Female protagonists in media

[Cyrisnia]

I don't care who the main protagonist is as long as it doesn't turn into harem.

Harems are......somewhat disgusting.

[Geilinor]

Yes, obviously.

But I am all about female empowerment and equal rights.

Then why do you have a problem with empowered female protagonists?

[Quilavaland]

I couldn't care less about gender
There's a few things I like in a character, I like it if they use intelligence instead of physical strength, I like it if they are animals or have an affinity with animals and I like it if they develop over the course of the text/film :3
So Hiccup is pretty much my ultimate hero XD

[Torisakia]

I don't care who the main protagonist is as long as it doesn't turn into harem.

Harems are......somewhat disgusting.

Yes, very.

[Aeken]

Why do we need female protagonists?

Answer: we don't.

Do tell why we don't.

[The 54th Squadron]

But I am all about female empowerment and equal rights.

Then why do you have a problem with empowered female protagonists?

Lara Croft didn't show him enough.

[Ganos Lao]

I personally don't care what gender the protagonist is, only that their journey is interesting enough for me to get invested in.

[Othelos]

Why do we need female protagonists?

Answer: we don't.

why not?

[Bralia]

As far as books are concerned, I haven't read that many with female protagonists, due in no small part to the fact that above-average high fantasy has a serious shortage of those, but Arya and Sansa Stark, and Margaery and Olenna Tyrell, are amongst my favourite characters in the Song of Ice and Fire series.

No Brienne of Tarth in that mix? IMO, she's the best portrayed woman in the ASoIaF series. She literally has to fight to make her way through a male-dominated society.

[Wind in the Willows]

No, it doesn't make you a sexist. And why did you ask this on NSG anyway, you kinda already knew the response you would have got, you know considering this website is (unfortunately) majority left-winger.

[Tagmatium]

No, it doesn't make you a sexist. And why did you ask this on NSG anyway, you kinda already knew the response you would have got, you know considering this website is (unfortunately) majority left-winger.

There is also a more appropriate subforum for this.

[Ganos Lao]

Why do we need female protagonists?

Answer: we don't.

Why is that, exactly?

[Tagmatium]

Why do we need female protagonists?

Answer: we don't.

Why is that, exactly?

Because that way, we might think that women are real people.

[Hoyteca]

I tend to find male protagonists better written than female protagonists. Why?
-male characters are usually more flawed. There are more female Mary Sues, whose flaws are told to us rather than shown. It's hard to find a female that's not smarter than most of the male characters without said female falling into the "dumb blonde" stereotype.

-Far too many female characters are either asexual wives or hypersexual. In the real world, the latter group would have every std known to man.

-Lesbians tend to be added only because "girl on girl is hot". They are also too often hypersexual. It's treated as more acceptable than male homosexuality.

-They're too often "right". This goes along with my first complaint. Humans are often wrong. They make mistakes. Female humans should not be an exception. Having lady parts doesn't automatically grant someone wisdom in real life. It doesn't make a young, inexperienced girl as wise as a man that's had decades of mistakes to learn his lessons.

-They're often treated as better and more important than the males, despite often doing far less. And often proving to be a liability.

Are there female characters I like? Yes. I like Korra. She acts like a real teenager. She has a lot of good qualities, yes, but she doesn't fall into the Mary Sue trap. After she's established as hetero, she doesn't automatically try to get into Asami's pants like far too many "straight" female characters (if you want a lesbian character, make a lesbian character). Unlike Aang, who was raised by monks, she's quick to resort to physical methods of dealing with problems. She can be selfish, but she still cares for others. She feels like she could be a real person who just happens to have magical kung fu powers.

Samus Aran is another example if you ignore Other M. In the other games, she's professional. She's not trying to impress a daddy figure she hurt by leaving his command. In the manga, which takes place long before Other M, she experiences PTSD and learns to cope with it without turning into a panicky girl. She wears armor that's actually armor, not a glorified bikini. And she doesn't resort to T&A to get the job done. Because, in the Metroid world, insectoid aliens aren't aroused by female humans.

