Where's my soapbox?

I commented to a friend today that I had gotten a chance to pick up a book again! (Finally, I could feel my IQ slipping.) I've been reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan on and off for a few years. It's a great series! Unless you can't handle massive amounts of detail -- which I love -- then don't read it in that case. Anyhow, there are too many things about it I like to list, but it brought me to that fact that I hadn't written anything in a while.

I love to write, I always have. I've been working on a book of my own, again for years. And as I've grown a lot has changed. The more I've read, especially in the fantasy genre, the more I've been able to identify cliches, etc. in my own writing. However, I got off on a tangent today about the female fantasy characters.

Let me clarify because "fantasy" is an awfully broad genre. I'm talking about Dungeons & Dragons, swords and magic type of fantasy. Questing stuff. Barbarians, ogres. You get the picture. So where are my strong, female leads swinging a sword? Now I've been reading this same WoT series for a while, so I'm assuming they're out there somewhere. But I haven't found them.

And I'm not talking barbarian chicks. I've encountered tons of female characters who are a deadshot with a bow and arrow, Birgitte from WoT and Catti-Brie from The Forgotten Realms just to name two. Now there are also plenty of sword-wielding females, but can't I have one who opts out of the dagger or the 2 lb. rapier to pick up something more substantial? If a dude can swing an 8 lb. great sword, so can a chick. I'm just sayin'.

Earwen (Arwen) came close in LoTR, but settled down with Finarfin...a dude.

I don't know if this is a stereotypical "the author's a man" case, or if some sort of "historical authenticity" is lost or what, but can I also please get a strong female lead who also loves women? Where's my gay medieval fantasy shit? We seem to have all of our other bases covered, why not this one too? Aaaannd, I don't want smut. Sorry, not interested. I just want characters like me in the books I read. I don't want my female characters running around with their boobs popping out. That doesn't make sense. I don't want them hiding behind their male counterparts or waiting to be saved. I want them in the middle of the battlefield, not waiting at the castle while the husband is getting all bloody.

And as much as I loved loved loved Moiraine in WoT (I refuse to believe she's dead), and loved loved loved Briza in Forgotten Realms, I'm tired of magic wielding women. How convenient that the bulk of the women are doing battle from the background. They're weapons are projectiles; they're not mixing it up with the bad guys, not face-to-face. My favorite moment with Moiraine was in the end of The Fires of Heaven when she actually, finally puts hands on Lanfear and drags her through the ter'angreal doorframe. Hands on. Finally. Balefire is really cool, don't get me wrong, but it added another dimension to Moiraine. It illustrated a different kind of strength of her character.

Moiraine Damodred, dwarfed by her Warder, Lan.

And as mentally strong as the Aes Sedai and Wise Ones (and others) are in WoT, as manipulative and scheming as they can be, as vast as their powers are, it still gets stale to read about them wielding the One Power and tying weaves...essentially just playing with magic. On a large scale, definitely, and to great devestation and death in some cases (especially the Forsaken), but still. We know Rand (the main male character) can use a sword AND the One Power.

Now I'm not quite halfway through the series, so who knows who else I'll encounter? There are so many characters that anything could happen. But with a core audience of straight men, I'm doubtful I'll find a character that makes me say, "Hey, that's me! I can relate to this person!"

At any rate, this is what I write. Strong, flawed, female characters who can pick up a sword or an axe, hone their inherent stamina and resistance to pain (Childbirth anyone? No really, they've done studies.), and get down and dirty with the men. And then go home, and get down and dirty with their women.