Quotes & Sayings About Female Characters

We're showing kids a world that is very scantily populated with women and female characters. They should see female characters taking up half the planet, which we do. — Geena Davis

To me, feminism in literature deals with the female characters being in some way central to the thematic concerns of the book, or that they are agents of change to some degree. In other words, the lens is focused deeply and intensely on the female characters and doesn't waver, which allows for a glimpse into the rich inner lives of the characters. — Laurie Foos

You are the Worst Kind of Animal. A Butcher by Day and a Pussy Cat by Night. — Monroe Ariel

From its beginning, fan fiction has been written mostly by women. Originally, this was because of a dearth of interesting female characters in conventional sci-fi. — Russell Smith

It used to be that you had to make female TV characters perfect so no one would be offended by your 'portrayal' of women. Even when I started out on 'The Office' eight years ago, we could write our male characters funny and flawed, but not the women. And now, thankfully, it's completely different. — Mindy Kaling

In the end, I listen to my fear. It keeps me awake, resounding through the frantic beating in my breast. It is there in the dry terror in my throat, in the pricking of the rats' nervous feet in the darkness. Christian has not come home all the night long. I know, for I have lain in this darkness for hours now with my eyes stretched wide, yearning for my son's return. — Ned Hayes

So, why do you write these strong female characters?
Because you're still asking me that question.
[Equality Now speech, May 15, 2006] — Joss Whedon

I always look to play flawed characters. I'm not very interested in playing somebody that's just, you know, the very nice one or the attractive one, or whatever, which a lot of female parts can just be written that way. — Laura Donnelly

So many female characters are the girlfriend of the person having the adventure. I want to play baseball, I don't want to be the girlfriend of the one [who plays]. — Geena Davis

Like most little girls, I found the lure of grown-up accessories astonishing - lipstick, perfume, hats and gloves. When I write female characters in my historical novels, getting these details right is vital. — Sara Sheridan

Women don't question themselves when they enter into a story that has male characters, but men do question the validity of a female narrative. — Romola Garai

Good idea. I'll do it. — Mary Connealy

My whole theory about why I couldn't find any creators who realized they were leaving out female characters, is because they were raised on the same ratio. I just heard someone the other day call it either "smurfing a movie," which is when there's one female character or "minioning a movie" which is when there's no female characters. — Geena Davis

Why do you write strong female characters?
Because you're still asking me that question. — Joss Whedon

I approach writing female characters the same why I approach writing male characters. I never think I'm writing about women, I think I'm writing about one woman, one person. And I try to imagine what she is like, and endow her with a lot of my own thoughts and history. — Jeffrey Eugenides

It's difficult to make a movie about a complicated, non-traditional female character. We see a lot more movies with male characters who are at that point in their lives, but not that many about females. — Megan Griffiths

When people say to me, 'Why are you so good at writing at women?' I say, 'Why isn't everybody?' Obviously there are differences between men and women - that's what makes it all fun. But we're all people. There's a lot of good writers who are very humanist, but still manage to kind of skip fifty-five per cent of the race. And I just don't get that. Not to be able to write an entire gender? To me, the question isn't how do you do it? It's how can you possibly avoid doing it? — Joss Whedon

So, what you're saying is, just because a warrior is a woman doesn't mean they yhave to wear a chain mail bikini? Like, they could wear...real armor? — Jeremy Whitley

I've always had difficulties with female characters. — John Le Carre

What happened tonight won't change a thing."
"You're mistaken, Lila. Everything started changing the moment we met. — Stephanie Witter

The funniest things just come from honesty. We have a tendency to see female characters as representative of something larger than what they are, when male characters are just characters. — Elizabeth Meriwether

He stood and stepped up behind her. Why not? It's the truth. I like spending time with you. You're strong, beautiful and brave. What more could a man ask for? — Colleen Coble

While my work is usually about the Igbo woman experience, there are many aspects of my female characters that women everywhere can and do relate to. — Chika Anadu

The fact that my female characters have strong personalities but are also physically attractive probably reflects the women I've known in my life. — Sidney Sheldon

Most people view female directors as female only, that we only deal with women's issues and women characters. Although most of my films have dealt with women, I do have work that deals with other matters, and I'm always open to different stories regardless of gender. — Shahad Ameen

