History Main / FeministFantasy

* ''The Falling Woman'' and everything else by Pat Murphy.

* ''Series/GoldDigger'' is very likely one of the most tolerant and evenhanded comics around. No, seriously. The female characters are smart, capable, funny, goofy, distinctive, well-rounded, diverse, and memorable, in a manner usually reserved for TenchiMuyo or the works of RumikoTakahashi. They are usually attractive, yes, but Fred is making a continuous effort to represent different body types and give female readers evenhanded "beefcake" treatment.

* ''Series/GoldDigger'' is very likely one of the most tolerant and evenhanded comics around. No, seriously. The female characters are smart, capable, funny, goofy, distinctive, diverse, and memorable, in a manner usually reserved for TenchiMuyo or the works of RumikoTakahashi. They are usually attractive, yes, but Fred is making a continuous effort to represent different body types and give female readers evenhanded "beefcake" treatment.

* The Aleutian Trilogy and other works by Gwyneth Jones.

* Ursula K. Le Guin wrote ''TheLeftHandOfDarkness'' to challenge gender assumptions in science fiction but later decided she hadn't gone far enough, especially since she used the default pronoun "he" for her genderless characters. Especially after the first few decades, all of her books count as feminist fictions. In the 1990s, she began a feminist deconstruction of her own earlier {{Earthsea}} fantasy series.

* {{Xena Warrior Princess}}.

* ''TheBloodyChamber'', ''Nights at the Circus'', and others by Angela Carter.

* ''Discworld/EqualRites'' by Terry Pratchett.

* ''RemnantPopulation'' and various series, such as ''[[TheDeedOfPaksenarrion The Deed of Paksenarrion]]'', ''FamiliasRegnant'', and ''[[VattasWar Vatta's War]]'', by Elizabeth Moon.

* ''WomenOfTheOtherworld'' by Kelley Armstrong.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', and really, anything by JossWhedon.
* {{Charmed}} is a feminist fantasy that featured three women banding together and saving the world.
* {{Xena Warrior Princess}}.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

* The 1993 remake of ''AttackOfThe50FootWoman.''
* Disney animated films have been more proactive with their female characters starting with ''TheLittleMermaid'', but the most extensive example of this trope is undoubtedly ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. The princess movies seem to be getting more and more feminist, as well as self-aware, with every passing year.
* ''{{Twilight}}'' is a ''very'' controversial example. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Depending on how you analyze the books,]] they are either very feminist for their inclusion of about equal numbers of male and female characters, or they set feminism back fifty years by having a passive, unabashedly boy-obsessed main character. YourMileageMayVary.
** Well, since any idiot can write a bunch of female characters, or even [[OneGenderRace make all the characters female thanks to parthenogenesis]], yeah.


[[AC: {{Comics}}]]

* Several superheroines headline their own comic books, including WonderWoman, {{Batgirl}}, {{Supergirl}}, PowerGirl, BirdsOfPrey (a rare all-girl team book), MsMarvel, [[SheHulk She-Hulk]], BlackWidow, and {{Spider-Girl}}. Some have more feminist themes than others (Wonder Woman and Power Girl especially), but most have at least a few in order to distinguish them from their {{Spear Counterpart}}s.
** Wonder Woman is probably responsible for the stereotype that feminists are lesbians, if only because when ExecutiveMeddling resulted in a less {{fanservice}}y costume, feminists complained.

[[AC: Anime and Manga]]

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''. To give you an idea, the three main scientists (Yui, Naoko, and Ritsuko) are female, a reference to Genesis. Asuka and Rei (all of them) are also female. Misato is female, a bit, ah, "forward" with men, and commands the Eva pilots. [[spoiler:The Evas hold the pilots' mothers' souls for some fun uterine symbolism.]] Common {{fanon}} states that all but one of the Angels are either female or asexual. Yes, there's a lot of {{fanservice}}, but the most famous fanservice is for {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s, getting more homoerotic with each incarnation.

[[AC: BoardGames]]

* ''MagicTheGathering'' has an odd example: White represents healing, protection, chivalry, and law and order. Many of the powerful white creatures (''all'' the powerful angels, Lin Sivvi) are depicted as female. Indeed, the first pure white-mana plane, Serra's Realm, is a matriarchy.

* ''TheLeftHandOfDarkness'' and other works by Ursula K. Le Guin. In the 1990s, she began a feminist deconstruction of her own earlier {{Earthsea}} fantasy series.

Another type of FeministFantasy is a feminist retelling of an old story, like a fairy tale or folktale. These are very popular nowadays, and seem to be the way this generation of Disney princesses is turning out--see ''{{Enchanted}}'' and ''PrincessAndTheFrog''. The former is completely self-aware and sends up the traditional DisneyPrincess archetype, and the latter is about a princess who wants to be a businesswoman and ends up with a guy along the way.

* ''The Falling Woman'' and everything else that Pat Murphy has written.

* Arguably ''EllaEnchanted'' (the novel by Gail Carlson Levine, not the movie), where it's Cinderella retold, but this time Ella takes charge of her own destiny.

* L. E. Modesitt's ''Spellsong Cycle''.

