Quote Originally Posted by Saffron View Post
Having non-physical powers isn't automatically feminist. By itself, it's just feminine. In fact, the only reason Wanda even has point-and-shoot powers is because of sexism; she was created at a time in which most female characters conformed to traditional gender roles, and were thus, non-physical.

As to Wanda's powers, it's link to Chthon is not feminist, in itself, but it provides a space in which feminist themes could be explored. Feminist writing isn't just about lionising women; some of the most compelling works offer feminist critique, and often, this comes about through stories in which characters and situations are not representations of feminist ideals. In other words, it's the narrative as a whole that decides if the writing is feminist or not. You can have feminist elements, but still not have a feminist story. I'm still waiting to see if that describes this book. Imo, powered By Womankind isn't far from the Strong Female Character, nowadays - it needs more nuance than that for me to consider it feminist.



Hmm...we seem to be talking about different things. Perhaps duality was the wrong word here; I should have said plurality, as in, embodying multiple ideas.
I agree with everything you said. I hope the nuances come as the series goes on- I was just saying that as a starting point it's a bold choice for a story that seems to indicate it will tackle feminist themes over its course. Which fits the character, to me, as so much of the culture about witchcraft is about the fear of women. Her being a scary woman who gets her power from being a woman works well in light of that, IMHO.

Also "plurality" does make that more clear, and is a nice word.