I don't try and write strong female characters or strong male characters, I just try and write, hopefully, strong characters and sometimes they happen to be female. — J.J. Abrams

One of my favourite actresses is Kate Winslet. She plays strong female characters and seems like she has a strong political awareness. I really like Naomi Watts and Juliette Lewis. — Emily Perkins

It's hard because I seek out strong female roles. I turn down a lot of stuff, not because it's not good, but because I don't want to play certain types of characters. I don't like to just play the pretty girl. — Gina Holden

In the midst of what appears to be a traditional male-power fantasy about war and politics, he serves up a grim, realistic, and harrowing depiction of what happens when women aren't fully empowered in a society. In doing so, by creating such diverse and fully rendered female characters and thrusting them into this grim and bitter world, Martin has created a subversively feminist tale. — James Lowder

...I do write books that are female oriented. In my books, the female characters are always searching for something and they often find it, and what they find is themselves and their own strength. I want girls to understand there has been a long history of strong women... Women have always been oppressed but managed to see their own way, and there is a long tradition of females doing what they want to do, and that's what girls can do. They can have selves of their own, a definition of themselves.'" ~Virginia Hamilton in Shireen Dodson's the Mother-Daughter Book Club — Shireen Dodson

As a female there aren't too many characters that are very empowering, and there's something very empowering about Lara Croft. She kicks butt and she does it in style. She's confident and she's educated. — Camilla Luddington

When I first started writing the books in the 1980s, all of the female detectives were flawed in some way because they were based on noir characters. — Kerry Greenwood

I tell about some of the female characters from the Bible so girls can be inspired and empowered and uplifted. — Roma Downey

At the end of the day I have many answers for it. It has to do with my mom, who was an extraordinary woman, and a great feminist. It has to do with the people in my life. It has to do with a lot of different things, but
I don't know! Because I'm not just writing from the female characters for other people. I have a desire to see them in our culture
that was not met for most of my childhood. Except occasionally by James Cameron.
[From the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, in response to being asked why he writes strong female characters.] — Joss Whedon

I like my male characters as much my female characters, but I always seem to have less for them to say. — John Allison

I wasn't into fairytales when I was little. I was of the generation of the earlier Disney films where many of the female characters, with the exception of the Maleficent's, were not little girls that I admired ... the little princesses. They weren't characters that I identified with. I think that's very different now for my girls and more recent films. — Angelina Jolie

I think like Joss Whedon [Stephen Moffat] often mistakes 'empowered' for 'strong in exactly the way I personally want to sleep with — Joseph Fink

Oddly, I think if you look at comic books, you look at the shelves in the store, it's predominantly male characters, historically. But if you look outside the window it's 52-percent female, and something odd is going on there. So I do think it's your responsibility as a writer, really, to create stuff that little girls can get into too. I want my daughters to have role models that are female. — Mark Millar

'The Hobbit' didn't include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really. — Evangeline Lilly

It's only recently women got to be action heroes on TV. Progress is slow, and often non-existent. There's plenty of cool comics with female characters ... But all it takes is one Catwoman to set the cause back a decade. — Joss Whedon

You can't expect any woman to be a lady if you're not being a gentleman, and vice versa. — N.B. Roberts

I can't imagine writing a book without some strong female characters, unless that was a demand of the setting. — William Gibson

You know where I'm going to be, and you'll know where I've been every step of my way to get there. You've made a hobby out of taking things away from me ... a lot of them I never even knew to miss, but I know now. I know what you just took, and there's no way you're taking anything else from me. It's time for me to start taking from you," Wednesday said with a confidence in her voice that even she noticed and was proud to hear.
"I thought you said you weren't running from me anymore," Klein said with a laugh in his voice.
Her face was red, and she felt like she was on fire. She managed, summoning all her will, to keep herself from screaming and instead, keep an even and icy voice. "I'm not, you piece of shit. Now, I'm running at you. — Dennis Sharpe

I tend to like strong female characters. It just interests me dramatically.
A strong male character isn't interesting because it has been done and it's so cliched. A weak male character is interesting: somebody else hasn't done it a hundred times. A strong female character is still interesting to me because it hasn't been done all that much, finding the balance of femininity and strength.
[From a 1986 Fangoria interview] — James Cameron

