PresentationPDF Available

Action Girls Are Doing It for Themselves: Weaponized Femininity in Female-Authored Works for Young Women

July 2019

DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.17903.48806

Conference: PortCon Maine

Authors:

Brandeis University

Weaponized femininity is a trope wherein the terms of femininity are depicted as a source of empowerment. Action heroines who employ this trope use femininity to their advantage, possess powers characterized by femininity, or remain hyperfeminine while engaging in physical combat or mental strength on par with men. Contemporary criticism of weaponized femininity is divisive; some interpret the trope as subversive for challenging the active-male/passive-female dichotomy, while others cite the hypersexualization of action heroines as evidence that weaponized femininity is merely a vehicle for objectification. However, existing criticism rarely questions how female authorship and readership influence depictions of weaponized femininity. To assert the feminist political potential of weaponized femininity, this article analyses its function in two female-authored works for female audiences: ABC’s Marvel’s Agent Carter and the Japanese manga Sailor Moon. The depictions of weaponized femininity in these series serve to reflect female experience, as evident in the role girls and women play in creating and interpreting their narratives. The presence of women at the level of production and the focus given to female audiences see these respective works use weaponized femininity as a tool to comment upon sexism, sexuality, and the gendered dynamics of action genres.

ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.

ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.

Research

Full-text available

Action Girls Are Doing It for Themselves: Weaponized Femininity in Female-Authored Works for Young W...

July 2019

Nicole Veneto

Weaponized femininity is a trope wherein the terms of femininity are depicted as a source of empowerment. Action heroines who employ this trope use femininity to their advantage, possess powers characterized by femininity, or remain hyperfeminine while engaging in physical combat or mental strength on par with men. Contemporary criticism of weaponized femininity is divisive; some interpret the ... [Show full abstract] trope as subversive for challenging the active-male/passive-female dichotomy, while others cite the hypersexualization of action heroines as evidence that weaponized femininity is merely a vehicle for objectification. However, existing criticism rarely questions how female authorship and readership influence depictions of weaponized femininity. To assert the feminist political potential of weaponized femininity, this article analyses its function in two female-authored works for female audiences: ABC’s Marvel’s Agent Carter and the Japanese manga Sailor Moon. The depictions of weaponized femininity in these series serve to reflect female experience, as evident in the role girls and women play in creating and interpreting their narratives. The presence of women at the level of production and the focus given to female audiences see these respective works use weaponized femininity as a tool to comment upon sexism, sexuality, and the gendered dynamics of action genres.

Article

The Maiden Switch: New Possibilities for Understanding Japanese Shōjo Manga (Girls’ Comics)

September 2017 · Asian Studies Review

This paper aims to expand the scope of studies of Japanese shōjo manga (girls’ comics) by examining early 1980s and 1990s shōjo manga that were primarily targeted at the youngest band of readers, stories with early adolescent heroines in light, romantic, and fairytale-like narratives. These have been paid comparatively little scholarly attention thus far compared with texts that enact more ... [Show full abstract] explicit gender subversion, such as stories that feature same-sex male love and cross-dressed fighting girls. We argue, however, that the “maidenesque” (otomechikku) subgenres enact complex and fascinating versions of girlhood. Furthermore, we propose that these neglected manga benefit especially from an analysis that prioritises the visual dimensions of shōjo manga. We apply these suggestions to our analysis of fashion and aesthetic in heretofore neglected “maidenesque” works by Takase Ryō. Rather than simply maintaining conservative norms of femininity and heterosexual romance, these works explore gender issues within the “safe” trappings of girlishness. Examining the visual and textual dimensions of such works is vital for a more accurate picture of girlhood and gender as it is more broadly imagined in shōjo manga.

Article

When girls draw the sword: Dansō , cross-dressing and gender subversion in Japanese shōjo manga

March 2021 · Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture

Marta Fanasca

This article focuses on the representation of FtM cross-dresser characters in Japanese shōjo manga and their gender performances. The first cross-dresser heroine in manga is Sapphire, the main character from 1953s Ribon no kishi. Following this first example, similar characters have continued to appear in shōjo manga, obtaining very positive responses from the audience. While they are seen as ... [Show full abstract] rebellious characters challenging stereotypical views on gender in the Japanese society, the narratives where they appear do not always fully explore this aspect. The aim of this article is to investigate the role of cross-dresser heroines in manga as a tool to reinforce the sociocultural patriarchal status quo and as a different gender embodiment outside stereotyped femininity. It argues that the possibility for those characters to occupy powerful positions and succeed is related to masculinity, symbolized by the sword, stressing how ultimately their revolutionary potential is weakened and limited.

Book

Victorian Women Writers and the Classics: The Feminine of Homer

January 2006

Isobel Hurst

This book brings together two lines of enquiry in recent criticism: the reception of ancient Greece and Rome, and women as writers and readers in the 19th century. A classical education has been characterized as almost an exclusively male prerogative, but women writers had a greater imaginative engagement with classical literature than has previously been acknowledged. To offer a more accurate ... [Show full abstract] impression of the influence of the classics in Victorian women's literary culture, women's difficulties in gaining access to classical learning are explored through biographical and fictional representations of the development of women's education from solitary study at home to compulsory classics at university. The restrictions which applied to women's classical learning liberated them from the repressive and sometimes alienating effects of a traditional classical education, enabling women writers to produce distinctive literary responses to the classical tradition. Women readers focused on image, plot, and character rather than grammar, leading to imaginative and often subversive reworkings of classical texts. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot have been granted an exceptional status as 19th-century female classicists. This book places them in a literary tradition in which revising classical narratives in forms such as the novel and the dramatic monologue offered women the opportunity to express controversial ideas. The reworking of classical texts serves a variety of purposes: to validate women's claims to authorship, to demand access to education, to highlight feminist issues through the heroines of ancient tragedy, and to repudiate the warrior ethos of ancient epic.