Nothing says the cat loves you ...

[apocalypsos]

... like when he's been sitting on your lap purring for thirty minutes straight, jumps to the ground, throws up, and jumps right back into your lap and starts purring again.

*sigh*

I have been watching The Riches. Oh, can I have a Sammy? I promise to buy him lots of hair clips and pretty dresses. *cuddles*

So anyway I've spent the entire night (after I got up from my nap because, seriously, I got something like three hours of sleep this morning) working on writing stuff and I was just wondering -- what do you hate in a female character? I mean, what details about a female character will make you stop wanting to read about or watch them anymore because they bother you that much?

Comments

[lazar-grrl.livejournal.com]

It could be worse. Like when the dog starts gagging and you race to the door to let her out and the sight of her vomiting makes your "let's inflict random nausea on my host" stomach turn over and you decorate the patio right next to her. Can't even handle water right now, argh.

Weak, useless female characters. The ones who are there so the guys get some eye candy and don't really serve any other kind of purpose other than Hero's Girlfriend. Or are there so they can get abused/raped/whatever and give the Hero his Purpose. If the only ones in Distress are Damsels and not Dudes, I will not be reading or watching.

Also, stupid and pointless sexualization of women. If I ever become a superhero, there will be Kevlar, armor inserts, and steel toes. No midriff tops, heels, or spandex that lets the villains see my bellybutton. If necessary, I will track down the designers of my male colleagues' wear and force them to make me something similar at gunpoint.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Two kinds of female characters who are an instant turn-off:

Female characters who only care about their looks, shopping and omg boyz! This is fine in a dimwitted teenager (but even then, they usually have more to them than that), but in a supposedly successful career woman in her thirties, it's just revolting. Especially when the reader or viewer is supposed to admire her.

Female characters whose entire characterisation consists of "the girl". You know, like a team with Old Science Guy, Young Hero Dude, The Chick and The Black Guy. The Chick (and sometime The Black Guy) will be given an improbable job like neurosurgeon and wear revealing clothes. She exists only in relation to the hero and would be more interesting if she was a loyal pet.

[chichiri-no-da.livejournal.com]

I can't stand a girl who whines constantly because things aren't going her way, instead of doing the hard things she needs to do to move the story along. @_@

[hatoyona.livejournal.com]

I mean, what details about a female character will make you stop wanting to read about or watch them anymore because they bother you that much?

That thing like (see Smallville) where she's like "Oh I love you" but [insert dumbass reason here] is why we can't be together! That drives me nuts.

[thechinesecurse.livejournal.com]

Worse than the women who are there to act solely as a love interest or as 'the girl' are the women who try *so hard* not to be a 'token' character. The women who know so much about so many different things, who are tough and independent and awesome and have no flaws because the writer or producer is afraid of implying that women need a big strong man -- Mary Goddamn Sues, they bother me that much.

Also, the pretty girls who whine about their looks. *rolls eyes*

But yeah...gimme a girl who can build a hotrod from scratch but can't aim a gun for shit. Gimme a girl who is a professional make-up artist but can't lie to her little brother. Gimme a girl who can do algebra and simultaneous equations but can't do long division without a calculator, who plays baseball but is scared of the dark.

Male or female, I want characters who are complex, real, human beings, with good and bad points like anyone else.

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

tearing down other women.

not, like, god, susan, you're such a bitch, but like, oh i hate chicks who xyz, i hate deb, i hate blah, i hate hate hate.

hate in a woman is a real serious turnoff.

[aesvir.livejournal.com]

My dog tends to go on hunger strike when we try to get her to diet and always ends up throwing up bile on the floor. And my mom caves and cooks her chicken drumsticks.

Hm...I hate the "girl meets boy, girl hates boy, boy falls in love." It's just not attractive when either party belittles the other. Constant verbal abuse is not the basis for any kind of relationship. People like to point to Pride and Prejudice, except both Elizabeth and Darcy grow to love and esteem each other. Gargh.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

I'm driven up the wall by female characters who exist as pretty plot devices- sacrificial objects to give male protagonists motivation, or sex objects for males to fight over in gratuitously stupid displays of testosterone. It's demeaning to both sexes.