As male characters level up and become more powerful, their bodies become better protected and covered. In contrast, as female characters level up and become more powerful, their bodies are uncovered and made more vulnerable. Thus, as women gain power, they are disempowered in another way. — Nick Yee

I don't mind being called a "feminist," as I certainly embrace the tenets of feminism, though it does feel a little sad to me that we need to call a novel "feminist" simply because the female characters are interesting and strong. — Laurie Foos

I've certainly seen stats that if you have a woman director or a woman screenwriter, the number of female characters goes way up. — Emma Donoghue

It was as if she was a dream, like London, which he could not entirely grasp and of which he was not worthy. He wanted to be part of it but had forgotten how. It seemed extraordinary and strange that this paragon among women had condescended to travel on his ship. In fact, she'd insisted upon it. Her presence was at once otherworldly and familiar, none of which explained why his brain ceased to function when he was in her company. — Sara Sheridan

Romance novels feature nuanced portrayals of female characters having adventures, making choices, and accepting themselves just as they are. When we say these stories are silly and unrealistic, we are telling young girls not to expect to be the heroines in their own real lives. — Maya Rodale

Each of my novels features a protagonist undertaking a difficult personal journey. On the way, each of these characters - mostly female - discovers something about herself and at the same time makes an impact on other people's lives. — Juliet Marillier

I like any film where the female characters are complex and have a functioning imperfection. — Jenny Slate

In writing, a good guy must never break any of the Ten Commandments. A bad guy must break every one. That's why writing female characters is so much fun. They're not GUYS at all. — Kimberly Black

Adora Belle fought back, and to make sure fought back even before she was attacked. — Terry Pratchett

I never set out to be the man who writes a lot of female characters. — John Allison

There's no need for a female character that does things like a male character; that's not what makes interesting female characters in my view. — Colin Trevorrow

Actresses talking about characters they've played often use the phrase "strong woman", which kind of irks me. Firstly, the description appears to be reserved for two kinds of female: the gun-toting chick in tiny-vest-and-shorts combo, or the tough-talking businesswoman who secretly longs for a man to bring out her softer side. So obviously, our idea of strength is pretty narrow and one-dimensional. Secondly, why isn't Brad Pitt ever asked about how much he enjoys playing a "strong man"? Is it automatically assumed that men's roles will be complex and interesting? — Rosie Blythe

I guess the characters I play may be at the more destructive edge of the spectrum, more damaged or whatever, but I find a lot of female roles uninteresting. — Lili Taylor

There aren't enough good roles for strong women. I wish we had more female writers. Most of the female characters you see in films today are the 'poor heartbroken girl.' — Gal Gadot

Women are always murdered and maimed, and they're never given their rightful place as lead characters! And I think [creator Michael Hirst] has just written what should have been written a long time ago. There shouldn't be anything that different about Vikings, but there is, because there've just been so many shows that have not stepped up to the plate and given female actors and female characters equal footing. — Clive Standen

We had a moment in the '40s and '50s, where female characters were very strong in film, where these incredible roles were written for women like Joan Crawford, like Bette Davis. But then there was a space of time where - I don't know why - it wasn't like that. It became difficult for women to find certain roles after a certain age. — Monica Bellucci

I don't set out to write female lead shows, necessarily. I like deeply flawed characters. When they come to me, or when I'm introduced to them, I follow the stories and the people, rather than setting out to do a female lead thing. — Jenji Kohan

One of the things you never really see in a romance book is a woman who has self-esteem issues. I mean, I'm sure they're out there, but they're few and far between. Like they can have eating disorders, post-traumatic stress from sexual assault or mental abuse. They can be sold into sex trafficking and they can carry epic amounts of grief. We have female characters who have suffered every loss imaginable and ones who are scarred physically and mentality, but where in the hell are the average women? Ones who look in the mirror and cringe a little? Like, why are all those others acceptable to women, but reading or knowing another woman who has a low self-esteem is, like, worse than all that drama llama? — J. Lynn

I like strong female characters. I try to write them as role models for young girls. — L.J.Smith

Two phrases I hate in reference to female characters are 'strong' and 'feisty.' They really annoy me. It's the most condescending thing. You say that about a three-year-old. It infantilises women. — Helen Mirren

