| abstract
| - This index compiles tropes that illustrate how gender is used in fiction. Male and female characters are subject to different forms of characterization and they are exploited as plot devices in different ways. One overarching way is the active-male/passive-female dichotomy. Women are judged more by their passive attributes and men by their actions. Within that dynamic is a sub-dynamic in which women's interior world of emotional reactions is expected to exert more of an influence on the actions of others than men's interior world. Another way to look at it is this: female characters are defined by the passive value that others give them, male characters are defined by their actions, usually to protect or win that which they find valuable. Female characters have passive value but they don't create it while male characters don't have passive value so they must create active value. Female characters can be exploited for their passive value and male characters are expendable if they fail to create their own value by advancing the plot through their actions. This index is divided into five sections:
* Gender Dynamic Metatropes: Illustrating the underlying dynamic in characterization of male and female charaters that give rise to many Double Standards.
* Female Tropes: How the Gender Dynamic Metatropes manifest for female characters.
* Male Tropes: How the Gender Dynamic Metatropes manifest for male characters.
* Contrasts: Direct contrasts between Always Female and Always Male Tropes that illustrate gender dynamics.
* In Real Life: Research that illustrates aspects of Gender Dynamics. (Acceptable: studies on double standards in how we view men and women or media that illustrates a double standard. Unacceptable: Political writings aiming to use evidence of double standards to advance an agenda.) What this index is not is complaining about Double Standards, arguing which gender has it worse, or going on wild tangents about what these tropes could be implying. This index is about observations of the use of gender in fiction. We'd like to see positive changes, ie. more balance in the portrayal of male and female characters, but debates on the morality of the use of gender in fiction don't belong here. If you want to add discussion of the effects of these tropes in real life, be moderate, consider both sides of the equation and be brief. If you disagree with anything on this page, take it to the discussion page to avoid natter. Some tropes end up in both the male and female categories; this is due to the reinforcing nature of misandry and misogyny. Where there's one there is usually the other as well. Also, when adding an example to this page, keep in mind how it reflects and illustrates the dynamics listed -- don't just add it because it's annoying, stupid, or sinister. (That's what the Unfortunate Implications and Double Standards pages are for.) Please avoid implicating a gender or group as responsible for these dynamics as well; they're dynamics, everyone is responsible for maintaining them, from primary care givers of children to media moguls to politicians to -- in some cases -- social activists promoting them while attempting to correct them.
- This index compiles tropes that illustrate how gender is used in fiction. Male and female characters are subject to different forms of characterization and they are exploited as plot devices in different ways. One overarching way is the active-male/passive-female dichotomy. Women are judged more by their passive attributes and men by their actions. Within that dynamic is a sub-dynamic in which women's interior world of emotional reactions is expected to exert more of an influence on the actions of others than men's interior world. Another way to look at it is this: female characters are defined by the passive value that others give them, male characters are defined by their actions, usually to protect or win that which they find valuable. Female characters have passive value but they don't create it while male characters don't have passive value so they must create active value. Female characters can be exploited for their passive value and male characters are expendable if they fail to create their own value by advancing the plot through their actions. This index is divided into five sections:
* Gender Dynamic Metatropes: Illustrating the underlying dynamic in characterization of male and female charaters that give rise to many Double Standards.
* Female Tropes: How the Gender Dynamic Metatropes manifest for female characters.
* Male Tropes: How the Gender Dynamic Metatropes manifest for male characters.
* Contrasts: Direct contrasts between Always Female and Always Male Tropes that illustrate gender dynamics.
* In Real Life: Research that illustrates aspects of Gender Dynamics. (Acceptable: studies on double standards in how we view men and women or media that illustrates a double standard. Unacceptable: Political writings aiming to use evidence of double standards to advance an agenda.) What this index is not is complaining about Double Standards, arguing which gender has it worse, or going on wild tangents about what these tropes could be implying. This index is about observations of the use of gender in fiction. We'd like to see positive changes, ie. more balance in the portrayal of male and female characters, but debates on the morality of the use of gender in fiction don't belong here. If you want to add discussion of the effects of these tropes in real life, be moderate, consider both sides of the equation and be brief. If you disagree with anything on this page, take it to the discussion page to avoid natter. Some tropes end up in both the male and female categories; this is due to the reinforcing nature of misandry and misogyny. Where there's one there is usually the other as well. Also, when adding an example to this page, keep in mind how it reflects and illustrates the dynamics listed -- don't just add it because it's annoying, stupid, or sinister. (That's what the Unfortunate Implications and Double Standards pages are for.) Please avoid implicating a gender or group as responsible for these dynamics as well; they're dynamics, everyone is responsible for maintaining them, from primary care givers of children to media moguls to politicians to -- in some cases -- social activists promoting them while attempting to correct them.
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