[more on reading & the identity wars]

Apparently there's a misogyny/we-need-more-strong-females debate in fandom -again-, and an offshoot about identification specifically & who we've found ourselves identifying with in stories, growing up & such. Um. Some say men, some say women... I say... uh... the pov character :)) Haha, seriously, I mean, yeah-- I particularly enjoyed & bonded with a girl I particularly liked or identified with the attitudes & emotions of, and maybe I'd be a little more attracted rather than just identifying with a boy I liked & identified with the attitudes of-- but I can still guarantee you I'll care and fixate more on the pov character, even if the other (female or male) one is more on my wavelength. I particularly do enjoy when a main/pov character is heavily on my wavelength (like Bastian in 'The Neverending Story', for instance, if we're going for gratuitous over-similarity), but maaaan, wouldn't it get old to always be stuck with the same preferred fictional self/personality/body? So it was long ago that I learned to umm, 'play pretend', and try on other characteristics/beliefs for the duration of my reading.

This whole idea of keeping yourself and your day-to-day identity fully intact while reading is a bit alien to me, actually, as a fantasy/romance reader. It's like... I wouldn't necessarily say I read for escape, but I do read for exploration and wonder and experiences I wouldn't otherwise have; I love to be grounded and connected emotionally within the story, to -care-, but there are lots of different bodies and mindsets a good writer can connect you to as the reader. It's like, whether you 'naturally' gravitate towards male characters or female characters, you're still a basically different type of reader, I guess; or maybe it's just that I think everyone may look for someone that's their 'reflection' in a story (color, gender, personality), but to me that 'reflection' is more to do with what I think of as my 'self'-- not my gender or color or even the beliefs I have but my deepest emotional resonances. Hmm. I guess I can't imagine reading about a boy having fun adventures and thinking, 'but I can't, because I'm a girl' o_0 That would... never have occurred to me as a child. Of course I could do anything I wanted (...um, maybe you could say I was a spoiled only child) :D

So like, yeah, a lot of people say they gravitated to boys in stories 'cause it's boys that did the fun things & had the adventures (implying girls didn't), while I suppose those that gravitated to girls accepted their roles in society & wanted them validated(?) Or conversely didn't accept their roles & wanted to read stuff that supported their choice to be badass and independent. Or something.

( mer. confused. :-? )