You know, you're not aware of it, but you're following the action of the film through the body of the protagonist, you know? You feel what he feels when he jumps, when he leaps, when he wins, when he loses. And I think I just took it for granted that, you know, we can all do that, but it became obvious to me that men don't live through the female characters. — Meryl Streep

The sad thing about our society is that women are put in one of two categories. You're either in the beautiful category and you're seen as sexy and beautiful, or some version of that, or you're put into another category.The latter category affords women the opportunity to be smart, funny, independent, mean, strong, intelligent and opinionated. We take them seriously as politicians, if they fit into that latter category. We respect their opinions more and give them higher expectations. That latter category is what allows female actors to be characters. — Amber Heard

My affinity, as a novelist, with Dickens has been overstated. I relish the way everything in his prose pulsates with life force, and I'm in debt to him every time I invest inanimate objects with uncanny animism. But his female characters annoy me. — Michel Faber

A dark shadow rose from the depth of the watercourse. Forced to crawl out of the oceans rolling waves, it struggled against the pull of the undertow. Rising, it moved further up the white sandy beach away from the cold water. The creature collapsed onto the cool sand as the crescent moon above shone on his sleek gray skin revealing two immense leather-like wings protruding from his back. Exhaustion clouded his mind.
The darkness of night was soothing, refreshing. Somehow he knew it would bring him strength and sustenance. The creature watched as a great rolling storm cloud sunk into the salty water before him and he tried to remember why he had come. — Alaina Stanford

Someone from the Internet Writing Workshop sent me a link to the Gender Genie, where you paste in a section of text and it uses an algorithm to detect whether the author is male or female. Or, if you're an author, you can tell whether you're really nailing your opposite-sex characters. I mean, nailing their dialog. — Max Barry

It's a convention, but in horror movies the female characters usually tend to believe easier in a supernatural event. — Fede Alvarez

The female characters in 'Peep Show' are not 'strong': they are idiots. As idiotic as the men. — Robert Webb

I kept my eyes closed until I felt my resolve to be who I wanted to be come back. I couldn't stay this desperate. It wouldn't look good to people watching from the outside. — Natalie Bina

Strong female characters - even if they don't necessarily make the same decisions that we might - make such great narrative material, especially when there's an equally strong male character in the mix. — Meg Cabot

I was thinking about what I wanted to write next, after my first novel, and had decided that I wanted to write a story with a lot of strong female characters in it. — Joan D. Vinge

We were pregnant at the time, and while I was out there I started to realize that if I had a daughter, there would come a day when I would have to apologize to her for my profession. I would have to apologize for the way it treats and speaks to women readers, and the way it treats its female characters. — Matt Fraction

I think it's the source material. 27 Dresses was a famous book, and Devil Wears Prada was also a wonderful book, so it's coming out of the novelists who are really creating these wonderful female characters that we want to see on the big screen. — Jerry Bruckheimer

There's just a deeper level of sophistication in the writing of female characters on TV. — Vera Farmiga

Kevlar wrist cuffs in place, smoke bombs in left cargo pocket, zip ties in the right, and my handy-dandy, military-grade, metal detector-defying, twin APS daggers snug in their sheaths and hidden inside my steel-toe Doc Martens. Nothing like a well-stocked pair of black cargoes to make me feel girly. — Tera Lynn Childs

I can't stand [female] characters that are not empowered in a certain way, or at least don't come to a conclusion at the end of the movie where they find empowerment in themselves. — Chloe Grace Moretz

I think the type of actor I am, I tend to play strong leading female characters. The shows I've been on happen to be science fiction genre. — Alaina Huffman

I don't even like the word 'indoors'. It doesn't make sense. According to you right now, by stepping through the doorway I'd be indoors. Yet I wouldn't actually be standing in the doorway. If it's supposed to refer to being inside a building, then they shouldn't have used the word 'door,' since last time I checked, doors don't make up every square inch of a building! And I'd assume that now, since I'm not indoors, you'd say I'm 'out of doors', right? But, shouldn't out of doors just be everywhere that's not directly under a door? You know what, from now on I insist that everyone refer to being in a building as being 'under-roof'. — Natalie Bina

