Writing Female Warriors - Things to Remember - Part 4
Nuns, Sisterhoods and Vows
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 that place women as props in the male MC’s storyline. 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.
Does your badass female character belong to an order of warrior nuns? A coven of sorceresses? A nation of Amazonian goddesses? A sworn female-only guard to a royal house? Excellent. Strength through sisterhood. This is fertile ground for some epically powerful heroines.
Following Part 3 - Ice Queens, Mothers… and Korra, this article will explore organisations and collectives of female warriors.
Nuns and Vows
Religious orders and cults are great fun to write and can provide an empowering start for your female warrior. For the most part, a convent provides a society of women space to train and grow and live, free from the interference of men. In our real-world the Mother Superior still answers to the male heads of the church and the hierarchy is still patriarchal, but within the Convent itself, women rule.
As female-friendly as this might seem, there are further limiting factors that should be explored and questions that need answering in the process of writing your narrative.
A Higher Purpose
Those acting in the world as members of a religious order or cult are doing so because they have received instructions. Their motive tends to be external. This can make them terrifying, as separation from responsibility can ease the moral burden associated with committing crimes. After all, if she’s on a holy mission, those in her way are acting against the higher power and she is the hand of judgement. Through her the higher power’s will is done.
While this can make a warrior nun awesome, it also removes autonomy. So perhaps think about ways in which she might struggle with carrying out her duties. Does her mission make her think twice about her chosen path?
Part of the Collective
As soon as a person takes orders they are no longer an individual. Damage that befalls her is dealt to the order as well as herself. There’s power in that, but also erasure. Taking orders is a process of “giving oneself over”. Breaking vows can be empowering but also crippling.
If you’re writing a female warrior nun, how much of her power comes from the collective, and how much comes from her? And is the collective answering to an overall patriarchal system? If so, you might inadvertently be writing a warrior woman who is the key weapon in defending the patriarchy.
You might be fine with this. It could add another layer to the complexity of her situation. But make sure you think about it and what it means to her.
The Vow of Silence
If your female warrior character has taken a vow of silence, I would encourage you to think hard about your decision.
Speech is power. Being able to advocate for yourself and argue your point… that’s power. Unless you are very careful about it, silencing a character is a huge limitation. It certainly makes taking on a leadership role very difficult.
Now, silence can be a legit and interesting challenge. Beyond the warrior nun, a female character might be unable to speak. She might have had her tongue cut out as punishment for a crime. She may be “finding her voice” following a trauma, like Kimiko in The Boys and Tehanu in Tehanu (Le Guin). Either way, as long as your story includes other empowered female characters who can speak for themselves, then great, explore away.
But if you have one female character and she is incapable of uttering a sound… that’s a definite choice and you need to ask yourself why.
It’s hard to think of reasons to do this without landing on overt sexism, which is not the point of this article. I’m writing this on the assumption that you’re not sexist and this decision was entirely innocent, so instead I’ll provide you with some insight into the assumptions it can provoke. Namely that the writer is either incapable of imagining what an empowered female character would say in any given situation, or that they’re so threatened by the concept that they have to put her in some kind of place.
Your choices matter. If you’ve chosen silence for your one female character, I’m sure you did it for the best reasons, but you are in danger of prompting those thoughts in your reader. So think about it. Hard.
If silence is something you really want to explore, and you only have one female character in your line-up, I would strongly recommend giving this attribute to one of your male characters instead.
Chastity
In fantasy and sci-fi realms alike, chastity still goes hand-in-glove with the warrior-nun scenario. Despite being a traditional part of the convent concept, you own your story and including chastity is still a choice. For that reason, it’s worth examining the alternatives.
Bear in mind that historically, powerful women have been forced to remain chaste in order to maintain positions of power. If they married they lost everything to their husband and if they had sex outside marriage they could be burned at the stake or beheaded. Queen Elizabeth I is a good example. Chastity is not a sign of power, it’s a qualification tenuously recognised by an already-rigged system.
So, while offsetting female strength and independence with loss of sexuality could feel like a natural payoff, it’s antiquated at best and tired at worst.
That’s not to say you can’t do it.
There’s nothing wrong with chastity per se, but think about the implications. Sexual freedom is power. If your aim is to empower and you’re denying your female warrior this most basic form of independence/expression, you need to examine your rationale.
Alternatives:
Is she using the appearance of belonging to a religious order as a means to avoid unwanted male attention? It could be that she’s not actually part of the order at all, but uses the disguise to prevent male interference. The “disguise” device is a classic that comes in many shapes and sizes. For example, in Blue Eye Samurai, Mizu disguises herself as a man in order to remain anonymous, maintain her freedom, and gain access to places a woman would never be allowed to enter.
