Originally Posted by
Saffron
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.