Without going into any particular spoilers, the problems'the character has with his attitudes towards women, which are often very 'old fashioned' (ie, sexist) and often clearly wrong in the face of reality:
* get him nearly killed when people take advantage of his prejudices. * cause him to take idiotic risks that he is effectively punished for as a result, though (being our protagonist) he does emerge alive, though often not unscathed. * get challenged by the various women in the story. (who, yes, are by and large all written as being extremely attractive. So are all the men. That is one point, at least, where he's quite consistent. * over time, he changes his attitude towards some-women-in-specific, but acknowledges he's still a Goddamn Caveman in a lot of ways.
The character doesn't think he's RIGHT for behaving that way, it's that he was raised a certain way, and still has those beliefs and attitudes.
I can certainly understand not wanting to read a flawed main character who embodies a lot of the prevailing crap attitudes that can be seen in various places. And I can understand being pissy about the poor chicago geography in the books if you are a chicago resident. But when the 'hero' of a series is, more often than not, fucked over by his own prejudices and assumptions, and frequently saved from Painful Terrible Death by the women who are more competent, powerful, organized, aware, or experienced than he is, I think it's a grave mistake to say the books themselves are sexist.
Are they terrible writing? quite possibly. I don't personally think so. Are they sexist? I think the main character is, but I think his sexism is written as a weakness and flaw in who he is as a person. Does his 'chivalry' occasionally net him a moment of a woman thinking it's charming? sometimes. More often, he gets eyes rolled at him at about 2,000 rpm for being a sexist dork.
but in short: if you don't wanna read it, don't read it.
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asenathwaite
Re: hoo boy, this opens up a can of worms....
Date: 2010-05-05 08:41 pm (UTC)* get him nearly killed when people take advantage of his prejudices.
* cause him to take idiotic risks that he is effectively punished for as a result, though (being our protagonist) he does emerge alive, though often not unscathed.
* get challenged by the various women in the story. (who, yes, are by and large all written as being extremely attractive. So are all the men. That is one point, at least, where he's quite consistent.
* over time, he changes his attitude towards some-women-in-specific, but acknowledges he's still a Goddamn Caveman in a lot of ways.
The character doesn't think he's RIGHT for behaving that way, it's that he was raised a certain way, and still has those beliefs and attitudes.
I can certainly understand not wanting to read a flawed main character who embodies a lot of the prevailing crap attitudes that can be seen in various places. And I can understand being pissy about the poor chicago geography in the books if you are a chicago resident. But when the 'hero' of a series is, more often than not, fucked over by his own prejudices and assumptions, and frequently saved from Painful Terrible Death by the women who are more competent, powerful, organized, aware, or experienced than he is, I think it's a grave mistake to say the books themselves are sexist.
Are they terrible writing? quite possibly. I don't personally think so. Are they sexist? I think the main character is, but I think his sexism is written as a weakness and flaw in who he is as a person. Does his 'chivalry' occasionally net him a moment of a woman thinking it's charming? sometimes. More often, he gets eyes rolled at him at about 2,000 rpm for being a sexist dork.
but in short: if you don't wanna read it, don't read it.