Writing Female Villains - Things to Remember
CONTENT WARNING: fertility, sexual assault
I see a lot of posts highlighting examples of male writers getting descriptions of female characters wrong. Of male writers falling back on tired sexist tropes. But in a world where it’s quite possible to read works only written by men… and I must stress here the importance of diversifying if you haven’t already… it can be difficult to know how NOT to do those things.
It’s understandable when tired tropes find their way into your writing, but there are good reasons to be aware of them. Introducing nuance and a dose of reality to your villainous women will help give your writing credibility while maintaining your female readership. It’s all about integrity, which is something most, if not all, writers aspire to.
Let’s start with a basic fact: all villains, regardless of gender, view themselves as the hero. This sounds like villain ABC, but often it’s clear that female villains do not.
Before you read another sentence, consider your villain. Is she her own hero, or does she only exist to support, facilitate and inspire the arc of your male MC? You can spot this by asking yourself what selfish reason she has to do what she’s doing. What is she setting out to achieve for herself - independent of his interests? Independent of: “I selfishly want to make his life a misery.” Because that’s not actually selfish. That’s all about him, not her.
What you want is for her to have ambitions, wants and needs that go beyond where your male character intersects with her arc.
If she lacks self-serving motives she’s simply unrealistic. Every human person is fully aware of what they want for themselves. This goes for women and men.
The Monstrous Mother
If your villainous woman’s motive is related to motherhood, it might be worth revisiting her arc. Women being driven to dastardly deeds because of issues surrounding fertility, infertility and the loss of children are so prevalent throughout fiction that they’ve become a catch-all. From Scarlet Witch going on a rampage through the multiverse, to Black Widow describing herself as “a monster” because of her forced sterilisation, it’s a problematic standard to fall back on.
The “barren woman” as “witch” angle is as old as the hills. Many women do experience this struggle and it’s always deeply personal, and private. If you do want to include this narrative in your story, it should be done with care. Always remember that anger is only one of the complicated emotional reactions associated with this subject.
There are many biological conditions that can challenge a person’s life that are not related to pregnancy. But if you see biological conditions as a problematic basis for villainy, i.e. a debilitating injury, disability, or scarring (all very prevalent tropes in villainous characters), you can add fertility/infertility to that list.
On the side of lost children, if your character is driven to villainy because she’s lost her children, is it because she has then lost her purpose in life? This narrative reinforces the idea that a woman’s worth is solidly tied to motherhood. But how did she lose her children? Can her new purpose - however shrouded in moral ambiguity - be to prevent the same thing happening to others? Think of ways you can twist the angle so that she is working towards a future - using villainous means - rather than burning the past.
And please… pretty please… do not have her disappearing into the background at the end because she fails to overcome her grief and find purpose. She’s a person with a life to live. This is a dreadful, terrible thing, but believe me, women go through a lot. She will live to ruin another day.
The CEO
If your villainous woman is in a position of power, is her arc acting as a cautionary tale to ambitious women and/or their husbands? Is missing her kid’s school thing really monstrous? Does working late really lead to the unravelling of her marriage, or is it more complicated than that?
A CEO or high-level businesswoman can be villainous without it killing her home life. What if she’s making decisions every day that she knows will harm people? Perhaps she’s playing puppet master with her employees? See what happens when you remove family from the equation, because it will probably make for a more rounded character. You can add family back later to enrich, but think carefully before making it her core plotline.
If you really want her career to be the downfall of her domestic life - can the reason be related to what she’s doing at work, as opposed to being absent from home? Make it about what she’s succeeding in doing, not what she is failing to do.
If your female CEO is using her sexuality and power to seduce a male employee, that is assault through coercion and it should be treated accordingly. Sexual assault happens to men as well as women, but we don’t normally see the emotional impact on the male side. In fact, it’s often glossed-over and not even acknowledged.
If you’ve done this, you’re not the only one and it’s a symptom of toxic patriarchy. In our society, men are meant to be in control of every sexual encounter. Male is power; female is weakness. Men always want sex; women must try to refuse. Therefore a sexual encounter is always a win for the man, no matter the circumstances. We know this is untrue. Please don’t fall into the trap.
Give him the space to feel the violation. That’s not weak, that’s human, and it’s important.
The Femme Fatale
She’s evil, but she’s sexy, and that’s what makes her dangerous. A femme fatale is a character that actively uses her feminine wiles and sexuality against men, to achieve her ends. However…
Sexualising a female villain who then causes the downfall of the male character, does not make her a femme fatale. If the seduction isn’t intrinsically tied to her methodology, she’s just a villain who’s mixing business and pleasure.
Take it from me, most attractive women in positions of power don’t wake up and think “how can I be my sexiest today?” They wake up and think, “I need to find something to wear for that meeting… I’ll go through my notes while I do my makeup.” Whether the outfit is sexy or not is in the heads of the people looking at her.
So perhaps work this in. Maybe there’s a discrepancy: your male MC views her as sexy and dangerous while she views herself as a professional trying to do her job. When she reveals her villainous plans he might be horrified… he may find he’s in far deeper than he should be because he was blinded by attraction… but did she set out to do that or did he do that all by himself?
Intent is important. Was the seduction necessary in order to further her scheme?
In Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade, Elsa Shneider seduces both Dr. Jones Sr. and Jr., but those acts didn’t facilitate her deception. The Joneses would’ve worked with her anyway, perhaps because she’s beautiful, but also because she’s a massive nerd for archaeology, a fan, and highly qualified in her own right. Take her looks and the sex out of it and the story could’ve been exactly the same. She is not a femme fatale.