(Oh, hello, Simone.)

-blue

[azurelunatic]

When she is kicking ass and taking names and then she has something "girly" pastede on yay in a transparent attempt to make her sympathetic to the girly-girls in the audience.

[azurelunatic]

I mean, it's possible to have someone who's a well-rounded character who does both kickass things and very frilly things, but a character trait that's very obviously tacked on is Bad News.

[katbcoll.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Petromalt for the kitty? *shrugs* Usually when Lucifer's barfing, it's because of hairballs. He gets it once a week (three times a week or so if he's been barfing) as maintenance. He loves the taste so it's a real treat for him.

Can't stand the "beautiful, perfect, always loved by everyone" kind of chick. Dude, give me a girl who isn't liked by everyone and who can occasionally screw up or, ya know, belch or something.

[callie-chan.livejournal.com]

Personally? I hate that women and men in the same story almost ALWAYS means there's going to be some sort of romance plot. Honestly, I'm sick of romance altogether(I'm a book shelver at my local library, and after the fiftieth book jacket that reads something like 'Karen has her own problems, and her tall, dark, and painfully sexy boss isn't helping! Will Karen be able to resist his charms?', you start praying for a fire that's very specifically located in the romance paperback section).

You know what I'd love to see? Men and women who are partners/friends/associates in some way who do not get a romantic subplot. Man + woman does not always = ROMANCE. This holds especially true in stories where the plot is so much more vastly important than the characters' love lives that even having them notice someone else was attractive would be unrealistic. "OMG ZOMBIES ARE ATTACKING - hey, you're kinda hot."

Furthermore, thanks to the romance books about the fashion-obsessed, Prada-wearing queen of the vampires, I want to see a female vampire staked while shopping for shoes.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

thanks to the romance books about the fashion-obsessed, Prada-wearing queen of the vampires

Oh, man, do I hate those books. Well, I thought I hated those books, until I read the short story in the one compilation in which the character appears for two or three pages to shriek a bunch of selfish airheaded bitchery. Then I knew true hatred.

[callie-chan.livejournal.com]

As I said - stakes. Plural. I'm perfectly content with more than one.

...and here I toss out a Supernatural/Prada Vampire crossover where Dean and Sam go after her and are baffled and amused that even demons and vampires can be that vapid and shallow. (And Sam teases Dean afterwards that Dean's probably slept with worse.)

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

The first two to jump to mind, for me, are Sam Carter in SG-1 and Cameron in House.

Sam Carter is too. Damn. Mary. Sue. She's smart! And pretty! And the emotional grown-up on her team! And not at all interesting. (The reason she is different from Teyla, to me? Teyla has conflict...she's still coping with adjusting to Lantean culture, and with being a leader, and with being a leader while not being with her people.) Admittedly, I've only seen about half of season one of actual SG-1, but she hasn't changed my mind about any of that so far, and in SGA she is all that plus she makes Rodney unhappy, so no.

And Cameron? I actually liked Cameron for a long time...I mocked her much the way House does, but I liked that she stood up to him and was mushy anyway. But the fact that now she swings back and forth like a frickin pendulum? Not impressed. Especially since the ability to be hardened wasn't something she grew into gradually...she just flipped over, and sometimes she flips back because...what, she's only pretending to be hardened? Yeah, so basically she's a hypocrite and as far as I can tell, it's still largely motivated by a desire to impress House, and I have issues with women changing to make an impression, whether it's romantic/sexual or professional or what.

[wufeidragon.livejournal.com]

I hate Annie Hall. I hate Scarlet Johanson in Lost in Translation. They're the same kind of character. I can't really describe why, but they piss me off to an endless degree.

[medie]

Oh fun. My cat thinks trying to chew my hand off or trash my computer (seriously) is an expression of utter adoration. Ah, kids.

