I hardly wear makeup except a bit around the eyes on the rare occasions I go somewhere I need to dress up, or go to a work conference. I'm married, and by no means do I have no interest in my husband or being intimate with him because I don't wear much makeup, if ever. This has no relation one bit to my sex life. A woman can have zero interest in molding her body's appearance to attract men, but still be interested in men [or women] and have regular relations. Correlation=/=causation.
Oh yeah. This is true. The trick to this thread, which was mostly solved, was that I am a boy, and a lot of people were telling me sort of the line. "You just can't relate to girls because you have a penis." And I got nervous. So, I feel silly having asked the question, but it can be seriously worrying to think your character is wrong based on something you can't yourself change. Yet, I love discussion. So I don't care that the thread is solved. I will always discuss to anyone that wants too. I figured out the true trick is to show her. So I plan to add a scene with her mom giving her a hard time about not being her standard of a normal girl by not wearing make up or skirts. Sound like a smart plan?
LOL Laughing at myself. Sorry. I so could have worded that better. I considered this thread solved because I moved past the issue of other people telling me my characters are not valid because I have a penis. I still have a penis. lol It was seriously frustrating for a moment. One person even went as far as to call my characters more akin to "a man with boobs, than a real girl." So I needed help getting past the issue.
I'd much rather read your version of a "man with boobs" because that probably means you wrote her as a PERSON, not an archetype. In Mad Max: Fury Road there was absolutely nothing feminine about Charlize Theron's character, she was a wonderfully written character that happened to be female. Her gender/sex is only relevant in that she doesn't want others of her sex be the equivalent of broodmares, in that said bodily function of females hinders them from being actual people with goals and fulfillment. Women can be guilty of the same things in their writing, especially some romance authors. The man comes off as the epitome of everything masculine with nothing to really make him feel like a mortal human being. I really enjoy this romance anime where the male character is the straight-edged pretty boy, while the girl is a bubbly slob. It is unique, and she is so different from the stereotypical woman protagonist in anime.
Thank you for the kind words. And I agree. Actually one of the comments went. I think like this. It was a while back, so my memory may be fuzzy. "I try to create my character in a vacuum first. They are people then genders. I pick the gender usually last based on what I feel is correct to the character or the most interesting to the story," I said. "Just like a man. How come when people create characters in a vacuum, they tend to have masculine qualities? It is like feminine qualities are seen as weaknesses that should be avoided," she retorted. I am currently taking the idea that she was an extremist that was never going to give me good objective feedback. This disagreement wasn't about the POV character. It was about a different character and it was in response to me thinking her period wouldn't be a big deal to her. Which I still do think. Though, admittedly I hadn't given it much thought before. Which I am glad I am now. And I have learned a little more about how it can be a big deal. My thought towards that character is still this though. "She was raised in the woods by her father completely cut off from everyone else. He pushed her to her limits in physical activity. To the point that as a seven year old, he would have pushed down on her back while she did push ups(yes, this is a dick dad moment.) And she became a warrior that in many ways is in fact broken emotionally. And her strength is so and fighting ability and mental will is so great, she has been stabbed in the stomach with a sword(all the way through, with the sword sticking out of her back) and continued pushing. She reached her physical limit soon after and passed out. Yet she managed that! That is who she is, this ultimate sword crafted in the woods that has no problem with killing or dying. Does this sound like a girl that would quit because of normal period stuff?" I feel like I might be viewed as an ass for even saying that. And like I said. I have learned that some period stuff can be extreme and that is a physical uncontrollable result. So, obviously it is not pure will power. But I mean, on average, with what normal women expierence. Do you think the above girl would be slowed down? The thing you might find extra interesting for her character is that, well. The girls father disappears when she is 14. She is found by people and brought into the normal world. And for the most part she seems normal. That is the trick though. She acts normal, will even do some normal ish girl activities, but she doesn't do them because she likes them. She does them because she watched the world around her and she noticed, that people that act normal don't get looked at so closely. So she acts normal. She smiles and waves and says please, but deep inside, she is just that same sword that is waiting for the moment to cut stuff. Sound like a character you might find interesting? Sorry, I gushed there didn't I. I can't help it.
