I confess that it took me a while to watch “Enola Holmes”, the new Netflix movie about Sherlock Holmes’s younger sister. I had two reasons, the first one: my job didn’t get me the time to do so. The second one was a little more complex than the first, I already knew that the main character would be a “female-male” role, and that was the main reason I postponed watching the movie.
Now, a “female-male” character it’s not a bad thing. She’s strong, smart, and puts in question some gender roles that we should already have overcome. But it gets really annoying when this character stands out herself but keeps all the others who are not as “special as her” imprisoned in the patriarchy.
For example, the live-action “Mulan” (2020) that Disney debuted in their new streaming service. Different from the character from the 1998 cartoon movie, Mulan is now some kind of a “chosen one”, a special person who is destined to be awesome and kick ass. Yet her sister, not-so-special-one, was left to accept her destiny as a good wife. And here’s the problem, why couldn't her sister also be awesome? Why is getting married the fate for “not special girls”?
Sailor Moon and the female protagonist.
Most of the “strong female models” today put aside all the feminine roles that society dictates for women, like tenderness, vulnerability, kindness, and especially, romance. That probably should be a good thing, if the role model wasn’t “don’t be a female, be a man”.
A “female-male” doesn’t like romance. She doesn’t like clothes or even brush her hair (Merida from Brave, that one is for you. I mean, I love you but...really?), and she will always let clear on every moment she can that “she’s not like the other girls”, like Enola Holmes who said this at least twice in the movie.
Yeah, you don't know how to embroider, I got it the first time.
"I'm not like the other girls" is a terrible concept to give to women and girls in general. Because the phrase not only segregates but also diminishes everything that is known as a "female thing" in order to try to have some approval from the opposite sex. She's worthy and special because she's not like "other girls".Nice way to turn young women against each other, huh?
Looking at kids and teenagers growing up with these role models, I remember my role models as a child.
Sailor Moon had the most influential female role models in my childhood. And if you were a kid in the ’90s, you probably know what I’m talking about. Sailor Moon was a cartoon based on the namesake Japanese comic book (manga), written by Naoko Takeuchi.
Basically, it’s the story of five girls who fight against aliens to protect the Earth. Despise the fact that the story has some serious plot holes, the female characters are amazing.
All girls have different personalities. Lita (Makoto), also known as Sailor Jupiter, is a strong girl who knows how to fight. She is taller than an average girl and because she puts up a lot of fights, people were afraid of her in the beginning. Despite that this character is a very romantic one. She loves flowers, likes to cook, take care of her house, and she dreams about getting married, and having a family one day.
On the contrary, Sailor Mars, or Rey (Rei), doesn’t want a romance. She doesn’t have time to “cry over guys” and has a tough personality. And that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like to get well dressed and brush her long black hair. Rey is one of the most elegant of the five girls.
Serena (Usagi), the Sailor Moon herself, is the leader of the group. She is not a proper warrior like Lita and she doesn’t have a tough personality like Rey. She is noisy, loud, and lazy, but her leadership is based on empathy and kindness, and it is with those powers that she always saved the day.
As I said before, it’s not a bad thing that we have the “female-male” role. We have to question the gender roles that society imposed on us (both female and males). Yet, if our main female heroine roles have always to be “male” to be worthy of our attention, are we really questioning gender roles at all?
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