Think about this when framing the scenario. Your male MC may cast her in the role of sexy temptress, thus vindicating himself from any part he may have played… but is that fair? Or is he shirking responsibility? You can redeem him by forcing him to accept the situation, and choosing to do the right thing from that point forward.
The Ageing Crone
Women becoming witches and vampires in an attempt to freeze the ageing process… women murdering people to consume their essence… women being corrupted by anti-ageing medications because heaven forbid they get crows feet and smile lines… the anxiety around ageing is real and something we’re battling in society right now. And we’re fighting it because it’s b-s.
If your villainous woman is driven by the need to halt ageing for vanity reasons… there needs to be depth behind it. Perhaps she fears the ageing process in general because she fears sickness and infirmity? Perhaps she’s witnessed the deaths of elderly relatives and doesn’t want that to happen to her? That’s something we can all relate to. Getting older is scary, but it doesn’t have to be purely tied to the loss of beauty and therefore value.
FYI: If in the process of highlighting her age you pit her against a younger woman, you’re giving Mirror Mirror on the Wall energy. Accept it or edit it.
Some Really Good Reasons for Women to Feel Rage
Ask any woman and she’ll give you a list of very good reasons to feel angry on a daily basis. There are myriad, nuanced provocations that sometimes add-up to dangerous levels of antagonism.
In She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters explains to Bruce Banner why she’s got her anger under control from the start:
“I'm great at controlling my anger. I do it all the time: When I'm catcalled in the street; when incompetent men explain my own area of expertise to me. I do it pretty much every day because if I don't, I will get called emotional, or difficult, or might just literally get murdered. So I'm an expert at controlling my anger because I do it infinitely more than you.”
Jen isn’t wrong and this speech meant a lot to a great many people. Your villainous woman will have experienced all of this, so use it. Weave it into your narrative to make your villain more sympathetic
Getting passed over for promotions and raises - I recently heard from a friend that she hadn’t got a promotion because she lived with her partner and her male colleague lived alone, so apparently he needed the money more - the assumption being that her partner would spend his money on her because… sexism
The expectation to be a carer - I once heard a male friend say of his future child, “I want a girl first because she’ll help look after any other babies that come along”. In saying this, he effectively assigned to her an unpaid job before she’d even left the womb. Women are more often trapped in caring roles than men and the stress and frustration of it could push your villainous woman over the edge
Education - A lot of girls still don’t have access to education in the same way that boys do - or they’re not encouraged into high-paying jobs. Perhaps your villain has worked three times as hard as her male counterpart because she’s had to fight against family expectations and/or juggle caring with school work, only for him to gain the recognition she deserves. If she then sets about bringing him down… well nobody could say she wasn’t provoked
Being objectified in the workplace - I once heard of a situation where male employees kept a spreadsheet where they rated female employees and their individual physical attributes out of ten. A woman would be broken down to legs, breasts, face, body… and during meetings they would be updating this spreadsheet. What she was saying was irrelevant… they just wanted to agree on the shape of her arse. This was known to management and nothing was done. This fills me with rage every time I think about it… let alone the fact that those men were then getting promotions and raises
Being objectified on the street - This happens all the time and I swear if I had the means to deliver retrospective justice I would. I go for walks in the evening and it’s happened more than once that a group of guys have literally surrounded me, making lewd comments. These were made as jokes. I was never dressed to please and they were being sarcastic and trying to make me feel small. On one occasion I was dressed to please. A man got in my face to give me a “compliment” and when I dodged and ignored him he followed me down the street hurling abuse at my back until another guy rounded the corner. These events were both frightening and threatening, and if I could have sent a well-placed missile to track them down later, thus saving another woman from the same situation, I can’t promise I wouldn’t have
Knowing that if you’re attacked, the chances of your attacker going to jail are slim-to-none and in the meantime you’ll be blamed for it (and you can’t even trust the police) - this could drive a villainous woman to react violently and defensively, or even become an avenger of sorts. If she ends up hurting some innocent guys along the way? Well… that’s where the villainy comes in, but it’s easy to see how it would happen
Another great speech from a movie was delivered by America Ferrera in Barbie and it’s a strong example of the expectations placed on women in everyday life. It’s worth bearing in mind that women who fall short or rebel against any of this are often painted as failures or villainous, so again, use these experiences when creating your villainous woman. This speech literally received applause from women in the audience:
“…we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong.
"You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. [AGEING CRONE] You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. [CEO] You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. [MOTHER/CEO] You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. [CARER/MOTHER/CEO] You have to answer for men's bad behavior, [FEMME FATALE] which is insane, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. [CASE STUDY ABOVE] You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much [FEMME FATALE] or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. [CEO/AGEING] But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! [ALL OF THE ABOVE] It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.”
Male-typical Villainy
Let’s address the usual objections made about the types of evil associated with men.
Yes, women can also be serial killers (17% of serial murders are by women vs 83% by men). Yes they can be domestically abusive. Yes they can plot to take over the world.
BUT
The methods and motives are different. While male serial killers will often “hunt” their victims, who are unknown to them, for sexual purposes, female serial killers will “gather” and are more likely to kill a spouse or partner. It’s lust vs. pragmatism: male serial killers are often motivated by sex, female serial killers will be motivated by resources. Male serial killers will normally kill by asphyxiation, females will kill by poison.
Each “female version” of a male-identified type of villainy will present differently. So do the research, don’t just take a male crime complete with methodology and motive and stick a female sticker on it. The subject is fascinating, so get stuck in!
Conclusion
As said in Writing Female Characters - Things to Remember, her point of view may be different to your male MC’s… and even your own. Think about this when you’re writing her. The best villains are likeable, so at least make her plausible. Make her nuanced. Make her sexy and bitter and angry and frustrated and hurt and ambitious. Make her all the things society will hate her for and make her glorious.