Why Breasts on the Breastplates?

Note: This came from an online discussion that I liked and expanded into this blog post.

What’s telling to me is that there have been, in almost any era, women warriors: Fu Hao, Tomoe Gozen (of whom I’m writing a book), Boudicca, Arachidamia.  They generally stand out as the exception, rather than the rule, rendering them even more exceptional.  For example, Tomoe Gozen was said to have been incredibly strong, not just carrying a sword, but one that was oversized.  But I have to believe that due to social and cultural constraints and pressures, many women warriors have been relegated to the back corners of history.  In 1997, Jeannine Davis-Kimball published “Warrior Women of Eurasia” describing a historic analog of the Greek Amazonians:

“Now 50 ancient burial mounds near the town of Pokrovka, Russia, near the Kazakhstan border, have yielded skeletons of women buried with weapons, suggesting the Greek tales may have had some basis in fact.”

That said, when world building for any fantasy novel, it’s possible to dictate some, if not all, of those socio-cultural constraints away and make a wholly believable, strong and capable, female character, even as a main character.  Robert Jordan in The Wheel of Time series balanced his male lead characters with equally (or more) powerful female characters.  Although, his three main characters, around which much of the action and the entire story are told, were male.  Still, Jordan created some very unique female characters.

But there are pitfalls.  Female characters should not just be male characters with genitalia swapped.  There are considerations in regards to female versus male characters that should be mentioned and dealt with.  I think that’s where character creation becomes the most interesting.  Strength and speed are, on balance, male dominant traits.  They need to be dealt with to have a character who carries a shield and wields a sword . . . or she doesn’t, and how and why.  Magic and other supernatural elements can certainly aid the writer in creating a world where a female character is the match, or the better, of her male counterparts.  But other aspects can play in that too.

George R.R. Martin's Brienne of Tarth is worth mentioning as an excellent example.  She was trained as a warrior, achieved the knighthood, but still takes into consideration her male counterparts in a fight.  Brienne also doesn’t fall into the two traps that often occur in fantasy female characters: she is not a buxom babe with a sword, she is  “butch” but she is not a “butch” lesbian.  There is nothing wrong with either, but they are too often tropes that writers fall into.  Brienne is a woman who has taken control of her own power and decided her own course within the fantasy world.  She is at once a badass, but also a woman who has loved, a loyal friend who sympathizes with a mother, and a knight who can fight with the best of them.

Finally, please, please, please stop putting breasts on breastplates.  Whatever these are meant to signify, they're stupid.  I don't just mean that they over objectify a woman warrior (although they do that).  They are anachronistic and even dangerous.  Emily Asher-Perrin does an excellent job explaining this problem with her post “It’s Time to Retire “BoobPlate” Armor. Because It Would Kill You.”  As does I_Clausewitz in his article “Why Female Breastplates Don't Need Breast-Bulges.”  Female heroes would wear sensible armor, sensible clothing, and sensible undergarments appropriate to the time and place.  They would be more interested in surviving a battle than looking like an over-sexed and under-clothed runway model.  

If Joan d'Arc didn't do it, then neither should you.

Edited To Add: As you can see, this article generated some interesting comments.  Rather than limit the discussion there, I wrote a follow-up article, Why Breasts on Breastplates: Part Two, to address many of the questions regarding the topic of breasts on breastplates and why they're so silly/dangerous.  Enjoy — RRAM