The epic fantasy genre is loaded with patriarchy. Just take a look around. You’ll see it in novels, movies, games, and art.

Patriarchy overwhelms epic storytelling, as all the important characters – including the protagonist, antagonist, and mentor – traditionally tend to be male. Female characters are usually resigned to the role of love interest or sexualized background warrior.

It’s usually a large part of the world building, too. In medieval-inspired fantasy, kings are more common than queens, and if the women have any agency at all, they’re usually struggling to prove themselves in a male-dominated, rape-normative dystopia.

Let’s unpack this trend. We’ll go on a little journey, all the way to beginning of human history, to ask: Where do gender roles come from? Why do they persist today? And why do we feel the pressure to create patriarchal systems in fictional worlds?

More specifically, let’s explore this question: Is the patriarchy realistic?

The history of patriarchy

Social origins

A 2015 study from Science Magazine suggests that early human societies were, surprisingly, more egalitarian you’d think. Equality between the sexes may have provided a survival advantage for hunter-gatherer tribes.

In fact, egalitarianism could have played a role in our technological advance and ascension as the dominant species, leaving our less-egalitarian primate cousins behind.

According to Mark Dyble, an anthropologist who led the study: “Chimpanzees live in quite aggressive, male-dominated societies with clear hierarchies. As a result, they just don’t see enough adults in their lifetime for technologies to be sustained.”

Patriarchy possibly became more engrained with the advent of agriculture. When humans began accumulating resources, it may have become more advantageous for men to enforce gender inequality.

(You can read more about this fascinating study on The Guardian, or see the original study report from Science Magazine.)

The science of gender roles

There is evidence that patriarchy is not 100% social or cultural, though. Some elements of patriarchy are likely enforced by biology, like our common instinct to defer to the deepest voice in the room, or our subconscious assumption that taller, stronger-looking people are more socially dominant.

Though uncomfortable to think about, this could suggest that some elements of gender roles and gender hierarchy are more ancient than the invention of agriculture.

We have evolution to thank for certain divisions of labor that helped us survive and thrive, as do many other species of animals. Generally, natural selection favors roles and traits in females that help with motherhood, and roles and traits in males that help with fatherhood.

That being said… it’s hard to even make a general example of this, because these roles and traits can differ between species. Some animals raise their young together; some mate, lay eggs, and never see any member of their family again. In some animal species, the mother raises offspring alone; and in others, the father raises offspring alone (as in the case of seahorses).

Also, let’s not forget about the matriarchy of elephant herds, the matriarchy, casual sex, and common lesbianism of bonobos (our close relatives), and the unique gender divisions and same-sex behavior of lions, to name a few examples of gender role variance.

Though evolution may have shaped homo sapiens with a leaning towards patriarchy (and heteropatriarchy), it has not formed the same patterns with all animal species.

The myth of a universal patriarchy

Even if evolution and/or social conditioning has favored certain groupings of traits and gender roles for survival purposes, such processes never create a monolith. There are always variations to these norms, and different expressions of them.

For example, the human gender roles and expectations that have developed throughout the world do not have universal applications. Variations on what it means to be feminine and masculine abound. There have been – and still are to this day – traditional societies that organize in a matrilineal or egalitarian order, and many that are not divided into just two genders, but recognize three.

Also, it is false to assume that, even in situations where gender roles had practical purposes, everyone always upheld to them. No universal framework like this works for everyone. There will always be, and always have been, people who feel like they don’t fit into the prescribed roles or gender-related behavior that were assigned to them.

This should be expected. Nature is always playing around and creating variations (this diversity is one of the very engines of evolution), and the categories humans make to organize ourselves never work perfectly.

For some fascinating research, look into how gender and sexuality was/is understood in:

• Ancient Celtic culture
• Indigenous Hawaii
• Traditional Hopi culture
• Pre-colonial Madagascar
• Medieval Norse people (“Vikings”)
• Modern Mosuo culture in China
• Traditional Zuni culture

(Spoiler alert: It’s not the heteropatriachy and gender binary you’re used to.)