* ''Walk to the End of the World'' and other books by Suzy McKee Charnas.

* ''Mission Child'' by Maureen F. McHugh.

* ''Dreamsnake'', ''The Moon and the Sun'', and other books by Vonda N. McIntyre.

* The works of Robin McKinley, including such fairy tale retellings as ''{{Deerskin}}'' and ''[[BeautyARetellingOfBeautyAndTheBeast Beauty]]''.

* ''[[Literature/LostGirls Lost Girls]]'', ''The Books of Great Alta'', and many other works by JaneYolen.

Science fiction and fantasy are suited to examining gender and male-female relations by depicting alternative societies (may be a LadyLand or the result of a GenderCide) or species with unfamiliar sexual biology, or by subjecting characters to [[GenderBender Gender Bending]].

* ''The Falling Woman'' and everything else that Pat Murphy has written.

* Anything by TamoraPierce, who, with one exception so far, has written exclusively about female main characters. In the CircleOfMagic, the genders seem to be mostly equal, whereas in the TortallUniverse, several of the stories exist to point out gender (and class) inequalities.

* As pointed out by the NostalgiaChick, ''EverAfter'' is a feminist retelling of Cinderella.
* ''TheSevenwatersTrilogy'', by Juliet Marillier.
* ''{{Herland}}'' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. [[UrExample Written in 1915]].
* Arguably ''EllaEnchanted'' (the novel by Gail Carlson Levine, not the movie), where it's Cinderella retold, but this time Ella takes charge of her own destiny.
* SheriSTepper's ''TheGateToWomensCountry.'' (Along with nearly everything else she's ever written, even ''The True Game'', which began with a trilogy about an almost typical male fantasy hero.)
* ''The Practical Princess And Other Liberating Fairy Tales'' by Jay Williams.

* Modesitt's ''The Soprano Sorceress'' series. Oh so much.
* Just about anything Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote, but the most famous is her feminist retelling of Arthurian legend, ''TheMistsOfAvalon.''
* There were a whole series of ''Chicks In Chainmail'' anthologies that were about girls being the heroes.
** Unlike ''Sword and Sorceress'', below, the ''Chicks'' series were intentionally tongue in cheek as a counterpoint to the seriousness in the other anthology.
* Similarly, the ''Sword and Sorceress'' anthology series, started by the late MarionZimmerBradley and continued by other editors after her death.
* MercedesLackey books feature these themes, again, some more than others.
* ''The {{Penelopiad}}'' by Margaret Atwood. Actually, Margaret Atwood in general. Although she [[SciFiGhetto vehemently denied]] that ''TheHandmaidsTale'' was Sci Fi. {{YMMV}} on how true that is...

* ''Herland'' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Written in 1915.

* SheriSTepper's ''TheGateToWomensCountry.'' (Along with nearly everything else she's ever written, even TheTrueGame, which began with a trilogy about an almost typical male fantasy hero.)

* ''The Penelopiad'' by Margaret Atwood. Actually, Margaret Atwood in general. Although she [[SciFiGhetto vehemently disagreed]] that ''TheHandmaidsTale'' was Sci Fi, it totally is.

[[AC: LiveTelevision]]

[[AC: {{Literature}}}}

* The 1993 remake of ''AttackOfThe50FootWoman.''
* Disney animated films have been more proactive with their female characters starting with ''TheLittleMermaid'', but the most extensive example of this trope is undoubtedly ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. The princess movies seem to be getting more and more feminist, as well as self-aware, with every passing year.
* ''{{Twilight}}'' is a ''very'' controversial example. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Depending on how you analyze the books,]] they are either very feminist for their inclusion of about equal numbers of male and female characters, or they set feminism back fifty years by having a passive, unabashedly boy-obsessed main character. YourMileageMayVary.
** Well, since any idiot can write a bunch of female characters, or even [[OneGenderRace make all the characters female thanks to parthenogenesis]], yeah.

Note that this is not a LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek, which cuts down men in order to appear "feminist." Nor does it have to be {{Anvilicious}} about gender issues to qualify. And, of course, YourMileageMayVary as to whether the work in question actually has feminist themes. It doesn't even have to stop men from liking it too, particular ones that like a HotAmazon.

* SheriSTepper's ''TheGateToWomensCountry.''

Note that this is not a LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek, which cuts down men in order to appear "feminist." Nor does it have to be {{Anvilicious}} about gender issues to qualify. And, of course, YourMileageMayVary as to whether the work in question actually has feminist themes.

* Several superheroines headline their own comic books, including WonderWoman, {{Batgirl}}, {{Supergirl}}, PowerGirl, BirdsOfPrey (a rare all-girl team book), MsMarvel, {{She-Hulk}}, BlackWidow, and {{Spider-Girl}}. Some have more feminist themes than others (Wonder Woman and Power Girl especially), but most have at least a few in order to distinguish them from their {{Spear Counterpart}}s.

Note that this is not a LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek, which cuts down men in order to appear "feminist." Nor does it have to be {{Anvilicious}} about gender issues to qualify. And, of course, YourMileageMayVary as to whether the work in question actually has feminist themes. See also TheBechdelTest for a good indicator of whether or not a work strongly represents women.