Strong Female Characters =/= Masculine Characters

YA Highway had a great post on strong female characters in their series on sex in YA and of course it set me off on my own thoughts. The post raised the question whether girls have to act like boys to be seen as strong, which then led to what it means for boys who don't act like boys.

Masculine traits generally tend to be viewed in a better light than feminine ones. The male is active, assertive, strong, brave, protective, a fighter etc. while the female is passive, nurturing, and selfless. So it seems like when YA FMCs are turned into heroines they are essentially turned into boys with breasts. They hunt, they fight, they kill, they don't have time to protect your feelings because they are on a mission to kick butt and take names. Don't get me wrong, I loved Katniss as much as the next person, but even she had her edges softened/blunted by her sacrificial sister-love for Prim and her caring of Peeta during the games. So obviously you can be strong and not be, you know, a boy stand-in.

But can a female character be strong without possessing *any* of those masculine traits? I mean, would we call Prim, the quiet, calm, intelligent nursing assistant, strong? I mean, all she does is care for an ugly cat that no-one else would give two seconds thought about. And look suffering and death in the face when she helps her mother nurse injured people. And forgive her mother for not handling her father's death well, for not mothering her. Those are all pretty strong characteristics, but she doesn't own or use a weapon, or put food on the table, or break the law by hunting. She's not the story's hero, but is she still, in her own way, a hero?

And what does it say for male characters when most of the strong female characters are deemed strong because they possess traditionally masculine traits and attitudes? Where are the strong male characters who play traditionally female roles? There's Peeta, the nurturing baker's son who needs to be rescued, but he's heavily outweighed on the other side by the Edwards and Jacobs of YA. And heaven help you if you're not even an attractive pacifist. It seems like once you get outside the realm of contemporary fiction and John Green's MCs, if your MMC isn't good looking and/or doesn't brood or fight, you're pretty much out of the running for the role of hero.

It could be a genre thing, something left over from all the girls dressing up as boys to be knights. I'm sure in contemporary YA there are plenty of strong female characters who don't get into fights. So I guess the main issue is whether a girl in a fantasy/sci-fi subcategory can be strong without being a fighter.

What do you guys think? Are there kickass fantasy/sci-fi females who don't actually kick ass? Are there hoardes of nice boys getting the girl that I don't know about?


P.S. Following up on last week, and the discussion in the comments about whether the casual attitude toward female sexuality is empowerment or a different manifestation of the same peer pressure that called sexual women sluts, I give you this article. Long story short:  "Empowerment isn’t about controlling other people or getting them to do what you want. Instead, it’s the ability to respond to their actions in whatever way you choose. For example, if you’ve been told that [having sex] is not acceptable, then choosing to do that can be the result of your empowerment. On the other hand, if you’ve internalized the idea that you have to give your partner [sex], then empowerment could mean that you choose to not do it."