I've been embarrassingly fascinated recently with the oeuvre of a band called Five Seconds of Summer, whose music is aimed squarely at people about a third of my age. Anyhow, I'll use my kids as an excuse.
The point, though, is they have a song called "Good Girls", which attacks the concept ("a good girl's a bad girl who hasn't been caught") but it made me wonder. In this age of equality and whatnot, do we have a concept of what a "good boy" is? We're really solid on good girls and what they are (and what they're not), but it seems kind of a dated concept -- or maybe it seems like it should be a dated concept.
And is this something we need to watch for when we write? I'm aware that most of my female protagonists are basically good girls, whereas the boys vary rather more. Am I perpetuating a stereotype? The heroine of Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown has a shady past, and I noticed as I read the story in a way I wouldn't have noticed for a boy.
Meh. Romance cliches? Societal oppression? Hex should drink less coffee?
The point, though, is they have a song called "Good Girls", which attacks the concept ("a good girl's a bad girl who hasn't been caught") but it made me wonder. In this age of equality and whatnot, do we have a concept of what a "good boy" is? We're really solid on good girls and what they are (and what they're not), but it seems kind of a dated concept -- or maybe it seems like it should be a dated concept.
And is this something we need to watch for when we write? I'm aware that most of my female protagonists are basically good girls, whereas the boys vary rather more. Am I perpetuating a stereotype? The heroine of Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown has a shady past, and I noticed as I read the story in a way I wouldn't have noticed for a boy.
Meh. Romance cliches? Societal oppression? Hex should drink less coffee?