, when traveling through space and settling new
worlds, I suspect doctors and nurses will be a lot more useful than fighters.
With a few exceptions—wildlife and wild-eyed aliens—the planets probably won’t
fight back much of the time. Not in a way that a kickbutt heroine could deal
with.
A doctor, on the other
hand... a doctor could be very useful. Or a nurse. A geologist. Or a biologist.
Someone has to examine all the flora and fauna and decide what’s edible and
what’s not, right?
Or how about an architect?
New worlds have to be settled, after all, and buildings have to be built. Someone
has to design them.
And farmers... don’t get me
started on farmers. Everyone has to eat. The food has to come from somewhere,
and that means someone will have to farm the land. I’d hate to try to settle a
new world without a few farmers in the party. And a few doctors and nurses.
So let’s hear it for non-kickbutt
heroines, shall we? And while we’re at it, non-kickbutt heroes, too. Let’s hear
it for the people who build worlds instead of destroying them, and who save
lives instead of taking them. Let’s hear it for diversity, of gender, of color,
and of personality. A future where the meek may inherit Earth, but the geeks
rule the universe.
Who’s with me?
New York Times
and USA Today bestselling author
Jenna Bennett writes the Do It Yourself home renovation mysteries for Berkley
Prime Crime and the Cutthroat Business mysteries for her own gratification. She
also writes a variety of romance for a change of pace, including the
award-winning Soldiers of Fortune science fiction romance series. For more
information, please visit Jenna’s website, www.jennabennett.com