If your character does belong to the order, is it less strict than people think? Yes she’s a follower and member, and yes officially she’s chaste, but could there be an unwritten understanding that sex happens?
“What we just did… it could ruin you,” Egbert murmured into her loose hair.
Mable let out a quiet laugh. “And who would believe you? My order is strict, remember? Many boast about seducing us, but their claims are never credited.”
Finally, does your religious order have to require chastity at all? Like Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate III; she’s a sworn cleric of Shar, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have sex.
Don’t get me wrong here. Female warriors don’t need to have sex in order to be empowered, but there’s a big difference between not wanting it and not being allowed.
The Powerful Clique
Putting all your badass women into a self-contained clique might seem like a good idea. After all, if the rest of your world is heavily patriarchal, living among women would give your female warrior the freedom to hone her skills without suffering at the hands of an oppressive regime. However, while your feminine paradise has been basking in the golden glow of freedom, the rest of the world has limped on. Did the problems go away? Are there badass women elsewhere?
Segregation isn’t equality.
There are many reasons why a group of warrior women might break away, or stay separate from society. So why did it happen in the first place?
If it’s a “type of power” (female-specific magic), or “faith” thing, is there a male equivalent? If the separation followed a trauma, how long has it been and what’s the feeling now? This background knowledge will help inform how your female warrior reacts to those on the outside, and how those on the outside react to her.
Are the women in the wider world angry that the women of the clique left them to their fate? Are the men openly hostile to women who can fight for themselves?
Whatever you decide, the reasons behind the setup could, and probably should, inform interactions throughout your story, so it’s worth being thorough.
If not segregated, then what?
The Dora Milaje in Marvel’s Black Panther are a sworn guard of female-only warriors. They exist in the world and are surrounded by male characters every day, but they stand alone. Their General, Okoye, is married to W’Kabi, the head of security for Wakanda’s Border Tribe. They play a very active and integrated role in society.
In Annihilation, a group of female soldiers investigate a hostile anomaly. The fact that they’re all women is an accident, they just happened to be the most qualified team for the job. It could be that your group of women have banded together because of expertise, experience and/or qualifications rather than gender. It could be that the most badass soldiers in the army are all women, no special or specific training necessary.
Multiple options of female empowerment can co-exist. Perhaps there are warrior nuns and independent female warriors in the same world. They might not appear in the story, but hearing about them would be good.
You can achieve this naturally by mentioning them in dialogue. If your male character is listing famous warriors, have him throw in a female name or two. If they’re sharing stories he could reveal that he dreamed of joining a female order before realising he lacked a key qualification. Even if your specific party is mostly male, mentions of female empowerment in the world can go a long way, as can your male character’s attitude towards it.
Romance on the outside
Just like Diana meeting Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman, your female warrior might exit the confines of her woman-only paradise and fall for a man. After all, curiosity is natural and it doesn’t necessarily follow that a woman raised among women wouldn’t be romantically drawn to a man. However, if you’re not careful you might fall into the trap of implying that “now she knows what sex is and her life is forever changed”.
This trope comes from the assumption that sex is only real if it involves a man. A myth embedded in the systemic appropriation of lesbian sex for male titivation, pleasure and participation. It’s a wholly false viewpoint.
So, if romance does arise, give her a sexual past. Details aren’t necessary, but respect for independent sexuality will help give your female character credibility.
Does She Have to Die?
As a final note, it’s very common for the strong independent woman, or the women of the convent/order/academy/island to all die in some brave and valiant battle. If you’re planning on doing this, ask yourself if it’s absolutely necessary. It’s common for authors to kill off female characters so that their male characters can take centre stage, see Writing Female Characters - Things to Remember, but there are alternative plotlines to follow.
It is possible to show bravery and sacrifice without her paying the ultimate price. It is possible to allow a society of women to survive a narrative.
Michelle Rodriguez has often commented that her characters, often strong, independent single women, are always killed off in the end:
“Probably because I don’t have a boyfriend in the story… and they don’t know what else to do with me.”
If at all possible, write your story so that Michelle Rodriguez survives until the end.
Conclusion
It’s your world and your story. You can write it however you like. Just make sure that whatever you write is on purpose. There’s nothing worse than failing to think something through and tying yourself in a narrative knot as a result. Take a step back and ask yourself if the basic principles you built your narrative on are as strong as you need them to be.
Writing Female Warriors - Things to Remember
Part 3 – Ice Queens, Mothers… and Korra
Part 4 – Nuns, Sisterhoods & Vows
More from the series…
Writing Female Characters - Things to Remember
Writing Female Villains - Things to Remember
How Women React to Men: Female Characters - Things to Remember