As a fan of epic fantasy novels and series, one becomes somewhat inured to the sausagefest that is nearly definitive of the genre. Characters are male by default; by which I mean "a farmer", "a soldier", "a traveller", "a blacksmith", "an apprentice"-all stock characters in any epic fantasy- are by default male unless otherwise specified, and these exceptional women are always a Big Deal, by which I mean their femaleness bears importance or is a catalyst of some sort to the story. Inversely, other stock characters like "a whore", "a tavern wench", "a innkeeper's progeny", or "a milkmaid" are default female unless explicitly stated otherwise, and are also tools to further the plot or character development of a male character unless explicitly stated otherwise. In this adventure, I plan to take a look at the treatment of male and female characters in various fantasy series that I have experienced, and explore the incredibly diverse dimensions possible for gender in the human imagination through the vehicle of genre fiction. And I'm not talking Rowling or Tolkien; I'm going for the shameless, basement-dwelling, throat-bearded, myopic fiction that spawns stereotypes like few other genres are capable of.
One of the most enjoyable facets of epic fantasy for me as a reader is the immersion into an entirely created social system. An author in this genre is free to create any sort of social system that takes their fancy, and I've come across customs of slightly silly created cultures that include everything from governments based on institutionalized BDSM to those based on the favoritism of magical telepathic horsies, modesty habits from veiled males to hand-burkas, and family systems that range from medieval chattel exchanges to polyandrous group marriages. I must admit that a sticking point that infringes on my enjoyment nearly every time is that in a medium that allows for so much freedom, so many authors choose to relegate female characters to the subordinate/exceptional model of women in epic fantasy. And I cannot emphasize enough that the rape-and-revenge trope of the wronged/damaged/outraged woman who decides to pick up a sword or a spellbook and wreak some havoc of her own hasn't progressed any since the days of Conan the Barbarian, and is as worn out as a 1950's elastic menstrual belt complete with pube-plucking metal clips.
