Welcome to the fifth Chicks in Chainmail anthology. Allow me to offer you a comfortable chair, a bowl of popcorn, some corn chips and salsa, perhaps a few carrot sticks, and the healthful beverage of your choice before placing this book in your lap. No, it's not Turn the Other Chick; not yet. It's a family album.
"Whose family?" you ask. (Or perhaps you ask "What's this bushwah about a 'healthful beverage'? Gimme a chocolate ice cream soda, straight up, before I get nasty." In which case, shame on you.) Maybe it's yours. It's definitely mine. The members thereof are a small selection of fictitious heroines who aren't represented in this book but who have had a whole lot of impact on changing how people think about women. They've put down the order pad, the bake sale brownies, and the Why His Problems Are Always Your Fault book and picked up the sword instead. I'd say they deserve at least a passing nod, a smile, and even a few words of thanks for all that they've done for us. (I wouldn't suggest a pat on the back, though. These chicks have got rather enthusiastic reflexes, they don't like surprises, and they're probably toting something sharp.)
There's the woman herself, Xena, Warrior Princess. She's gone now, as is her faithful sidekick Gabrielle who became a woman warrior in her own right before their story ended.
Ah, and Eowyn and Arwen from the movie versions of The Lord of the Rings! Not 100% true to the book, but that's the nature of the cinematic critter. The purist in me might sulk, but my Inner Child is brandishing an elven blade and whooping "Arwen finally gets to do something besides wait around for Aragorn to show up! Yes!"
Check out Princes Leia, who proved to a doubting world that just because you send out a wideband Damsel in Distress call you can still kick plenty of Dark Side butt when the opportunity presents itself.
And can this be little Buffy Summers? My, how she's grown. Yes, you can fight evil and still hold down a job in the exciting and high-paying fast food industry!
I apologize to those of my fellow J.K. Rowling fans who are asking why Hermione Granger isn't here. She's certainly a fighter, just not the kind that uses a sword.
Oh, very well, let's include her. I suppose you could argue that not every woman warrior fights her battles with a sword, and that a wand is close kin to Buffy's favorite vampire-slaying stake, Mr. Pointy. I can't say no to Hermione. Really. I can't. She slapped this Let Me In Or Else spell on me and I had no choice.
Ironic, that. Freedom is all about having options and until fairly recently, being a woman was not. We were forever hearing "But you're a girl, so you can't:
"1. vote.
"2. live on your own.
"3. manage money.
"4. be paid the same as a man who's doing the same job.
"5. defend your country or even yourself.
"6. compete in professional sports.
"7. save France."
Women warriors—all of us, not just the ones who look slick in video—stand ready to defend our hard-won freedoms, our options, and to strive for further triumphs on the battlefield, big or small. Our battle cry, a thunderous "Sez you!" is often underscored by a resounding Bronx cheer in the direction of anyone who tells us "You can't 'cause you're a girl."
Among these freedoms is the choice of keeping a sense of humor on your person at all times. On occasion we don't hear "You can't do that 'cause you're a girl!" but the equally snarky "You can't do that 'cause you're a Feminist!"
Oh yes I can. (See above: Freedom. Also: Sez you.)
You'll notice that the women I've mentioned all hail from movies and television, though some originally saw the light of day in books and some have come to have spin-off books written about them. Their sisters who exist in print alone are even more numerous, but the Received Wisdom of the modern world is that eye candy reaches more people (and thus has more societal impact) than brain food. I'm not going to debate the truth or error of that, though I'd be the Amazing Ostrichwoman if I denied the wide-reaching influence of TV and movies.
As long as the aforementioned influence continues to present us with powerful, independent women who know how to fight in defense of themselves and others, I'm not about to complain. The more people who get that message, the merrier.
"That is all very well and good," I hear you say, "but that is also the past. Xena and Buffy have gone to Syndication Heaven. Who's going to replace them? Or are we going to go back to the days when the most important battle ever fought by women in fiction was Betty versus Veronica to settle that burning, earth-shattering question, Who will Archie take to the prom?"
I wish I had an answer handy. There are plenty of people who would be all too happy to return women to being objects of Rescue, Ornament, and Enforced Cheerful Domesticity. This would be bad enough, if they limited these desires to women's roles in books, movies, and TV. It's a sad truth that many of our fellow human beings can't feel tall unless they're standing on someone else's face. For some folks a mad dash back into the Dark Ages ("When Underlings Knew Their Proper Place!") looks like progress simply because it's motion at high speed.
Are we going to see more strong heroines appear on the big and little screens, or are we going to get a pat on the head and the jovial reassurance that everything will be taken care of for us, go have a manicure and let the nice media moguls handle it?
Um, how many female media moguls are there, by the way? And how many of them think of the rest of us as more than just a Marketing Demographic?
It's tiring, swinging a sword all day, and it's hell on that darling manicure, but it beats having to fight the same battles all over again because you assumed someone else would guard your freedom for you. If you haven't got a sword handy, you can always wield your wallet.
You can also choose not to worry your pretty little head about it. (Note: This is still your choice, not a constraint. For now.)
And while we're talking about choices, here's hoping all of us will forever be free to choose laughter.
Buffy would have wanted it that way.
You'll notice that the dedication of the book is for Tanya and Grant Van Der Ploeg. "Why?" you may ask. (Unless you are still demanding to know when the heck you're going to get your chocolate ice cream soda. Stop that.)
Go to http://www.dolls-n-daggers.com and you'll understand. Heh.