There's a remarkable amount of sexism on TV. When male characters are flawed, they're interesting, deep and complex. But when female characters are flawed, they're just a mess. It's good to put more flawed but interesting female characters out there because it promotes equality. — Ellen Pompeo

I think there are more female characters in videogames now but I also think that's because videogames in general are more diverse now. — Tara Strong

It's nice to do something about something that scares you rather than just run from it and hope that someone saves you. I like seeing strong female characters and somebody who doesn't run away screaming when scared, but confronts the monsters. — Katie Holmes

I may be in pain, but I am not weak. — Veronica Roth

1. "Mistress Jamieson" tells Mary when they meet: "My mother likes to say some people choose the path of danger on their own, for it is how the Lord did make them, and they never will be changed." Do you agree? Was it more true in the past than today? Did Mary purposely choose a path of danger? Who else? 2. The author has people in her own life with Asperger's syndrome who helped her with Sara's character. What was it like to be in the point of view of a person with Asperger's syndrome? Did you have any preconceived ideas about Asperger's? Did they change? 3. Journeys (physical and otherwise) are a prevalent theme in many of Susanna Kearsley's books. What journeys can you identify in this book, past and present? How do they differ for female and male characters? 4. Mary takes "Mistress Jamieson" as a role model. "She — Susanna Kearsley

The ratio of male to female characters in movies has been exactly the same since 1946. So if you've ever had people say, you know, "It's better now, it's all changed, it's all different," it's not, it hasn't. Not yet. — Geena Davis

I'm drawn to female characters; not all of them are strong characters. — Todd Haynes

Nowadays I'm really cranky about comics. Because most of them are just really, really poorly written soft-core. And I miss good old storytelling. And you know what else I miss? Super powers. Why is it now that everybody's like "I can reverse the polarity of your ions!" Like in one big flash everybody's Doctor Strange. I like the guys that can stick to walls and change into sand and stuff. I don't understand anything anymore. And all the girls are wearing nothing, and they all look like they have implants. Well, I sound like a very old man, and a cranky one, but it's true. — Joss Whedon

If you do a black character or a female character or an Asian character, then they aren't just that character. They represent that race or that sex, and they can't be interesting because everything they do has to represent an entire block of people. You know, Superman isn't all white people and neither is Lex Luthor. We knew we had to present a range of characters within each ethnic group, which means that we couldn't do just one book. We had to do a series of books and we had to present a view of the world that's wider than the world we've seen before. — Dwayne McDuffie

When I'm watching TV, I'm always drawn to those female characters who are doing something that I would want to do. — Gina Holden

If I spoke all I think on this point, if I gave my real opinion of some first-rate female characters in first-rate works, where should I be? Dead under a cairn of avenging stones in half an hour. — Charlotte Bronte

I know I'm not to blame for what he did. And I know, too, that I am strong inside
stronger than I ever realized. — Cheryl Rainfield

On consideration, it is not surprising that Darwin's finches should recognize their own kind primarily by beak characters. The beak is the only prominent specific distinction, and it features conspicuously both in attacking behaviour, when the birds face each other and grip beaks, and also in courtship, when food is passed from the beak of the male to the beak of the female. Hence though the beak differences are primarily correlated with differences in food, secondarily they serve as specific recognition marks, and the birds have evolved behaviour patterns to this end. — David Lack

I think women have such rich emotional lives that they are expressive about. I also think they're funny. I like watching strong female characters, and I like writing them. I don't know if it's conscious that I gravitate towards women, but it's certainly evolved that way. — Darren Star

I admired so many things about you. Almost everything. But I don't want to wind up like you. I don't want to starve to death, all alone on some island inside my own head. Hopeless. — Jenna Brooks

Once I got over the fear of writing female characters, it actually came quite easily and I was really happy with it. I just thought about girls I knew really, really well and I'd just have conversations with them and tried to relay how they talk about certain things. — Eli Roth

I love female-driven drama, and those kinds of characters. I really love complex women. — Anna Silk

It often horrified the English community that she spent her time with local farmers and horse traders, eccentrics and mystics, but she valued expertise over convention and had long believed if you were going to make discoveries in the world you must first quit your Englishness and open your eyes. — Sara Sheridan

I shook my head back and forth as though I was a human etch-a-sketch, erasing the memory. — Nicole Gulla