Um...Are You a Guy or a Girl?
I don't have any book reviews for you today, although quite a few are coming up on my schedule. But I do have something that's been on my mind recently and it's kept pestering me so I decided to tell you all about it. ;)
I will start with this-- There's a reason that guys and girls are pretty much always immediately differentiated between.
They look different and that's a fact. So, it annoys me quite a lot when I read books where the main character is a beautiful girl, something comes up so that she has to disguise herself as a boy, and then nobody can tell that she's a girl.
Please. That's extremely unrealistic. Long hair is not the only thing that makes a girl look feminine (that would be very scary), okay?
Here are some real world examples of this phenomenon (*cough* sarcasm):
Having short haircuts does not make these women look like guys. I'm pretty sure it still wouldn't make them look like guys if they didn't have make up on.
There are some pretty girls that might be able to get by as very dubious guys. But in most cases, it's not an option. I know I wouldn't be able to pass as a guy (besides the obvious height thing...). And that's another thing.
If the face didn't tip off those oblivious people who thought the girl was a guy, then their height might be a tiny bit suspicious. I mean, do you see any eighteen year old guys that are five foot three? Never. And if ever, it's extremely rare.
Also guys' hands are usually way bigger and (usually) thicker than girls' hands. Girls' hands have a tendency to be more slender and smaller.
In the end, it's not realistic for a beautiful/pretty girl to be able to become a guy with just a few snips of the scissors.
I will start with this-- There's a reason that guys and girls are pretty much always immediately differentiated between.
They look different and that's a fact. So, it annoys me quite a lot when I read books where the main character is a beautiful girl, something comes up so that she has to disguise herself as a boy, and then nobody can tell that she's a girl.
Please. That's extremely unrealistic. Long hair is not the only thing that makes a girl look feminine (that would be very scary), okay?
Here are some real world examples of this phenomenon (*cough* sarcasm):
Anne Hathaway
Jennifer Lawrence
Rihanna
Having short haircuts does not make these women look like guys. I'm pretty sure it still wouldn't make them look like guys if they didn't have make up on.
There are some pretty girls that might be able to get by as very dubious guys. But in most cases, it's not an option. I know I wouldn't be able to pass as a guy (besides the obvious height thing...). And that's another thing.
If the face didn't tip off those oblivious people who thought the girl was a guy, then their height might be a tiny bit suspicious. I mean, do you see any eighteen year old guys that are five foot three? Never. And if ever, it's extremely rare.
Also guys' hands are usually way bigger and (usually) thicker than girls' hands. Girls' hands have a tendency to be more slender and smaller.
In the end, it's not realistic for a beautiful/pretty girl to be able to become a guy with just a few snips of the scissors.
What do you think? Do you agree with me? Are there any other things like this that are totally unrealistic about book characters that you can't stand?
Oh my gosh, that's always bothered me as well. It takes a lot more than cutting your hair and putting on pants to "become" a boy.
ReplyDeleteRIGHT?!! I think it's used too much as a convenient way for girls to get out of difficult situations.
DeleteIt's like this...common scenario: Her hair's cut or shoved up under a cup and the guys around her are like "Hey, lad, *slaps shoulder* let's go hunting" On the other hand, her hair grows or is let down and they're like "SHE'S A GIRL. I can finally tell she's a girl because her hair's past her ears! She's a GODDESS."
As you can see, I have strong feelings about this ;)
Dude, I totally agree with you. This is what bugged me SO SO much in Defy by Sara Larson...it just didn't make sense how no one would know that an 18 year old "guy" was really a girl. Sometimes...I feel like it's definitely cool, but unrealistic. And you know having girls be the BEST fighter ever and win against all the guys...gah. I'm a total feminist. But I do love realism. And guys have height and such a weight difference on girls! Skill aside, it's a lot to do with physique. Interesting discussion topic. ;))
ReplyDeleteThank you :) It's definitely related to physique and even though I wish I could beat up (hypothetically of course ;) ) my six foot tall guy cousin, it's not going to happen. Ever.
DeleteFeminists for the win! Being able to disguise a girl as a guy is super cool and yet not cool because although we wish it could happen we know it can't.
That said, GIRL POWER. XD
Ugh, I agree with you completely! Besides women and men (obviously) having different bodies, our faces can't usually pass as either gender. So even a tall, broad girl with short hair would still look incredibly weird as a dude, because our faces are just different! Boys don't generally have small, round chins or arched eyebrows etc.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY. *claps*
DeleteFaces are the defining part because even though you could maybe deal with the different body types you can't change your face (or at least only minor tweaking with make up and stuff).