Since March is women's history month, I've been thinking
about doing another piece on some issue that relates to women in fantasy and
SF. I have some ideas, but one thing that comes to mind is the ridiculous
portrayals of women on book covers and in games. Jim Hines has helped to raise
awareness of this issue with a series of blogs where he and some other SF and F
authors have had some spine-twisting fun as they attempt to contort
themselves into the positions in which women are often portrayed on book
covers.
And of course, many of us have heard of the Maureen Johnson's
coverflip
challenge, in which the gender of famous authors is hypothetically flipped
and the covers redesigned accordingly.
And lest anyone point out that male bodies are sometimes
exploited on romance, and even fantasy novels, I won't disagree. I don't think
it's even wrong to use sex to sell novels if you're honest and egalitarian
about it. But male and female bodies are portrayed differently. Even novels,
comics and game with female protagonists tend to portray the women with fewer
clothes and in poses that are less "powerful" than they do their male
protagonists.
But it occurred to me that it's not all doom and gloom. I
train dogs and teach humans, so I know that marking and rewarding desired
behavior is a much more powerful tool than marking and punishing undesirable
behavior. I did a quick search and rustled up some examples of portrayals of
women that I thought were rather well done.
Jo Walton's The King's Peace Cover art by Julie Bell
Robin Hobb's Ship
of Destiny. Cover art by Stephen Youll.
Scott Lynch's Republic
of Thieves. Cover art by Benjamin Carre.
Liane Merciel's Heaven's
Needle. Cover art by Stephen Youll
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. Cover art by Chris
McGrath.
Games:
Art on original Rune Quest box cover.
Magic the Gathering Knight
Exemplar card (2011).
