May 4, 2021

LTAFS: Sex and Power Dynamics

I know we touched on power dynamics a little in the consent topic, but let’s talk in a little more detail. In almost any configuration of a relationship you can imagine, someone has more power. There are some exceptions, but they are rare. Power manifests in different ways, and certainly it is possible for some characters to have similar amounts of power.
Power is often rooted in the culture, so certainly some of these things will be different in different countries, in different worlds. Although, I will say, one trick I see often in sci-fi worlds is to flip one power dynamic (often only one) and assume that by flipping one, the only change in that world is that those people would wield power in ways that are remarkably similar to the ways we see done in our world, just with different shaped people doing it. And well, think on why there wouldn’t be more differences than that.
Anyhoodle. So, in the current US society the following things provide power: -Being a cis-gender male -Being white or white-presenting -Being rich -Being older (there are some places where this starts to wane certainly) -Being able-bodied -Being fluent in English and able to speak it with an accepted Mid-Atlantic accent -Being heterosexual or hetero- presenting -Having a college degree This is not an exhaustive list, and certainly there are axes and spectrums within these. Some degrees are considered to carry more weight and power than others, as an example. Able-bodied can be in the eye of the beholder as long as no one asks you to run, as another.
None of this is, I expect, news to anyone. But it does mean that a story between a white, cisgender, able bodied, English speaking, college educated, heterosexual male, and a white, cisgender, able bodied, English speaking, college educated, heterosexual female – one of them has more cultural power.
This may – in theory – not come up much in your story at all. But it does mean the more power and access you layer into any of the characters, it changes what that means for your story.
A relationship between a eighteen year-old and a twenty-two year-old may not break any laws, but one of them has more power in this world.
I was an irregular watcher of the show “Younger” but one of the things I felt it did well, was look at how being perceived to be very young and inexperienced changed how many of the other characters – except the one who was actually young – treated Liza.
So what does this mean for the choices your characters make? Well, in any fictional relationship it’s important to take a look at which character holds more power. Because that character is going to have the option to do the most harm. A boss can fire a subordinate character. A rich person has more resources to carry out legal and other threats. An able-bodied person can afford to be more flip about health care access.
Does this mean only the character with more power can harm the relationship? No. But it means, if the character with more power harms the relationship, they have to do more work to repair it.