How Much Feminism is Enough Feminism?

One of my most favourite quotes is from a web comic called ‘Biomeat’. The character in question is an overweight bully whose character arc ends with him becoming a brave protector. Another character says to him, “you’re very strong”. His response is elegant and powerful.

“There are two types of people in this world. Those who are trying to be strong and those who aren’t.”

I think what I like best about this quote is that it applies to all the most worthwhile things in life. The same is true of feminism. There are no feminists, only people who are trying to be and those who aren’t.

A little while ago, I learned about the Bechdel test for feminist movies and literature that was based on two questions:

1) Does the story feature at least two female characters?

2) Does the story feature at least one scene where these characters talk about something other than a man?

It’s been suggested that the Bechdel test can be used to hold up a mirror to modern producers to show exactly how un-feminist their movies are but the issues with this are pretty striking. Leaving aside male-exclusionary politics, there’s no marker for quality. What if the female characters are weak and have no impetus? What if the conversations are vapid, all-female or not?

We’d also be excluding some solid cinema like Alien 3 (Director’s Cut, not original), where Ripley is the only female character, and literature like This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero, where the female and male leads are inextricable because they inhabit the same body.

There’s another pretty hefty flaw. Why is the bar so low? What about a point for, ‘does the female character solve their own problems?’ Or, ‘does the female character take the lead in something ahead of a male character?’ Similarly, ‘is the female character someone generally and genuinely respected by the rest of the cast, male or female?’ Let’s not forget, ‘does the woman manage to go the distance without a man rescuing her, or is the balance at least equal?’

This is why male exclusion isn’t beneficial. Feminists like J.K. Rowling, who has been courting controversy with some exclusionary comments of her own, would rather live in a world without men. This isn’t practical and their agenda will polarise, not convince. 50% of the population is male, which means 1 in every 2 characters in this soap opera we call life isn’t female. REALITY isn’t feminist.

I also resent the notion that women can only shine if men are out of the picture. When did we start believing that a man dominates the scene the moment he walks into it? Likewise, I resent the notion that a woman can only be strong if all the men around her are weak.

The Resident Evil movie by Paul W.S. Anderson features two characters intended to be ‘tough’, Milla Jovovich’s Alice and Michelle Rodriguez’s Rain. Leaving aside the (debatable) physical and mental strength of both these characters, they are couched in a cast of male characters who aren’t particularly tough, brave or smart. The implication seems to be that a strong, brave and intelligent man would immediately overshadow the strong, brave and intelligent woman.

As if to prove the point, the MCU gives us Black Widow, who does literally nothing throughout the entire series. It’s like the writers and directors gave away all the important jobs to the male characters and forgot to give Black Widow something to do every single time!

Compare this with the stunning The Night Comes for Us, where two female assassins, who have bested multiple male characters throughout the movie, fight with a third woman in one of the most brutal fight sequences ever devised in martial arts cinema. Even the winner loses fingers! This is a movie featuring Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim, two of the finest martial artists in the business today. This makes the girls’ fight better, not worse.

Feminism isn’t just about women. As much as we should be trying to break down negative stereotypes about girls and what they are supposed to be, it’s also important to challenge toxic masculinity and the male-driven stereotypes that make life so inhospitable for women in the first place. Part of how we do that is by normalising the equality of men and women, and how do you achieve that with an unbalanced equation?

You can’t address male-female inequality without addressing the ‘male’ side of the equation as well.

We can’t exclude men just so they don’t steal the spotlight. If we have so little confidence in our female characters that the mere presence, the mere mention, of a man makes them appear weak, maybe we’re not trying hard enough to be feminist.

Maybe we should all be trying to be a little more feminist.