Writing Female Characters and 'Expectations'

PandaSez over at Functional Reality, Buttons Optional posted this thought provoking article about a fantasy author (whom I haven't read) who was asked when her female characters were finally going to get raped.

This bothered me- beyond the obvious affrontary of asking such a question to begin with (I mean, why do characters have to get raped to begin with? What is wrong with you that you're expecting that?) It kind of forced me into a gut check about just how I myself am writing the female protagonists in my current novel and what I found was something of a mixed bag.

This is kind of an old chestnut that comes up in creative/fiction writing circles, but it's one I think about a lot: can men write women? The Quiet Man and I have had this discussion before and I like to think I've been aware of the problem but I also think that as a writer, I don't really think that much about it either- characters are characters and I find myself being more interested into what makes my characters into the people they become over the course of my book rather than their gender, race or sexuality. Of course, that's not to say that I don't unconciously translate any prejudices I might have into my writing but I also feel like there's a real danger that you could overthink things as well. I tend to favor a more organic approach to creating characters. I feel like if you're bogged down in figuring out if this is realistic for a female or a white female versus an African-American female, you're going to get stuck in the mud and fast. (And what's more important authenticity and realism or well constructed characters?)

So having read this and thought about it some, I find myself a little troubled by the travails of my main protagonist, Chelsea. She doesn't get raped but she does get tortured and yes, I feel like it's necessary. Not for realism or for the integrity of my work but because the experience ultimately makes her stronger and more confirmed in her beliefs by the end of the book. Chelsea evolves- and that's what I wanted to illustrate over the course of the novel. In an America gone mad with Washington D.C. destroyed and the unity of the nation at threat as an authoritarian Junta tries to hold things together, how far would people be willing to go? Would people be willing to fight? If the Commies invaded, I have no trouble believing that people would go Red Dawn and get Wolverine-y on their behinds. But what if it's our fellow Americans? What if we at war with ourselves? In the age of superficial crap does anyone believe in anything real anymore?

So while I agree that people shouldn't expect female characters to get raped (seriously- who does that? Still shaking my head thinking about that) I have to say in all honesty that, to me, it really depends on that story that you're telling and what you're willing to put your characters through. But in no circumstances should it ever be an expectation...

(Trying to think what female protagonists have influenced my writing the most- not surprisingly, science fiction/fantasy is well represented. For my top three, I'd say Lessa from Anne McCaffery's Dragonflight, Polgara from David Eddings' Belgariad/Mallorean Series and probably Granny Weatherwax from Pratchett's Discworld. If you haven't read any of these, I strongly reccomend them.)