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Cliché city …females are still “feisty”

Male characters are powerful or headstrong but women are only "feisty"...

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Neighbours_Jodi Anasta (plays Elly Conway)

A few years ago I wrote a post about a TV cliché, or at least one furthered by publicists, in describing female characters as “feisty.”

Men are powerful or headstrong while women are feisty or sometimes plucky….

Two more have landed in my inbox this week, both from TEN, for Neighbours‘ Jodie Anasta and Offspring‘s Shannon Berry:

  • On Monday, 18 July, Jodi Anasta will debut on Neighbours as Elly Conway, the feisty and unpredictable niece of Ramsay Street’s favourite matriarch, Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne).
  • Shannon debuts next Wednesday as feisty teenager Brody Jordan when Billie Proudman (Kat Stewart) encounters Brody, who is the daughter of her estranged friend Stacey Jordan (Sacha Horler), whom Offspring viewers met in season one.

But it’s a cliché I’ve seen perpetuated by all networks over the years.

Here are a few alternative words for your consideration:

Fiery, spirited, active, bold, lively, sparkling, vigorous, energetic, animated, courageous, ardent, game, plucky, high-spirited, sprightly, vivacious, spunky, mettlesome.

Or if they carry more conviction:

Resolute, firm, single-minded, purposeful, fixed, intent, persistent, stalwart, persevering, tenacious, steadfast, unwavering, immovable, headstrong, unflinching, strong-minded, self-willed.

2 Responses

  1. Try this mental exercise:

    Imagine a woman who is tough, resolute and courageous. Keep that image in mind and now imagine a woman who is spirited, vivacious and headstrong.

    Imagining these women would you say they are similar to each other or different to each other?

    Now imagine a feisty woman.

    The woman you imagine as feisty, how clear an image to you have of her compared to the first two women you were asked to imagine? How similar or dissimilar is she to the first two women you imagined?

    Words especially adjectives produce instant images in our minds. The problem with the overuse of feisty is it is quite a vague adjective that does not pin point individual characteristics. Generalisations tend to lead to the stereotyping of characters. Either way encouraging people to increase their vocabulary can’t be a bad thing.

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