Hmm...what do I hate in a female character? Ahem. Lana Lang is a PRIME example. As a character, early on the producers didn't want her involved in the investigations so you know where she ended up. The speshul, omg!victim who Clark always had to save while worshipping and thinking was absolutely wonderful. Everyone loves her, she's perfect, she's amazing, she can handle running a coffee house, maintaining a perfect GPA, getting kidnapped by various mutant types all at the same time without so much as a hint of difficulty but Martha Kent comes along, and tries to run the coffee house and ends up overwhelmed and cannot handle it. (Seriously)

Just. No. I hate when they do that to characters. When the writers fall for a character and want everyone to love that character, glossing over her flaws. Lana's demonstrated some very manipulative talents in the past, plus serious issues with people with abilities, but she's not allowed to actually *HAVE* these flaws. The writers flirt with them and the producers yank them back and gloss it over because Lana is OMGPERFECT.

It's absolutely maddening. The producers of SG1 did the same thing to Sam Carter and I've seen it show up on a ton of other shows with female characters and in books (Laurell K. Hamilton should be whacked with a frozen trout).

A ton of perfectly good female characters have been RUINED by this. So have a bunch of perfectly good male characters but this comment's long enough *G*

[scary-being-me.livejournal.com]

Ok, things I hate in female characters:

1) Exists solely as the love interest of one of the male characters.
2) Professional victim who can't handle ordering dinner without the hero having to save her.
3) Is perfect. Can perform emergency open heart surgery, defeat a dozen ninja (or pirates, if you prefer), and repair a plane before it crashes while never breaking a nail or mussing her perfect hair. She is, of course, the most beautiful woman on the planet.
4) Acts/thinks like a man. This is usually a failing with women written by men. Women and men do think, and thus behave, differently.
5) The "total slut" and "pure virgin". These usually come as a matched set and are inexplicably best friends; until the slut is inevitably killed while looking to get laid and the virgin finally gives herself to the hero at the end.
6) Female and thus ruled by emotion with no concept of logic, practicality, or the consequences of her actions. They often act inconsistently or exhibit unfounded bitchiness due to "hormones". Usually written by men.
7) The ditzy cheerleader. She may not be an actual cheerleader, but you know the stereotype. She usually talks like a valley girl and couldn't count her toes; but everyone thinks she's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
8) 2-D. She's a stereotype without variation. She may as well be a doll with a string you pull to get her to say her cookie cutter lines.
9) She is defined by her image. Either all she cares about are her clothes and makeup or she's the "anti-girlygirl" who NEVER wears makeup or a dress.

and the number 10 type of female character I hate:

10) Was a lesbian who never thought about sleeping with a man until our hero showed up; now she can't get him in bed fast enough. This goes for women who suddenly decide they're Bi even though they "never thought of being with a woman before, but the heroine is just so sexy she can't help herself".

[wer-bin-ich.livejournal.com]

Female characters suck when their life's ambition is to have babies. Ugh.

[tabaqui]

OMFG yes. I loathe that.
*gags*

[tabaqui]

Obsessed with looks/clothes/furniture/cars/money. Basically, someone who's only self-worth comes from the material. Boooooring!

The 'earth mother' type who wanders around in flowered hand-made dresses and is *oh so very* smrt and homey and wise and knows *exactly* what random weed growing on the side of the road will fix your broken toe *plus* she can call down the moon *plus* she's oh so sexy in her earthy way that everyone wants her *plus* she cooks, *plus*...you get the idea.

Any woman character who is there for the hero to fuck and forget or fuck and 'save' who doesn't have her own thoughts or motivations.

Woman characters whose amazing career/kids/house/vacations/money/life is *just not good enough* because she doesn't have that perfect, gorgeous, commited *maaaaaaaaaaaan*!!

Jealousy over stupid shit like looking boyfriend at a Playboy or saying the girl buying that ice cream cone over there has pretty hair.

[liliaeth]

I don't like female characters who are too cutesy, like Willow on Buffy or Kaylee on Firefly. All the babbling, with everyone acting as if they're the cutest sweetest bestest person ever.
Hate those.

[whitetower.livejournal.com]

I loathe the Quirky Free Spirit - you know, the one who Bemuses and Charms the hero with her Unique Snowflake-ness. See: Natalie Portman in Garden State, Scarlett Johanson in Lost in Translation.

I also loathe Idiot Girl (see female sidekick in every action film of the 90s).