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a pet peeve I have in media is when the writer(s) try to write a strong female character and instead the just write a masculine woman. Of course woman can be masculine and strong (together and separately), but often I don’t feel like they write women who are masculine, they try to write a strong women and they can only conceive masculinity as strength. Also, I’m not sure if I’m phrasing this poorly, but it doesn’t always strike me that they write masculinity in the way a woman (or maybe a genderqueer person, though I haven’t had the pleasure of reading many original media featuring these characters prominently) might experience/express it.
one thing I appreciate about Xena as I’m rewatching it as an adult is that it feels like they’re women who have masculine traits/are masculine. Like, even beyond the fighting aspect, Xena often sits in stereotypically masculine way and takes charge/fulfills roles that are shown to be taken by men within the world they occupy. Additionally, I know that later, Gabrielle is joked to be “father” to Xena’s daughter, but I’m not that far yet, so I don’t know how far that’s taken.
idk, it just feels different to me. If anyone else has input/polite pushback I’d appreciate it/conversation! Or any other pieces of media that do this/explore women’s masculinity/gender expression/afab exploration of masculinity.