I'd say that the number of women who are seriously slowed down by pain issues is well under the majority, though certainly not vanishingly small. I don't know the context of the discussion, but don't forget that uncontrolled release of bodily fluids in a low-tech situation is problematic. It, for example, stops many girls in third world countries from going to school while it's going on.
Oh yeah. You are absolutely right. I was not trying to say that it would not affect her life. Obviously, she has to deal with the situation in a medically safe way. And she is, usually, well equip to do that. In a sense, the other person was arguing it needed to be a major life aspect that almost defined her. Which I think is a bit much. I mean, the last book I read. The character never went to the bathroom in a scene. That doesn't mean the character was a freak that doesn't poop. It just means there was never a moment where pooping was notable. I see her period as the same way. Perhaps I don't know enough about them, but besides an extra trip to the bathroom, it isn't really something the story needs to pause to say. Right? Though, I like good advice, and I think her getting her period could be part of a good scene. Actually I thought of a scene just on that idea. The basic idea is her father abandoned her when she was 14. (Yes, jerkface. Seriously, no note, no goodbye. She just went to bed next to him and woke up without him. He literally just ran away in the middle of the night. He had reasons, but still. Jerkface!?) So, the idea was that soon after, she got her first period, which given her athletic body type, that is a fair age for that, right? So, there she was. Alone, in the woods, barely able to read(father focused on fighting, not education) never been to a city before. Only seen a few raiders before now. Her body is going through harmones, she is in her first period in the forest. There is a moment that this would have affected her deeply. And in an interesting way. It is plot useful too. As it made her afraid and she went to a town to find a clinic to help her. And given her background she held up the place with a sword. Yeah. I can see it now. "I am injured. Help me!" she said. "Okay miss. Put down the sword." She raises the sword. "I have the right to protect myself! I have a right to means to protect myself. Don't touch my sword!" as she raises it towards him. "Help me!" Interesting? She almost killed people. Teenagers right? lol
Sorry :Y By asexual I mean she doesn't have sexual feelings towards potential boymates, but she could still want a relationship. But she could also be afraid of having a relationship because she's unsociable. She could also not be asexual and just be really shy, which means she does have those feelings, but is deathly afraid of having a boyfriend.
Wait, I'm confused on how I should be reading this sentence. Are you saying you have no interest or intimate feelings about your husband, but it's not because you don't wear make-up? Also I wasn't saying she could be asexual because she didn't wear make-up, OP stated she wasn't interested in boys. Maybe I just worded that wrong.
Firstly, been there done that. I was a tomboy as a kid, never wanting to wear skirts/dresses or makeup. My mom proceeded to confront me about it, tell me I needed to start "caring more about my appearance" etc. and it was seriously emotionally draining, so I think if you're going to write in a scene like this you'd have to think of it as the strongest person in your life (the one you look up to as a role model) is telling you that you have to be something you're not, that you have to act a certain way to fulfill the gender roles in today's society. (Which could turn out to be a really interesting attack on these ) Secondly, 14 is pretty late, normally you'd get it that late if you're pretty small and thin since it does actually co-relate to your body type similar to puberty. Of course, 14 can be reasonable either way, it depends on a lot more things like your body type, for instance genes. I also thought of her as asexual when you first described her like @Heck mentioned, but I'm not sure that's where you're going with this? She doesn't have to talk about boys at age 13 in order to be a believeable girl, but that could to a lot of people work like a foreshadowing of her turning out to be asexual or a lesbian. You could have her talk more about personality traits as well, like "he's really nice" or "he's so funny" etc. it doesn't have to be purely aesthetics. Anyway, she could simply not be interested in boys yet, not having gone through puberty or something I assume, or she could be too shy to talk about it. There's many ways you could go with it. Anyway, I know I'm a little late to the party but I thought I'd drop my comment anyway.
