Feminist Icons
Added: April 30, 2006

Originally posted on NYRA forums on February 19, 2005.

Basically, another classic character is being revamped for purposes of "today's youth" being able to identify with her. No more always brilliant, always keen Nancy Drew. Now those features are dumbed down while she's now also vulnerable and emotional, apparently.

This sort of thing pisses me off. Like plenty of girls, I read these old mysteries when I was 11. Motherless daughter of a lawyer, she drove a convertible, had a supportive boyfriend and a couple of good friends who helped out in the mysteries usually in some way or another. She kept her head and her dignity in most situations. As already stated in this article, she was an all-around admirable character.

Jess's Bubblegum Culture rant touches on this sort of thing. What female role models are out there? None too respectable, that's for damn sure. Also makes me think of that Simpsons when Lisa is outraged by the sexism portrayed by the talking Malibu Stacy doll. More so, look at ANY female characters on sitcoms. Take your pick. They're all the same. They think they're smart and sophisticated but truth is they're nothing but shameless whores (who somehow never wind up pregnant or with an STD) with no sense of humor and certainly no ounce of intellectual thought. Truth is, good female roles could be out there, but you never see them because such a character is not as profitable as the empty-headed slut. Also touching on sitcoms, it implies that no matter how much you may think you better yourself, you're just going to end up tied down to a fat idiot slob for the rest of your life.

Where is the girl who is truly intelligent, has a good sense of humor, respects herself, is actually nice to her friends, doesn't whine all the time about everybody plotting against her, and treats everyone with decency? Things will be a lot better when it is widely accepted that women are just as collected and potent as men, and not the super-emotional eye candy standing off to the side crying to her equally super-emotional eye candy friends because she took a man's compliment about how she looked to be a sexist catcall about her breasts.


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