Lebo77 t1_j29kdka wrote
Reply to comment by ManyCats247 in Does Don Winslow introduce endless female characters just to write explicitly about their bodies and sex lives? by hammnbubbly
As a fan of the Dresden books I have to say I disagree with the poster above. Many of the female characters are deeper than that.
cthulhubert t1_j2ac750 wrote
Yeah, I feel like this is starting to turn into one of those things where there's a kernel (well, maybe more than a kernel) of truth, but it's blown out of proportion by a critical feedback loop.
Like it is a legitimate criticism of the books! Dresden is diegetically shallow and focusing on women's bodies and Butcher puts a lot of sexy women in the books. And I hate that people act like the sexism being diegetic or part of the noir detective tropes cancel those facts out; they're still choices the author made, and those choices are going to have a negative impact on many readers! But people are getting very un-measured about those criticisms, and act like it's as thoroughly drenched in misogyny as much worse offenders. His female characters are often badasses and have agency and interiority that the honestly shitty writers don't give women.
Griffen_07 t1_j2ak3pi wrote
That still don’t mean Dresden is a book I’m ever going to recommend. It just means that Butcher is not a completely horrible writer. The Dresden books are still middling under a deep layer of crap. I bounced off after Harry wanted good boy points for not having sex with his best friend’s daughter who was put in his care. He is a creep and was written to be a creep.
I’ve dropped books for less. Dresden at least avoids rape which puts it above a good chunk of books like Pern and the dragon roofies.
zerombr t1_j29s0cs wrote
Many are, but like white night is pretty bad. No less than three characters had this intro
Lebo77 t1_j29zu3k wrote
The books are written from Harry's perspective. Harry is often a sexually frustrated heterosexual male often encountering supernaturally (litterally) attractive women. It's not shocking those are tge sorts of things he notices.
NotACockroach t1_j2a2mlc wrote
What is shocking is his extreme awareness of when his friend's teenage daughter may or may not have started wearing a training bra.
Most humans divide life into child, teenager and adult. Dresden divides girls live into no bra, training bra and regular bra.
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