Zelda's turned into another example relatively recently. Starting with Ocarina of Time, she's doing things that don't involve being kidnapped. In that game, she was a ninja helping Link by providing him with information and teleportation songs. In Wind Waker, she spent half the game as a pirate captain and helped out in the final battle. In Twilight Princess, she's actually shown ruling her kingdom. Also, she helps out in the final battle. In Spirit Tracks, she's Link's ghostly companion that helps out throughout the entire game. In short, she went from a mere prize to be won at the end to someone who actually helps the guy saving her kingdom's collective ass.

[Mefpan]

I enjoy Touhou.

That is pretty much all I need to say to let you know what kind of characters in media I prefer.

Unless you don't know Touhou, at which point I'd have to tell you that it's a bullet hell game series where almost every character involved is female and possesses enough magical power to level a decently-sized city, even by accident.

Not saying I don't enjoy stories with grim-looking Commissars and their towering peaked caps fighting against Chaos heretics, but I guess for me the whole 'Male protagonist wipes floor with antagonist, proceeds to bed female lead along the way' is just so ridiculously overdone that they bore me.

[Greater Israelia]

Why do we need female protagonists?

Answer: we don't.

Do tell why we don't.

Tell me why we do.

[The 54th Squadron]

Do tell why we don't.

Tell me why we do.

Well, when there's a graphical glitch that doesn't even clothe females...

[Tagmatium]

Do tell why we don't.

Tell me why we do.

Tell me why we don't.

Honestly, does it matter what the gender of a protagonist is?

[Torisakia]

Do tell why we don't.

Tell me why we do.

To piss off misogynists.

Actually, because female protagonists can be quite as entertaining as male protagonists. And because it lowers the risk of harem.

[Solaray]

Tell me why we do.

Tell me why we don't.

Honestly, does it matter what the gender of a protagonist is?

I prefer males in video games, easier for me to identify with.

Otherwise, in comedy, which is my favorite genre, male characters tend to be better written for whatever reason.

But to say we don't need female protagonists is just ridiculous. I mean I guess technically we don't need them, but we really should have female protagonist.

[Tagmatium]

Tell me why we don't.

Honestly, does it matter what the gender of a protagonist is?

I prefer males in video games, easier for me to identify with.

Otherwise, in comedy, which is my favorite genre, male characters tend to be better written for whatever reason.

But to say we don't need female protagonists is just ridiculous. I mean I guess technically we don't need them, but we really should have female protagonist.

We don't "need" them in the same way we don't "need" male protagonists.

At least one of my favourite books Zoo City has a female protagonist. If it's well written, it shouldn't matter what the gender is.

It, ultimately, depends on the author and their ability.

[Solaray]

I prefer males in video games, easier for me to identify with.

Otherwise, in comedy, which is my favorite genre, male characters tend to be better written for whatever reason.

But to say we don't need female protagonists is just ridiculous. I mean I guess technically we don't need them, but we really should have female protagonist.

We don't "need" them in the same way we don't "need" male protagonists.

At least one of my favourite books Zoo City has a female protagonist. If it's well written, it shouldn't matter what the gender is.

It, ultimately, depends on the author and their ability.

That's what I was getting at. We don't need any protagonists. Not if you use "need" at its most literal. But we should certainly have female protagonists. I tend to prefer male protagonist from a personal standpoint, but I'm not opposed to female protagonists nor do I avoid media with female protagonists.

[The Sotoan Union]

Do tell why we don't.

Tell me why we do.

Because we can. So we would need a reason not to make female characters.

[Cyrisnia]

Why do we need female protagonists?

Answer: we don't.

Explain, please.

[Cetacea]

I wasnt too keen on girl Starbuck in the new Battlestar but otherwise I find it irrelevant. Afterall I dont think Aliens would be improved if Ripley were male and of course the reveal that Metroid is a girl is now considered iconic.