Patriarchy in fighting scenes

or the difference between Black Widow and Captain America.

Jace Wayland and Isabelle Lightwood.

Superman and Wonder Woman.

Have you ever watched a movie just to subsequently think: wow, I really want to fight like Cap! Yeah, Nat is fine, but Cap... look at those moves! He looks so strong, like he’s made or iron! Oh, no, wait, wrong superhero

What I’m trying to say here is that superheroes are heavily gendered. You get great fighting scenes for both, but with many differences.

Where can we see this difference?

Look at the pictures of our favorite heroes fighting:

Notice how Captain America’s fighting style -- that involves hard punches and hits where sheer strength is vital -- communicates a feeling of strength and integrity.

Black Widow’s fighting involves a lot more shooting, joint levers, and techniques that aim to the enemy’s weak parts (and is of course sexy).

Why is it different?

Because women are [keep reading] thought to be weak. Therefore, they would lose in a fight against a man if they used sheer strength (like Cap does).

Why is this wrong?

Because there’s no difference. Black Widow can be stronger than a lot of her enemies since they probably have never trained as much as she has, and the same goes for other characters.

Let’s see it together.

In this following set of pictures, you see Jace Wayland and Isabelle Lightwood. Yes, Isabelle was a very different character in Cassandra Clare’s books, but let’s focus on what we see here.

Costumes

It’s blatantly obvious that Isabelle is a girl who has a great style and all, but this doesn’t mean that it’s safe for her (or for Wonder Woman, or for Black Widow) to fight in things that would made James Bond curse very second as he runs from the enemy, tries to throw a kick, or even goes as far as trying to breathe without his chest showing.

Hairstyles where the hair is not gathered up, braided, or short, are simply very difficult to fight in, and there’s no escape from that. “But she’s accustomed to ...” doesn’t make it any easier. She still has to face more difficulties in fighting than her male counterparts do.

Usually, these costumes reinforce the idea that women must look sexy, and men must look strong. It’s the same opposition we have found before.

Gendered Weapons

Male gets sword, axe, big heavy thing hard to maneuver.

Girl gets poison, whip, bow, crossbow, light and vicious subtle weapon.

Why?

Again, because women are considered vicious and weak.

But this is a misconception. Being a woman doesn’t make you biologically less strong than a man. Yes, there differences in the body structure, hormones, etc, but remember that the people we are talking about are literal heroes. They are people trained to do anything.

In the army in the real world, female soldiers don’t do things much differently than men. Why? Because there’s no difference so big.

Also, they don’t wear metal bras thinking they will protect them.

Other weapons

Think about how a woman usually goes undercover.

It usually ends up with her having to seduce some powerful man, doesn’t it?

Interesting thing, too.

Why can the same thing happen with their male counterparts?

I’d love to see Cap or James Bond seducing a powerful woman! Or maybe let’s stop with this trope at all!

What should I write to make women and men equal in my wip?

Write women with swords, heavy weapons, in proper armors! Make sure they don’t look sexy while fighting, don’t go down to the battlefield with their hair down.

It’s wonderful to want to look good, but during a battle? Hard! And also, dangerous!

Hope this can help with the writing of new characters :)