Female protagonists and romance in fiction.
When it comes to female protagonists, there's this insistence on them not needing a man, and how great it is when they're not romantically involved with one. Like it makes her seem weak for caring so much about a man.
Why is that? I ask, because I know of very few male protagonists who don't have women in their lives, who aren't emotionally dependent on them. Why aren't these men seen as weak for being so emotionally invested in a woman? If Scully on X-Files died, there's no way Mulder wouldn't have spent an whole season, or several, mourning her (not if his character was written well, at least). Or how about Dexter Morgan, whose adoptive sister, Debra, was everything for him? I could bring up many more examples.
What makes a strong, self-reliant woman, so much weaker for caring about a man, than the male equivalents who feel the same way about a woman? What's funny is that some of these people who praise aromantic women, don't seem to mind when said women have a child who is everything to them. Like, a strong woman in love with a man isn't really strong at all, but one embracing motherhood, something chauvinistic men very much approve of, is empowering, apparently.
I admit that I love when women care strongly about a man, the same way men are shown caring about women in fiction. I love to see women chase men. I wonder if these stories about strong women caring more about a child than a man, or not caring about anyone (but especially not a man) aren't written precisely so sexist men in mainstream audiences don't feel threatened. A strong woman rescuing her man would not be flattering, for sexist men, after all, but rescuing a child is okay. And well, stereotypically speaking, even people who claim to believe in gender equality, just aren't used to a self-reliant, self-respecting woman caring about a man more than anything else.
