Maybe feminist writers can join the Dead White Males club when they create something other then the usual 'how-hard-it-is-to-be-a-woman' oeuvre.

Until then, the Dead White Males rule all hell - painting, check. Music, check. Literature, check.

Three cheers for DWMs!!

I don't think Harry Potter is a fair dig. Hermione is essential to the story, and Rowling has female villains (Bellatrix Lestrange and Dolores Umbridge) as well. Women characters are rarely allowed to be out-and-out villains in children's literature.

Sadly, too many studies have been done showing that girls will read books with male protagonists but boys won't return the favor. It's a pity, too. My introduction to Sci-Fi was A Wrinkle in Time followed quickly by Podkayne of Mars. Think what the boys have missed.

Trolling LWM (live white male) alert.

Check.

I had no idea Tedra was writing at Broadsheet. Is this your first post or have I been blind? Congrats on the new gig. And I just noticed another familiar name, Kate Harding. Good on Broadsheet for hiring some of the best voices of the internet.

Are we allowed to mention, Ms. Osell, where we might have read you elsewhere?

And to the author of the first letter, wow, you're a moron.

I don't think Harry Potter is a fair dig. Hermione is essential to the story

Hermione is an important character. That point is that the "Hermione Granger" stories probably wouldn't have been purchased by as wide an audience. Which sucks.

Meanwhile, I'd like to give a shout-out to The Dead White Men. Because a lot of them are classics for good reason. We don't need to dismiss the DWMs to appreciate other diverse points of view.

Ironically, one of the best sources of female heroines and villains are the past ~20 years of Disney animated films:

Ariel in "Little Mermaid" defies her father and goes to the surface. She is tricked but ultimately defeats the evil Ursula.

Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" sacrifices herself to save her father, then saves Beast and destroys the evil Gaston.

Mulan risks her life to replace her father in the army and ultimately defeats barbarian invaders.

Lilo in "Lilo and Stitch", plus her sister.

Fiona (and Dragon) in "Shrek"

See a pattern?

I grew up in the seventies and I still remember thinking Nancy Drew was a wimp because her boyfriend always had to rescue her. Andre Norton was a wonderful find, heroines who were brave, resourceful, and found love even if they were ordinary looking like me. I'm going to pop over and find out if they have some of my favorites listed.

Heroines are -- by definition-- FEMALE. Therefore "female heroine" is redundant.

It's probably just me, but Disney movies don't really fit my definition of "kick-ass heroines", considering all the hideous pink "Princess" crap that's being sold to little girls these days. Not to mention that the only reason Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, and the rest did anything was so they could get their respective princes in the end. Whooptee-doo.

Only some that I recognized, Pratchett among them, and I certainly agree that the Tiffany Aching books are wonderful (so does my nine-year-old boy).

Other writers to check out:

Tamora Pierce for YA

Michelle West's Sun Sword books for epic fantasy readers

Sherri Tepper one of SF's great feminist writers

this is an awesome project.

I don't trouble myself with hero vs. heroine. I read my ass off when I was little, and I don't remember ever worrying about the proportion of strong males to females. My favorite Judy Bloom book was not "Are you there God? [Etc.]" but "Then Again, Maybe I Won't." (And the MALE protagonist spends an awful lot of time having wet dreams and fantasizing about naked girls--I missed a lot of that story the first time around.) I'm not 100% up on today's YA lit, and maybe it's more segregated. But, I mean, I read Sweet Valley High and the Babysitter's Club, and it doesn't get much girlier (or embarrassing) than that. I suspect that big readers are going to bump into the big books. Off the top of my head, I can think of about a dozen of those featuring a heroine. But if I had been worrying about that when I vetted some YA novels for my niecephews, I would have missed "Holes."

Maybe girls are more likely to read "boy books" than the other way around. So what? Good for girls. Be careful ghettoizing either the dead white males OR the chick books. Someone tried dissing Jane Austen a couple of weeks ago, and Amerigo was the first to take notice.

Good for the Amelia Bloomer project. Given its relative recency though, does anyone know of a group that promote a wider (i.e. older) cannon? I'm thinking of work like "Swallows and Amazons" - far from perfect but surely worth a mention in this company?

BritBoy

The most popular novel, and the most powerful novel in American history were written by women about strong and courageous women.

Gone With the Wind, and Uncle Tom's Cabin

I'm sick of that damned phrase, "kick ass." Wow, he kicks ass in the movie. She really kicks some ass." Bullshit. Violence isn't about kicking ass. Violence involves breaking facial bones and rupturing internal organs. It means torn skin and spilled blood and pain and injury that can last a lifetime. It often means permanent disability, brain damage, or death.

The people who whoop at "kick ass" don't know a damned thing about what it means to get hurt in a violent encounter. It's as much bullshit as the chickenhawks who cheer on the Iraq War from the comfort of their armchairs.

I don't want "kick ass" heroes, male or female. There's enough violence and suffering in the world, for real. I want heroes who exhibit intelligence and compassion. You can keep your romanticized, infantalized notions of violence.

"Women characters are rarely allowed to be out-and-out villains in children's literature" ... Except in nearly every major fairy tale. "Wicked Stepmother" and "Ugly Stepsister" have become generic descriptions.

.... And then there's all those women in Ancient Greece (which I loved reading as a young girl): monsters Medusa, the Sirens, the Harpies, Scylla, Charybdis; nasty mortals like Niobe, Clytemnestra, Medea; vengeful goddesses Hera, Eris, Circe, Aphrodite, Athena ...

And for slightly older children, let's not forget Shakespeare: Lady Macbeth, Goneril & Regan, Joan la Pucelle, Margaret Beaufort; Austen: Lady Catherine deBorroughs, Fanny Ferrars, and practically all the women in "Mansfield Park"; and on, and on, and on.

Bellatrix Lestrange and Dolores Uxbridge are simply the latest in a long line of (deliciously) villianous female characters.