well behaved women

This is a rant. And this rant has been coming for a long, long time, but I'll try to keep it rational and concise.

It goes like this: fantasy authors, please stop trying to blame bad behavior on the behalf of shapeshifters on their 'animal instincts'.

There is no logical basis for this. Most animals (specifically wolves, lions, bears, etc.) that we're talking about here are clearly capable of making rational, logical choices and decisions. They live in dangerous, unpredictable environments and survive on their own strength and intelligence entirely. Frankly, a good deal of the animals I've met are more intelligent than some humans I've met.

Furthermore, a she-wolf or lioness is just as dangerous and capable as her male counterpart. She is not naturally inferior, or naturally subservient. A pack is led by an alpha pair, not 'the alpha male and his girlfriend', fuck you Laurell K. Hamilton. They choose their own mates, and are sometimes pretty damn picky about it. What you are trying to pass off as animal instinct is actually blatant, nauseating misogyny in a sickening package of 'he's sexy and supposedly can't help himself: this makes it okay!' Do not dare attempt to feed me that.

Furthermore, animals have interacted with humans, in a human environment, and gotten along just fine. Wolves who are familiar with researchers; Christian the lion, etc. In an unfamiliar environment, they often react warily/violently/defensively. The only reasons humans don't do this is because we are complacent and deeply domesticated. If we spent our lives as exposed to danger as wild animals do, we probably would too. We do in some circumstances.

You are insulting animals, you are insulting them viciously and grievously. It's like some disgusting reflection of the Hollywood werewolf, which actually owes nothing to the animal itself and is instead a compilation of our feverish and superstitious fears of the dark/what's under the bed or in the closet/the unknown.

This is why I will never forgive Patricia Briggs and, frankly, find myself disgusted by her werewolf series. This is why, despite the fact that I love werewolves far more than vampires, Alice Borchardt is the only werewolf author I can stand.