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Original poster

Your fictional feminist heroines

77 replies

CaptainNancyBlackett · 16/08/2011 12:41

(dittany here)

Literature and fiction are some of the few places where decent female role models can exist for women and girls, because women who live in an imaginary world can be free of quite a lot of sexism and patriarchal control. Fiction is definitely one of the places that inspired me and also helped me see that there could be another world where women could be strong and admirable and live life on their own terms. That they could be the kind of people you'd want to be yourself.

I was thinking about this because I was remembering how much I loved Captain Nancy Blackett after listening to a radio programme about Arthur Ransome and Swallows and Amazons. What could be better than being an Amazon pirate sailing in the Lake District, taking out wishy washy Swallows? She was just so exciting.

So who are your favourite feminist heroines from fiction (they don't have to be self-proclaimed feminists and fiction doesn't just have to be literature) and what do they mean to you?

(I'm giving this name back to the real Captain Nancy after this thread)

OP posts:
MooncupGoddess · 16/08/2011 13:09

Brilliant idea for a thread. Nancy Blackett was one of my first female heroines, after my mother read me Swallows and Amazons when I was six or seven. I acquired a pair of knickerbockers in an attempt to be like her, they were my favourite item of clothing for ages until they wore through.

I suggest Flora Poste from Cold Comfort Farm - absolutely no nonsense, no sentimentality, she sees what needs doing and strides in to do it, wrapping all the useless Starkadder men and women round her little finger. She does get together with a chap at the end but it's very tangential to the plot.

queenofthemojavewasteland · 16/08/2011 13:04

Terry Pratchett writes some amazing feminist characters.

The witches, particularly Granny Weatherwax, are so strong, funny and seem to run rings around any (male or female) person who tries to hold them back.

I loved Sergeant Angua because even though she is beautiful, the writing is much more focused on her work in the watch and her usefulness there.

I have far to many examples to mention just now, i'll have to think more and come back.