# What the heck?



## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

I do a great deal of reading probably 400 pages per day. Lots of it is prepper/survival stuff and I learn quite a bit from this reading. I do not, however understand why it is that in a good 95 percent of the books I read women are ignorant and perhaps even stupid. Even when faced with the end of the world they worry about which man they are with and when their cell phones will come back on and when the government will come rescue them?

Sometimes like today I am reading Strike Point Blackout by Emerson Hawk...right away the three women I am introduced to are all idiots! I plan to begin...tonight mentioning this in every book review that I write.


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## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

Even in some of the prepper forums, the men talk as though they have all the brains and must protect the women. What do they think women do when they are away, or if women live alone?
I find it annoying.


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

I mostly find it frustrating...thankfully there are a couple of writers who go for strong female lead characters. I am fully confident that should SHTF occur I would get by just fine until it was time for me to be done on this planet. I would love to have a male in my life just for company and a sometimes hug or snuggle. But I surely do not need one to survive.


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## hoddedloki (Nov 14, 2014)

The problem may be a massive preponderance of male writers and readers. Not because of education or intelligence issues, (my wife is a genius, ask me how I know ), but because America's culture tends to make prepping more acceptable for males than females. Women stocking the pantry are a much more accepted part of society than preppers, so many women may stay out of the prep arena, including it's literature. At least it seems that way to me, but I probably have some of the details wrong...

Sister pine, any genres/authors outside of prepping?

Loki


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I think hoddedloki is right. Writers write for their audience. I took umbrage with the notion and have written two end of world novels. Neither have guns and arrogance, which is what readers seem to crave.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Sex-ism is every where.

When I look around in the Real-World at off-grid homesteading survivalists, it seems to me that genders are about evenly mixed.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

well some of it is that you share a gender with some real doozies 

not to say that as a man I don't frequently find my self in overwhelming company with Jerks and A holes 

I tend to think the post apocalyptic fiction genre is often geared at selling to men 
also sex sells in books and movies and how do you have that if you don't have women who toss them selves at the what they see as their best bet to survive. unrealistic or not.

my wife and I joke that the pilot of every new show has to have a number of sex scenes then they taper down to fewer and fewer , producers feel they need this to keep a viewers interest through character introduction and plot development.

there are also a lot of stereotypes and sexism that run rampant.


just look our choices for president a man who is a womanizer and a woman who says she is for woman and woman's rights and is really nothing but a opportunist that enables her womanizing husband and talks a good a good part but her idea of liberating women has more to do with insuring they can abort their children then finding ways to create jobs and provide for their families or provide real benifit to them.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I am quite sure you have read this already.. but it is the BEST survival porn in the world.
http://mjoyzy.blogspot.com/search?u...d-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=6

It is from the point of view of Sissy.
It is all about the realities.. laundry, food stores, cooking, organization etc..
with a healthy does of zombies thrown in.
It talks about the slow beginning of the end, her worry for her husband heading out into it, worry for her kids.
We have implemented some of Sissy's wisdom into our way of deciding when and what. Truly.
It talks about the sociology of people jammed together with zombies, how to handle disagreements, divvy up chores et..

It will restore your faith in women during an apopcalypse!!

Oh... but it is kinda backwards. You have to scroll down to the beginning and read your way up.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

It is possible I know what s going on with the books.

Back when I was a kid, back in the dark ages, a common literary technique was to bring in a female character just so some guy could explain to her what was going on, just so the READER knew what was going on! And that was her only purpose in the story.

Since she had no other reason for existence the writer could, and often would, skimp on things like developing her character. But, the writer needed to explain things to the reader and so he would bring her in so the hero could explain it to her, so the reader knew what was going on

Needing to explain what is happening in the story is not needed by highly skilled writers. 

One good example was given by a famous sci fi writer named Arthur C Clark: in one of his stories the hero and crew approaches a derelict space ship and the entry hatch dialates open and they enter. He did not NEED to say It was an alien space ship: by that comment (and others) he did not need long explanations at all. He SHOWED people instead of telling them, and so he did not have any characters who's sole purpose was to have things explained to them. 

Also if the author of the book is male it is usually easier for the author to create a personality for a guy than it is for a gal.


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Hodd... I read science fiction of the adventure type as well as of the post apocalyptic type. I also read medical mysteries, political intrigue if it is not to pompous LOL, construction and other how to books of all kinds and have a couple of graduate level college texts in progress. Do you write? I would love to see a SHTF book about what happens when we lose one small part of the food chain (besides honey bees)...say all the flies die off or something how would that extrapolate out in a century or two?.

One of the Authors I currently enjoy reading for her sense of humor is Jacqueline Druga.


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## shelljo (Feb 1, 2005)

If you find a really good one, with a realistic female, let me know. I've read the one mentioned about Sissy. And other stories written by that same author. (and they are all basically the same character with the same reactions. Very formulaic.) But they aren't bad. Like you, I'm looking for a really good one.


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## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

Read: "BORN on SNOWSHOES" by, Evelyn Berglund Shore (Not a novel, a true story)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4519456-born-on-snowshoes

It is out of print, but you should be able to have the local library find it with-in the inter-library system.

Every woman should give this book to her daughters.


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## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

when KathyinFl would write her novels in another forum (which discontinued having a writer's section) she had a female main character that would often make food with the prepped goods, and give recipes for meals. The character was intelligent and strong in her apocalypse situation.

I rarely see her anymore.


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## pairofthrees (Apr 28, 2016)

As a father of two daughters I'm happy the trend of strong female leads seems to be alive and well in the young adult realm. From the Hunger Games and Divergent series that are being made into movies to the new Star Wars women as the smartest, strongest and most important characters is becoming quite mainstream.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

There is one series...
It's... odd.
And looooong. I think there are 9 books or so.
And the main female protagonist is a believer in the old, old ways.. pagan/wiccan, but hardcore into it. That may disturb some readers.

https://www.amazon.com/Dies-Fire-S-M-Stirling/dp/0451460413


It has a ton of detail (a ton of detail.. oh lawdy) on weaponry and bow making and turning everyday items into armor etc..
And tons about making water wheels and planting etc.. These books are long and there are plenty of them.. loads of detail.

And detail about harvesting and cooking and making towns where there were none.
Soapmaking and weaving and spinning etc..

I am listening to book 6 now. I enjoy them, if only because of how many hours I have put in so far.  The premise is very, very interesting.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

this may need to be moved to the new 'controversy' section but. . .

My life experience has shown me a lot (most?) women are very close to this. It has gotten worse as we have moved more and more into the tech age. 

Its partly genetic, IMO, men and women think and process data differently. And think God for that!


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

whatever sells.....


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

watcher said:


> this may need to be moved to the new 'controversy' section but. . .
> 
> My life experience has shown me a lot (most?) women are very close to this. It has gotten worse as we have moved more and more into the tech age.
> 
> Its partly genetic, IMO, men and women think and process data differently. And think God for that!


Watcher, women of our generation all learned how to act stupid in order to be underestimated: it was how we got some things done. 

It was as real as $4 bill.

Back then if we asked a direct question we would frequently not get a very informative answer, but if we said "please help"? we would get all of the assistance and information we wanted. THEN we would know how to do it ourselves, if we chose to.

In SOME of the survival books the ladies really ARE dumb. Even so, I would call many of them unskilled rather than dumb, as I have noticed that many of them have the traditional female skills of cooking an gardening and such.


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## VicMG (Jun 22, 2016)

Try A Gift Upon the Shore by MK Wren. Strong female leads and a great apocalyptic story


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

i read dies the fire many years ago and found it good but got tired of the goddess scene. I did like the strong female presence though!


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