Oh no, you did not offend me. I think you make very good points which I pretty much agree with entirely.
I don't think passing the Bechdel test is necessary for something to be a feminist work or even a good work in general. And I do think a lot of times women aren't in the story because that's not what the story's about.
But the thing is I like women. I like to read about women, and one of the main things I love so much about P&P (and much of Jane Austen in general) is that it's about women. It has female characters I can relate to and admire. It's about the relationships between women, between sister and sister, mother and daughter, female friend and female friend. I do enjoy my slash as much as the next girl, and I love the idea of genderswap as a means of examining societal views on gender and homophobia. My gut reaction though when you take all those female characters and make them male is "Ah! Too many dicks on the dance floor."
It's a feeling I sometimes get after having read a lot of slash fanfiction (which is why I brought up fandom in general) and it's the reason I had so much trouble getting through the LOtR books. I kept wondering "but where are all the girls?"
I think I would actually be much more interested in reading genderswap!P&P if you just genderswaped Lizzy. Of course that causes problems with the whole inheritance thing, but that might be interesting to read in any case. It's not so much that I don't want to read about men or the relationships between men. I do! I am very interested! I guess I just have a little trepidation with taking every female character and turning her into a man (and not doing the same for the men - thus eliminating girls). All that being said, I would still read genderswap!P&P even if there were no girls to be seen
no subject
I don't think passing the Bechdel test is necessary for something to be a feminist work or even a good work in general. And I do think a lot of times women aren't in the story because that's not what the story's about.
But the thing is I like women. I like to read about women, and one of the main things I love so much about P&P (and much of Jane Austen in general) is that it's about women. It has female characters I can relate to and admire. It's about the relationships between women, between sister and sister, mother and daughter, female friend and female friend. I do enjoy my slash as much as the next girl, and I love the idea of genderswap as a means of examining societal views on gender and homophobia. My gut reaction though when you take all those female characters and make them male is "Ah! Too many dicks on the dance floor."
It's a feeling I sometimes get after having read a lot of slash fanfiction (which is why I brought up fandom in general) and it's the reason I had so much trouble getting through the LOtR books. I kept wondering "but where are all the girls?"
I think I would actually be much more interested in reading genderswap!P&P if you just genderswaped Lizzy. Of course that causes problems with the whole inheritance thing, but that might be interesting to read in any case. It's not so much that I don't want to read about men or the relationships between men. I do! I am very interested! I guess I just have a little trepidation with taking every female character and turning her into a man (and not doing the same for the men - thus eliminating girls). All that being said, I would still read genderswap!P&P even if there were no girls to be seen