Putting on my ranting pants

sarahreesbrennan said: I like your idea SO MUCH… and yet I am troubled by (and this troubles me about the whole LBD itself) how very, very difficult it would be for a girl to be Hank Green. Still, Lizzie and Caroline doin’ it for themselves! You dream better. ;)

This is one of the reasons I want it to happen so badly in fiction.

It’s so interesting that what Lizzie dreams about at the beginning of the LBD is all small stuff—working for someone else, making a little bit of the difference, finding someone to pay her a little money—when, in fact, what she is doing is entrepreneurial in a very successful way. A man who did what Lizzie has done—created a successful video blog that has amassed a large following and close to 18 million YouTube hits in less than a year—would be interviewing with the hottest, poshest new media firms and asking for signing bonuses. Or he’d be stirring up venture capital. Or he’d be telling people about his new “empire.”

Yet when Lizzie is asked about it, she refers to what she does as “little videos.”

There’s us women, playing down our accomplishments even in our own heads. Women get to be employees, but we don’t start our own businesses—and if we do, they’re small businesses, like salons and restaurants and cupcake shops, and not big things like transmedia companies. (Reminder: Lizzie did start her own business—and for all that people rag on Lydia for being irresponsible, she started her own business, too, and made a profit in the first few months—something that is far outside the bounds of average). If women are doing it, it’s just a “little” thing. A little venture, nothing important. Nothing like what the important men are doing.

But don’t worry—if we stop playing down our accomplishments, we’re bitches. If two sisters started a video blog with each other, people would complain—bitterly—about how “strident” they were. A guy can talk about his accomplishments and people think he’s smart; a girl who does the same is boasting.

While we’re talking about the general, subtle denigration of all things girly, we also have the creators of the LBD explaining that the Lizzie Bennet Diaries are more than just a love story—because they’re about someone’s life and growth and relationship with their family.

I grant you that there’s a lot more to the LBD than the romance plot. But… The underlying implication is that actual things that are “love stories” are small, selfish, crabbed things, focusing only on the romance. Even 45,000 word Harlequin category romances include plots beyond just “love.” You can’t find me a love story of any quality that is just about love.

In short, I want fiction where women kick ass and people think it’s okay and even though they might face obstacles, they win and win BIG, not just a dainty woman’s size portion.

Because god damn it, it is about time.