DISCLAIMER: This post was not meant to offend anyone in any way. If you have a strong belief that everything about the characters in these books are perfect, then I'd advise against reading this. The purpose of this post was to try and help people understand what's toxic when it comes to feminism, not offend those who are feminists.
It seems that time and time again when Rick tries to empower women he fails horribly. To him, empowering women amounts to putting men down and a sexist, anti-man behavior. Two prime examples of this are found in the Hunters of Artemis and the Amazons. They have no regard for the well-being of men and are enforcing this fake definition of feminism. Rick thinks that all “strong women” have to be macho and in control instead of being girly. Reyna, Thalia, and Zoë are all examples of this.
Just like our society has blown feminism, which is all about equality, out of proportion, Rick has followed suit. There’s a difference between strong women and aggressive women who hate men. Rick’s representation of powerful women became a statement that women can’t be strong without being against men. Feminism is true equality of the sexes and advocacy for women’s rights. And this is the exact reason I have a problem with the Hunters, the Amazons, and more specifically Rick’s portrayal of women. Before I get into my reasons for disliking the way he portrayed the Amazons, I think it’s important that I give a bit of background information.
The Amazons:
The Amazons are a matriarchal society that was founded by a daughter of Ares, Otrera. She was their Queen and ruled over them for many years. They fought in several battles, the most notable being the Trojan War- in which they sided with the Trojan king, Priam. “Amazon.com” was founded thousands of years later, as a front to both the mortal and immortal worlds. Some Amazons who seek immortality later join the Hunters, and some Hunters who no longer wish to be under a maiden vow move to the Amazons.
Mythologically, the Amazons and their queens have never had a problem with excessively powerful men. It actually impressed them. Otrera was very impressed by both Hercules and Ares, later going on to build a requested temple for Ares and eventually marrying him.
The way they’re impressed with strong men actually says a lot about their historical culture. Their system still (fictionally) in place to this day of “The strong women are in charge and the weak men do everything else” is a huge clue. Most likely, the men weren’t especially strong and so the women took over in a way very similar to how men took the positions of power in our own world history. While the female Amazons being in charge isn’t a bad thing at all, it’s their treatment of men and how they’ve manipulated their company to further it.
The Amazons use their company (Amazon.com) to deliver goods to both mortals and immortals, including the shipment of pegasi. Amazons, unlike Hunters are allowed to form relationships and do not believe males are “gross” as such, more “worthless”. Their “business” is supported by the slave labor of the male portion of their race. They use chains and put them in orange jumpsuits. It's slave labour and they're pushing them without breaks. Like cattle, they are packed into cells without proper sanitation and have no basic human rights. They are looked down upon instead of being seen as equals.
The Hunters:
The way the Hunters treated Percy, Nico, and Grover from the start was and still is heavily biased. For example, Zoe looked at Percy distastefully like he’s “a bag of dirty laundry she’d been sent to fetch.” That can be interpreted as just “Ew, gross, men” but it’s much more. Percy saved the Hunters and the gods themselves multiple times from extinction but despite his genuine efforts both Artemis and her Hunters continued to look down on him and never took him seriously up until the very end.
A very anti-male sentiment is shared throughout the entire hunters’ camp. Before Percy, Nico, and Grover, the last boy to see Artemis’ camp was turned into a jackalope. How was he supposed to know that he’d stumbled upon a gathering of immortal beings? The Mist most likely blocked him from even truly seeing what was before him but Artemis still took action against him. Turning him from a human into a wild animal as a punishment for an accident was entirely unnecessary. It was a pointless action that didn’t even serve a purpose or send a message to any other men.
Historically, Artemis’ actions taken against men were typically justified. Actaeon saw her naked while she was bathing and as a result, he was turned into a stag and eventually killed by his own hunting dogs. Otos and Ephialtes, twin sons of Poseidon, boasted that they would kidnap and forcibly make Artemis and Hera their wives. They killed each other (death by spear) when Artemis as a deer jumped between them. Bouphagos, son of a Titan, saw Artemis and began to think about raping her. Artemis read his thoughts and struck him on Mount Pholoe. Siproites is a dude who attempted to rape Artemis and was turned into a girl as his punishment. Notice how Artemis’ historically accurate actions here are all righteous. So why did Rick feel like he needed to make Artemis and her hunters a bad thing?
Rick’s interpretation of the Hunters of Artemis showcases them as aggressive and rude. For example, when the topic of the hunters staying at Camp Half-blood is brought up, Artemis says “I hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down.” The tone Rick uses when the Hunters speak is generally violent and impolite. It’s like Rick took a megaphone and yelled “they can’t do anything calmly or nicely!” Considering the Hunters are some of the only representation for independent women in the book series this is very disappointing and plainly inaccurate.
This post isn’t pro-man or anti-woman. It isn’t to play god with Rick’s characters or try to make them into something they’re not. It’s a chance at a glimpse of awareness. The Amazons and the Hunters of Artemis aren’t strong. They’re weak characters masked by a facade of strength. Actual strong female leads are considerate, kind, compassionate, and brave women. Kindness does not equal weakness.
Plain and simple, Rick created a terrible image of what actual strong women look like. You don’t need to lift weights or beat up men on the street (for no reason) to be a “strong” woman. What once were heroes and protectors have been forced to become something less than adequate. The sad part is that Rick knows how strong female leads should be. He knows what strong women are and what they look like, but for some reason he decided to make his “feminist” roles into something that insecure, misogynistic men picture feminists as. Rick failed the young girls who read his books and want to be strong women someday.
Thank you so much to @SadCypress and @Half Blood Hill for helping me with this post, I really appreciate your time and effort! I seriously could not have done it without you.
P.S: I apologise for any grammar or spelling mistakes (although I do use Australian spellings).