When Good Books Have Bad Protagonists: The Casual Misogyny of "Storm Front"

I want to preface this post by saying I have very much enjoyed Storm Front by Jim Butcher. So much so that I immediately moved on to the next book in the series. The world created by Butcher is enticing, dark, mysterious and dangerous. The magic is well thought out, and he spends just enough time explaining how it works for you to believe that Dresden is a masterful practitioner without belabouring the point. I also want to say I know nothing about Jim Butcher and am not implying that he is misogynistic. With that preface, let’s begin.

I think that men ought to treat women like something other than just shorter, weaker men with breasts. Try and convict me if I’m a bad person for thinking so. I enjoy treating a woman like a lady, opening doors for her, paying for shared meals, giving flowers—all that sort of thing.
— Jim Butcher, writing "Harry Dresden"

MISOGYNY V.S CHIVALRY

Consent. It’s a concept spoken of often nowadays, and while I hesitate to judge fiction by standards perhaps not used when they were written, the Dresden Files aren’t what I would consider “old”. It suffers from Nice Guy Syndrome. It bears the marks of fedora-tipping m’lady-ing wrapped in a duster and wearing cowboy boots. Consent in context is what makes or breaks chivalry…

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They say we wizards are subtle. But believe you me, we’ve got nothing, nothing at all, on women.
— Jim Butcher, writing "Harry Dresden"