Power through a gendered lens with Menna Van Praag

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It has long been obvious that our world’s power structures are set up to benefit men, so how does women’s power play out in our narratives? What happens when women are suddenly given a power they are usually deprived of?

Menna Van Praag joins us to discuss power in its gendered form. Is there enough of it to go around? Do we subconsciously believe that a powerful woman is an affront to masculinity? Does giving women power mean taking it away from men? (The answer to that last one is a resounding NO in case you were in any doubt).

Mentioned in this episode:

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Mental Load: A Feminist Comic by Emma
The Princess Bride
Wonder Woman
Captain Marvel
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Designated Survivor
The Untamed
Shrek
The Shape of Water
Beauty and the Beast
Splash
The Princess and the Frog
Buffy
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Circe by Madeline Miller

Menna van Praag was born in Cambridge, England and studied Modern History at Oxford University. She’s the author of five magical realism novels, all set in Cambridge. The first instalment of her fantasy trilogy, The Sisters Grimm, will be published in 2020 by Transworld (UK) & HarperVoyager (US).

She reads too many books & eats too much cake.

4 Comments

Sue Chant on 3rd April 2020 at 10:41 am

I’ve been listening to your podcast for years but honestly, every time you talk about science-fiction you talk about film or TV and every time you talk about “Women and [insert positive noun here]” you talk about fantasy, as in the recent episode on women & power. I really think it would broaden the discussion if you read some recent science-fiction by women. There are lots of powerful, self-actuating women in works by Kameron Hurley, Mary Robinette Kowal, Arkady Martin, Sue Burke, Elizabeth Bear – I could go on. Please please please do a podcast on some of these great authors!

Megan Leigh on 4th April 2020 at 4:38 pm

Hi Sue,
We have had Kameron Hurley (twice) and Mary Robinette Kowal on the show as well as Arkady Martine and Sue Burke on the blog. I’m afraid neither Charlotte or Lucy like scifi books much so I’m on my own there. But I do try to make sure we cover scifi as well. – Megan
Reply
- Sue Chant on 14th April 2020 at 9:03 am
  
  Thanks for the reply Megan. I heard the podcasts but missed out on the blog pieces so will certainly look for them. I do read fantasy sometimes, but generally see it as a backward-looking genre prone to having an “exeptional” female protagonist, whereas recent SF often shows women as fulfilling any role in society, and the protagonist as not unusual for that world.
  Keep up the good work. – Sue
  Reply

Ada on 6th April 2020 at 4:51 pm

Hey, I just found this through a book review site, glad I found it!
A suggestion for talking about single people & the stigma against them.
Yes, a woman needing a relationship & children is definitely a thing / guy has to have a relationship too!
Also, women expected to like babies & children or know how to care for them. Which is not true.
Because of this, I’ve been driven to make more asexual characters & focus on friendship. And yes, you can TOTALLY write a story without romance & it is great.
There’s also still the idea labeled on T.V.Tropes of Men Act, Women Are, which is so easy to see in movies. Women are still shown as either attractive / ugly in terms of what men like, and it defines them in ways men are not.
Note, how you noted how Wonder Woman’s actress is the most gorgeous woman in the world but said little else about her. It’s hard to fight against!
If you’d like a great example of a female mentor with a Male protagonist, look at Genkai & Yusuke in Yu Yu Hakusho.
There’s a tradition of men dismissing women that stretches back ages, especially in the public sphere.
See Mary Beard’s Women & Power.
A bit more definition of what you mean by “power” would be nice. Good point about men not liking women with power, also their obsession & anger over women, as Virginia Wolfe discovers in A Room of One’s Own.
I think the reason why men fear powerful women because we have this idea of you either have power or you get trampled, a victim.
The idea of shared power is hard to grasp. Or equality.

Sue Chant on 3rd April 2020 at 10:41 am

I’ve been listening to your podcast for years but honestly, every time you talk about science-fiction you talk about film or TV and every time you talk about “Women and [insert positive noun here]” you talk about fantasy, as in the recent episode on women & power. I really think it would broaden the discussion if you read some recent science-fiction by women. There are lots of powerful, self-actuating women in works by Kameron Hurley, Mary Robinette Kowal, Arkady Martin, Sue Burke, Elizabeth Bear – I could go on. Please please please do a podcast on some of these great authors!
- Megan Leigh on 4th April 2020 at 4:38 pm
  
  Hi Sue,
  We have had Kameron Hurley (twice) and Mary Robinette Kowal on the show as well as Arkady Martine and Sue Burke on the blog. I’m afraid neither Charlotte or Lucy like scifi books much so I’m on my own there. But I do try to make sure we cover scifi as well. – Megan
  - Sue Chant on 14th April 2020 at 9:03 am
    
    Thanks for the reply Megan. I heard the podcasts but missed out on the blog pieces so will certainly look for them. I do read fantasy sometimes, but generally see it as a backward-looking genre prone to having an “exeptional” female protagonist, whereas recent SF often shows women as fulfilling any role in society, and the protagonist as not unusual for that world.
    Keep up the good work. – Sue
Ada on 6th April 2020 at 4:51 pm

Hey, I just found this through a book review site, glad I found it!
A suggestion for talking about single people & the stigma against them.
Yes, a woman needing a relationship & children is definitely a thing / guy has to have a relationship too!
Also, women expected to like babies & children or know how to care for them. Which is not true.
Because of this, I’ve been driven to make more asexual characters & focus on friendship. And yes, you can TOTALLY write a story without romance & it is great.
There’s also still the idea labeled on T.V.Tropes of Men Act, Women Are, which is so easy to see in movies. Women are still shown as either attractive / ugly in terms of what men like, and it defines them in ways men are not.
Note, how you noted how Wonder Woman’s actress is the most gorgeous woman in the world but said little else about her. It’s hard to fight against!
If you’d like a great example of a female mentor with a Male protagonist, look at Genkai & Yusuke in Yu Yu Hakusho.
There’s a tradition of men dismissing women that stretches back ages, especially in the public sphere.
See Mary Beard’s Women & Power.
A bit more definition of what you mean by “power” would be nice. Good point about men not liking women with power, also their obsession & anger over women, as Virginia Wolfe discovers in A Room of One’s Own.
I think the reason why men fear powerful women because we have this idea of you either have power or you get trampled, a victim.
The idea of shared power is hard to grasp. Or equality.