The way humans think about gender never has been, and never will be, universal.

And the social mandates we’ve created for gender roles never have been, and never will be, accurate for everyone.

What it all means

I hope the evidence is clear that any natural gender roles and traits aren’t the result of some universal law about “femininity” and “masculinity”, but about what worked best for survival purposes. We’re talking about what adaptations for a specific creature, in a specific climate, best equipped them to live long enough to reproduce and successfully pass on offspring. That’s it.

Similarly, when it comes to socially-enforced human gender roles, it’s all about functionality.

Take, for example, the cliché of women staying in the home. In the past, hard labor was known to cause stillborns, so it made sense for women to do softer, indoor work, in order to increase their chances of a healthy baby.

On the other hand, men tend to be physically stronger than women, so it was only natural to relegate demanding, outdoor labor to them.

Frankly, it was a fair trade, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it started off entirely voluntary.

The thing is, in many of our current, technologically advanced societies, hardly any of our gender roles – whether biological or cultural in origin – make sense anymore. In a world of industry, invention, and modern medicine, these rigid roles have largely lost their original purpose in making it easier to collaboratively survive, compete for resources, and pass on offspring.

In many cases, patriarchy remains most strongly engrained in societies that are highly religious and believe, rather horrifically, that gender roles were “assigned by God” and shouldn’t change, even in a changing world.

Bringing it back to fantasy

Let’s get to the main point.

If you’re putting patriarchy in your fantasy world, that isn’t inherently wrong. But it’s important you ask yourself this simple question:

Why?

Gender roles don’t come from nowhere, and wherever they do show up (aside from religious fundamentalism), they have a practical purpose, at least at first. With that in mind: what social, cultural, and environmental factors shaped your creatures or society to develop they way they did?

Would they have arrived at classic patriarchy? They most certainly don’t have to! If your characters aren’t even human – if they’re a different, imaginary species like elves or dragons – you have even more opportunities for imagination and creativity in thinking through how they approach gender and gender roles.

Could they be matrilineal? Matriarchal? Egalitarian? These are all valid places they could arrive. Patriarchy is not the only option.

Don’t feel stuck in the gender binary, either. Recognizing that human gender is more complex than “male” and “female” isn’t just a modern, western discovery. There are many cultures that have long recognized third or middle genders, for example. What’s stopping your fictional society from recognizing this, too?

And again, if they are not human, you could go even further – as far as you like. There are so many possibilities beyond boring the “male vs. female” binary and rigid patriarchy.

There are so many possibilities beyond boring the “male vs. female” binary and rigid patriarchy.

Also, if your society is more advanced, they may have reached the point where gender roles are no longer believable for world building, because they’re just so unnecessary at that point… unless, of course, such roles are enforced by oppressive ideology.

The case against patriarchal fantasy

All this being said, you could still argue that there may be a place for adding patriarchy into your fictional world.

Maybe patriarchy really does make sense for your particular culture and environment. Maybe, if it takes an oppressive form, it’s part of the evil in your world that your protagonist needs to defeat or overcome. Or maybe it shows up in a very non-oppressive way, where gender roles are completely voluntary and not forced on anyone.

This all may be true.

But here’s the thing. Even if rigid patriarchy is realistic for your world, I’m still going to advocate you don’t use it.

Why?

The loss of valuable readers

We already have so much patriarchy in the real world. Honestly, it can be exhausting for all the non-male readers who are being hurt by patriarchy constantly in real life, to come to an escapist, fantasy book and get hit over the head with it again.

It can even be triggering if someone has had a particularly traumatic experience on account of extreme, oppressive patriarchy. Whether they’ve experienced religious, physical, or emotional abuse, or manipulation, discrimination, suppression, or outright violence as a result of patriarchy, these experiences are very, very real for many, many people.

