Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

First Girl Ever

Here's an essay about whether we still need "First Girl Ever" stories, or should move on to something else, like Second Girl Ever.

Simple equation to solve.  Do you have a new idea for a story?  Does it REFUSE to go away until you write it?  If so, that motif cannister isn't empty yet, and you should proceed.  But if you can blow it off, go ahead, we've heard it before.
Tags: gender studies, networking, reading, writing
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  • 9 comments
fayanora

fayanora

September 15 2012, 04:02:08 UTC 8 years ago

What exactly is a "first girl ever" story?
ysabetwordsmith

Okay...

ysabetwordsmith

September 15 2012, 04:12:01 UTC 8 years ago

That's a story in which someone, usually the protagonist, is the first female to do something; become a warrior is a popular example. It's kind of a culture studies thing.
fayanora

Re: Okay...

fayanora

September 15 2012, 04:19:57 UTC 8 years ago

Hmm... I don't think I've ever done anything like that. Most of my female protagonists come from cultures where whatever they're doing isn't unusual. Lyria, for instance, comes from a culture where there are more female mages than male ones, but magic isn't exclusively female. She's only unusual in her adopted country of Dralakkith due to her skin color, but that isn't a problem there. (Well, the fact that most of her children were made in a lab is a bit unusual, but she doesn't exactly advertise that fact.)

Well... I guess Lyria being asexual is unusual there. It was also unusual in her home land, too. But she's not the first female to do X in either culture. Nor the second, or third... unless you count the fact she may be the first female in Dralakkith to use soul magic (manipulating/changing the soul). But maybe she isn't. I don't know. Soul magic is illegal, there, so soul mages don't advertise themselves.
judifilksign

judifilksign

September 15 2012, 04:10:23 UTC 8 years ago

Many of my teen girls that I teach accept such limited roles for themselves. Often, they don't think about what they could achieve unless they read stories about girls who do.

I think any story that allows the girl to be a doer in her own story is good.

Sometimes the trope only seems overused to those who don't need the message so very badly.
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

September 15 2012, 04:14:42 UTC 8 years ago

>>Many of my teen girls that I teach accept such limited roles for themselves. Often, they don't think about what they could achieve unless they read stories about girls who do.<<

I've seen this effect often enough to realize that my indelible internal compass is one of the things that makes me the most freakish, compared to most humans. And I still don't really get it.

>>I think any story that allows the girl to be a doer in her own story is good. <<

Agreed.

>>Sometimes the trope only seems overused to those who don't need the message so very badly.<<

Too true. For many motifs, not just this one.
ankewehner

ankewehner

September 15 2012, 06:40:34 UTC 8 years ago

Personally, I'm tired of the trope. I'd rather see more stories where "women do X" is a normal and accepted part of the background. In my mind this seems better for normalising "women do X" than going "OMG, look at this EXCEPTIONAL girl/woman who managed to do this awesome but FREAKISH thing and succeeded in a man's role".
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

September 15 2012, 07:09:38 UTC 8 years ago

For me, what matters is the difference between token and icebreaker. Tokenism I don't like, where the emphasis is on the freakishness. Icebreaking I do like, where the emphasis is on the "first" with the firm implication of others to follow. I like seeing societies at a point of change. On the third hoof, I like societies already at gender equilibrium. I read and write all kinds. Well, minus the tokenism, unless that's a setup to bounce some prejudiced jerk against a wall.
ankewehner

Re: Thoughts

ankewehner

September 15 2012, 07:19:22 UTC 8 years ago

Yes, that makes sense to me. Even ignoring "second girl ever" stories, there's a difference between ending a story on "FGE got to where she wanted, she's awesome, the end" and, say, "FGE got where she wanted and starts supporting other girls who want to follow in her footsteps".

Somehow Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment comes to my mind here, at the end showing a progression in the matter.
eseme

eseme

September 20 2012, 03:32:31 UTC 8 years ago

Tamora Pierce broke some ground with her Alana books, in which Alana pretends to be Alan in order to train as a warrior. It is a "first girl in hundreds of years" story, and I loved it as a teen for that reason.

She later wrote the Protector of the Small quartet, which is, in fact, a "second girl in hundreds of years" story. About the second girl who went through training to become a knight. And it is, of course, different. This one is not hiding being a girl, and encounters prejudice, for one. It's a good series as well.