If the character lived in the forest doing strenuous activities 24/7, it would be reasonable to assume her BMI was extremely low so therefore her period would be triggered much later. For example, women who go to boot camp sometimes lose their periods altogether for several months because of the high stress, weight loss, and low BMI. I imagine it would be the same for this character. I don't think a forest diet includes many fatty food options. I can definitely see this character starting her period later around age 14, or even later. Maybe 15 or 16.
Actually I think you missed a minor detail. The original post was about a girl named Valorie. That question was solved, as the post was from months ago. So since the thread was bumped, it reminded me of another girl. Victoria. So Valorie was raised in a normal home with tom-boy tendencies and it was her mother that gave her peer pressure about makeup. Also yeah, a major part of Valorie's story is how the social pressure of being something she isn't is basically ripping her apart. Now, Victoria was the girl raised in the woods. Funny enough, she is fine with makeup. She doesn't use it without a point though, I made a point of saying that she fakes interactions. This can go into extremes you might not think she would. Being the badass sword. But she learned how people behavor and uses that against them.. Like in one scene, she wants military records. So she bashes in her own head giving herself a huge bruise and black eye, and then walks in crying. Anything to sell her story. lol.
Actually ...that's a lovely picture of Audrey Hepburn, who certainly had more style in her little finger than most people ever have in their whole lives. But that's not an A-line skirt! That's a dirndl or gathered skirt she's wearing. An a-line skirt merely flares slightly from the waist, but there are no gathers in it. It's like a pencil skirt, but a bit looser and easier to move in. Here's an explanation of what an A-line skirt is. http://www.elizabethcustomskirts.com/a-line-skirt/
Okay okay okay I dunno what direction this thread has gone down since the first few posts, but allow me to offer my own quick view on the topic that was at hand; When a girl (or guy, or anyone) makes themselves look nice via makeup or nice clothes or styled hair or whatever, it's to make themselves look good for someone. Whether they're trying to sexually entice the other gender (or their own gender), or they want to impress others or they just want to look nice for themselves, the only root reason a human dresses themselves up is to look good for someone for some reason. So while it isn't a specific answer, it's still one that can be applied generally. If a girl is putting on makeup, she's exhibiting that she's trying to impress someone by enhancing her appearance. This is something that can be universally applied to anything, if this answer helps at all.
I'm a guy, but I decided a couple of months back that I would go bald and wear a Breaking Bad pork pie because I just liked the idea of being bald and wearing a hat (and I couldn't find a good Fringe fedora online). Is that what make-up and perfume are like for girls who aren't doing it to attract dates?
It sounds like a good example, yes. And to counter the post above you, it sounds like you were doing it for you.
Well, yeah. I said exactly as much in my post. You augment yourself to impress someone, even if it's solely just yourself.
To be technical, someone could refer to self, could it not? Not sure if that was the original posters intention or not though.
Sorry if I was unclear, maybe we both didn't convey what we were saying coherently. I don't wear makeup to attract men or impress my husband. We still have an active and intimate relationship despite this. As someone earlier said, we wear makeup to show ourselves off to someone, even if that someone is yourself. Makeup =/= sexual connotations for me, it's more to impress other women and my superiors in business. But that's just me. I like this Victoria.
in case you didn't guess. I tagged you with a picture of Victoria. The funniest part to the scene you quoted is actually what happened next. As you might imagine. Victoria is this battle goddess. So imagine this. She comes back to base with the documents and a red puffy face, a bruise and a black eye. She is like. "Hey guys, got the documents." ANd everyone is like "WTF, who the hell did you fight? No one can normally touch you." And she is like "Oh shit, yeah, forgot. Self inflicted, it isn't important." "What? Self inflicted, how-" "IT ISNT IMPORTANT!" lol
