The Feminist Hero: A Guest Post by Landra Graf AND a fabulous giveaway
Thank you to All About Romance for hosting me today.
Today I want to discuss something near and dear to my heart, the feminist hero. How often we’ve read the alpha male, the alpha-hole, the beta and several other male character archetypes— I can say I’m drawn to alpha’s (swoon). As I started on this writing journey I believed my future was in writing alpha males, typical to the ones I’d read in the past. The problem is my heroes were never going to be true to their contemporaries.
They aren’t always beta or alpha, and it appeared they fell somewhere in between. Rough and tough when they needed to be, sensitive to their feelings, defenders of those bullied or under attack, and often found themselves doing the opposite of what other males in their life tell them they should do.
I essentially found myself writing a feminist hero, an ally. The type of hero who’s not perfect, but will defend a woman who’s being harassed and not make disparaging remarks or blame a woman’s clothing choice for. Each time I don’t plan it, but it happens. And my editor’s, critique partners, and beta readers are helping me even in more ways to find elements of my hero’s actions and words that may represent toxic masculinity. Growing up around seeing those things portrayed in our culture and through our actions, it’s sometimes difficult for me to recognize those elements seeping in unknowingly.
My latest release, Bona Fide Beauty, features my first feminist hero named Devid (close friends call him Dev). As an image consultant, he loves to help woman unlock their fears when it comes to clothing choices, confidence, and many other strengths they may possess but can’t access. He doesn’t believe he’s their savior. The process is about getting them to see what they already know but may have lost due to lack of self-esteem or loss of confidence.
The experience is sobering, rewarding, and in the end, I love to see my heroes empower the women around them, including their heroines. As a writer and avid reader, I’m always on the lookout for more authors or romance books that feature feminist heroes. For a chance at a gift pack of 3 contemporary romance books and a $15 Victoria Secret gift card, share your favorite feminist hero below in the comments or something you’d like to see a feminist hero do.
And, here’s a little more about my latest release and my hero, Dev.
She’s going to lose her house.
Kathleen Baum has four months to complete the city’s required code changes to her grandma’s home. Otherwise, she loses it. Strapped for cash, Kat’s only way to get the funds is to bargain with her devil cousin. She agrees to an unwanted makeover, but she’s not good at taking direction, pretend or not.
He’s going to lose his business.
Devid Esposito has worked all his life to build a successful image consulting company, but if he doesn’t start bringing in new clients the business will be bankrupt in three months. The board is ready to oust him when his partner, Kat’s cousin, enters with the opportunity to get his mojo back; all he needs to do is help Kat, with a makeover. Unfortunately, Dev doesn’t take on female clients anymore since the last one broke his heart and used his tips against him.
When they find out they have a common enemy, his heart-breaking client is her code-breaking-whistleblower, and the easiest way to bring the foe down is to accept the other’s help. Losing their hearts to each other was the one thing they didn’t plan for.
Landra Graf consumes at least one book a day, and has always been a sucker for stories where true love conquers all. She believes in the power of the written word, and the joy such words can bring. In between spending time with her family and having book adventures, she writes romance with the goal of giving everyone, fictional or not, their own happily ever after.
Romance, (while my favorite genre hands down) can get repetitive at times. Which is why I am always looking for a new angle. I may have to check this one out. If your looking for something new, I just finished a new title, Escapades by Lily Atlas. Steaminess factor was high but it’s between a married couple struggling to save their marriage. After enduring ultimate tragedy. Atlas captures gut wrenching struggles, passion and the hope. It was a roller coaster, I couldn’t put it down, grab the tissue box! I found it here, http://www.lilyatlas.com
To me, a feminist hero does two things: actually encouraging the heroine’s motivations and goals no matter how inconvenient it might be to him, and not forcing her to do things – from sexual encounters to dating him to staying in the relationship, he lets her say yes or no on her own terms. I shouldn’t be reading contemps where men controlling what sort of birth control the heroine uses is seen as some kind of alpha gesture toward romantic protectiveness, yet I am and have.
When you consider the first modern romances– by Woodiweiss, Rosemary Rogers, and others–romances have come a long, long way. I, like many people, bought them. They were the only game in town,. Publishers took these sales to model endless romances after them, so we had almost a generation of heroes who were terrible, terrible human beings. Fortunately, you almost never see these kind of heroes in romances today. They have evolved to the alpha hero who comes with one terrific advantage: he supplies instant tension, needed by these books. Will he take out his revenge on her father on the innocent and helpless heroine? Will he override her wishes “for her own good”? Will he advance in politics or his business at the expense of the heroine? Will he even SEE the heroine accurately? See: easy tension and even structure. However, such an alpha hero can easily lapse into being a monster.
The trap of a feminist hero is that he can come across as weak and almost dithering in books that lack tension. Of course, if someone stands for the fair and humane treatment of women, children and other men, he (or she) is hardly weak, but evil and flat characters much easier to write than complicated goodness.
I am encouraged by the evolution of romances that reflect our society’s changing attitudes toward women AND men’s equality. Just as romances have gone beyond the nurse/secretary/teacher heroines of the 50’s, let’s hope romances reinforce those values of fairness, humanity, and real love.
I absolutely agree with blackjack, basically took the words outta my mouth..
I agree with Blackjack. The older I get, the more sensitive I am to this in my reading, and it’s discouraging to see how frequent it still is. I also have to say that I find the implication that a feminist hero can’t also be an alpha profoundly troubling? I mean I dislike the way the alpha and beta terms are used in romance anyway, but that implication seems problematic to me. Being a natural leader has nothing to do with whether or not you’re a feminist, and being a feminist does not have anything to do with your leadership abilities.
My favorite feminist hero is Wonder Woman.
I think my favorite feminist hero is Wonder Woman.
I am definitely.a reader who appreciates feminist heroes and have grown tired and discouraged by male characters who lack knowledge on issues of respect and fairness. I suppose one of the most pressing issues for me in current romances are heroes who are self-aware and educated on sexuality, and that includes consent. I’m surprised all the time by how many romances still include unequal power dynamics between couples in workplace settings. I think that representing self-aware feminist men is sexy and romantic.
I don’t know how you’d like the answer shared, so I’m sharing here and on Twitter! I’d like to see a feminist hero who puts his long-standing grudge against a woman’s father aside when the father develops a mental illness and needs her care.