And fantasy is supposed to be fun. However, the overabundance of male dominance and rape normativity in the epic fantasy genre makes it very difficult to enjoy for vast numbers of people who otherwise would very much like to read it.

The overabundance of male dominance and rape normativity in the epic fantasy genre makes it very difficult to enjoy for vast numbers of people who otherwise would very much like to read it.

As a woman myself, I’ve experienced this frustration firsthand. And I don’t know how many women and non-binary people I’ve heard make similar complaints.

Fantasy as an engine of change

Maybe you want to use speculative fiction to make a point about extreme patriarchy and how harmful it can be. If so, great! But, this is fantasy… so, why must your delivery be so literal?

Why not turn it on its head? Why not write about extreme matriarchy, or some other form of oppression that can serve as a metaphor without re-traumatizing readers with the very real-life crap they already experience?

Or, better yet: Why not write a story in a world that is truly egalitarian?

Perhaps you’re protesting right now because you’re convinced patriarchy is the most realistic system for your particular fantasy world. However, even if some gender roles or social structures might be more “realistic” than others, here’s the thing:

Fantasy isn’t realistic.

Fantasy is never supposed to be completely believable. (If you do in fact believe that Middle Earth exists and there are young wizards learning witchcraft at Hogwarts right now, maybe we should talk.) A fantastical story should convince you just enough to achieve suspension of disbelief, but that’s it.

If you want to write about real life and directly expose problems in our society, write nonfiction or contemporary fiction. Not fantasy. That’s not what fantasy is for.

Fantasy is a form of myth. It plays a very particular role in human society and development. It has done so, in fact, for thousands of years. Myths and fantasies capture what we value as people, stretch our imaginations, and inspire us to do and be better. Fantasy, as a genre, tells us who we are and who we want to be. It is meant to challenge us and give us hope.

Fantasy, as a genre, tells us who we are and who we want to be. It is meant to challenge us and give us hope.

Heroic fiction is not just mindless entertainment. It is deeply important. The heroes we elevate in our culture often set the tone for how real people behave, even if those decisions are subconscious. What gets normalized in our stories also gets normalized in real life.

And more often than not, it’s speculative fiction that first expands our thinking on what is possible.

What better way to tickle our imaginations, expand our thinking, and give us hope than to write about a world that is ideal in how it deals with gender and gender roles? What if fantasy gave us something to reach for, to aspire to?

Now, we can’t write about a utopia without crossing that line of suspension of disbelief. It’s expected in fantasy that there will be dark parts of your world. But, gender inequality shouldn’t be there just for ambiance.

(Seriously, do not add oppression and rape of women to “set the tone” of your world. That’s a very shitty thing to do. Please, please don’t do that. I am whispering in parenthesis, but really I want to scream it to every male fantasy writer out there. PLEASE STOP DOING THIS.)

Anything evil in your world is something for your character to overcome, either for themselves individually or for the world at large.

In other words, if you do put oppressive patriarchy in your novel, I want to see a female or non-binary character smashing it to pieces.

If you do put oppressive patriarchy in your novel, I want to see a female or non-binary character smashing it to pieces.

It’s also possible to write about a world that has no gender roles at all, or gender roles that aren’t oppressive. You can create a society that doesn’t box people into the binary, two-gender system, either. This is your world, and you have the power to do what you want with it.

But here’s my challenge to you. How will you wield that power? Will you wield it responsively?

Will you use it to reinforce oppressive, cultural norms we already have? Or will you use your power to break those ideas down and show us something new?

Will you use your fantasy story to keep us rooted in our current cultural darkness, or nudge us forward to the light ahead?

The choice is yours.

Further reading:

Bonobo Sex and Society, on Scientific American.

Examples of modern matrilineal societies, with pictures on A Plus.

Gender variant societies worldwide on Nonbinary Wiki.

The history of matriarchy on Wikipedia.

The history of third genders on Wikipedia.

Map of gender-diverse cultures on PBS.

Image sources: Pixabay, Wikipedia