Damsel in Distress

St. George and the Dragon - Paolo Uccello (Wiki Commons)

As a child, I was the only girl in our neighbourhood.  I often wanted to play with my brother and the other neighbourhood boys.   On the occasions when the “NO GIRLS ALLOWED” sign on the tree house was removed, we’d play our imaginary games based on our favourite stories or TV shows.  Some days we would play Mario Brothers, and I would be Princess Peach.  Or we would play Spiderman, and I would be Mary Jane.   Other times we played Star Wars and, you guessed it, I was Princess Leia. (Now to be fair, this one was kind of a given. I, Leigha, played the role Leia, and my brother, Lucas, was Luke Skywalker  - if you have any issues with that, you can take it up with our parents.)  But my roles in our childhood re-enactments got pretty boring.  I just kind of sat around, waiting for one of the boys to rescue me from some invented disaster.   The damsel in distress. 

The summer before I turned 9, my parents packed up their children, Leia and Luke, I mean, Leigha and Lucas, and took us to Prince Edward Island for a family vacation.   One laidback island afternoon, we wandered into a farmers market where they were putting on a play for the children.   In the skit, there was a beautiful maiden who was trying to go about her day and live her life, but she kept getting interrupted by these knights in shining armour, who would ride in on their white horse to rescue her.  And she’d shake her head, annoyed, point to her frock, and say, “No, no, no.  You’ve got it all wrong! I’m a Damsel in THIS DRESS, not a Damsel in DISTRESS!”

But that is what we have done.  We have created a society where it is hard for us to imagine a world where the woman plays any role other than helpless victim, in need of saving.  That might seem a little severe, but just consider some of our most popular films and television shows:

• The Princess Bride 
• Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty (or any other princess movie, really)
•  The vast majority of romantic comedies, or chick-flicks (looking at you Nicholas Sparks and your pretty white women who need rescuing by pretty white men)
•  Taken
• Pirates of the Caribbean 
•  All James Bond films
• Indiana Jones franchise
• Most other action films
• Lois Lane to Clark Kent’s Superman
• Olive Oyl (Popeye)

The list could go on….

*I’d like to point out that just because there is sexist media doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it.  It’s about recognizing the sexism when we see it, and being critical consumers. 

We are robbing ourselves (men and women, boys and girls) of so many wonderful, courageous stories where women are the protagonists.  Screenwriter Joss Whedon summarized it quite well when he was asked by a reported why he kept writing strong females characters.  Whedon's response: “Because you keep asking me that question.”  It seems we have a problem imagining women in positions of power, and we have effectively silenced them and their contributions.  And Christian culture is far from exempt.  

Consider Mark Burnett’s “The Bible.”  The second instalment in the 10 part series on the History Channel, featured the story of Jericho.   See, in addition to God, I always though Rahab was the hero of this story.   But in Mark Burnett’s version, Rahab’s status as (s)hero is removed and she is made a passive participant, spared by God for complying with the spies request to harbour them.  Elizabeth Esther had similar complaints, taking to twitter to voice her displeasure:

Really disagree w. portrayal of Rahab in #thebible on @history tonight. She initiated helping spies, wasn't threatened at knife point.
— Elizabeth Esther (@elizabethesther) March 11, 2013

God chose to give Rahab a prominent role to play in defeat of Jericho. #thebible on @history chose to diminish her role!
— Elizabeth Esther (@elizabethesther) March 11, 2013

HAVE YOU READ THIS STORY?  This woman is amazing, she defied her culture to follow God.   She told the spies how to avoid capture.  She rescued the national of Israel! She was one of only five recorded women in the lineage of Christ. 

And then there is Ruth.  Like Rahab, Ruth is also in the lineage of Christ.  If you’re a young woman who has grown up in evangelical culture, you’ve no doubt been encouraged to follow Ruth’s example and wait for your Boaz.  In fact, you’ve probably heard girls announce, “I’m just waiting for my Boaz.”   Wait is such passive language.  Go back and reread the story.  Ruth is anything but passive.  Ruth is assertive.  She’s one powerhouse of a human being.  And while we’re at it, let us take a moment to consider if we really want our daughters and sisters to wait until a man is drunk, lay at his feet, and convince him he slept with her and must therefore fulfill his moral obligation by marrying her.   Maybe we need to rethink that one.  Don’t get me wrong.  There are many characteristics of Ruth that are worth emulating.  But let's not boil it all down to her ability to get herself a man.

Christian author, Karen Kingsbury, further perpetuates this silencing of women is her children’s book “The Princess and the Three Knights”.  In the story, there is a King who has a daughter.  A beautiful daughter, who is kind, and good, and gentle hearted.  Like any good father who loves his daughter, he doesn’t want the princess to marry just anyone.  So the King decides to hold a competition for three knights to see who is worthy of his daughter.  The knight who is the strongest, the most courageous, who has the kindest heart will win her hand in marriage.  The Princess is a prize to be won.    The most shocking thing is that the Princess doesn’t even speak in the story.  She utters not one word.   Forget passive participant, she is hardly even present.  She has been reduced to a trophy to be awarded to the best contender, an object.

These narratives remove a woman’s agency and her right to self determination.  They deny women the ability to be the protagonists in their own dramas.

That’s why stories about girls like The Paperbag Princess, Merida of Disney’s Brave, Anne Shirley, and Susan and Lucy, are so important.  To show our boys that their sisters and female peers can have exciting adventures too.  To show our girls that they are capable of great things.  It’s why we need to hear the stories of the Bible heroines, of Miriam, and Deborah, and Esther.  Of Junia, and Pricilla, and Tabitha.  We need to hear them preached from the pulpit.  And we need to hear them in a woman’s voice.  For goodness sake, the first person to preach the message of the resurrection was a woman!   Let’s teach our girls and women that we have skills and giftings to contribute to the kingdom, that we are not just passive princesses, or damsels in distress waiting to be rescued.  

Because the fact is, I already have a Saviour, I’m not looking for another.

To be clear, the story of rescue is not, in and of itself, harmful.  Humanity is in distress.  We, as a creation, have messed up.  We are a fallen creation in desperate need of a Saviour.  A God who is mighty to save.   And that has nothing to do with gender roles.

*Coincidence:   While I was writing this post, Anita Sarkeesian of “Feminist Frequency” posted a video critiquing the damsel in distress trope in video games.  It's worth checking out.

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