well behaved women

Name your 15 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms. Picked up from lucifuge5 I HAVE LOTS MORE. But these are the ones that came into mind first. I also narrowed it down by picking only the ones that had definite, confirmed basis in canon.

1. Chiara/The Bear (The Wolf King)
2. Regeane/Maeniel (The Silver Wolf)
3. Leetah/Cutter (Elfquest)
4. Dante Valentine/Tierce Japhrimel (Working for the Devil)
5. Chihiro/Haku (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)
6. Sunshine/Constantine (Sunshine)
7. Jill Kismet/Saul (Dante Valentine)
8. Kamiya Kaoru/Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)
9. Allen Walker/Rinali Li (D.Grayman)
10. Jaenelle Angelline/Daemon Sadi (Black Jewels)
11. Keiko Yukimura/Yusuke Urameshi (YuYu Hakusho)
12. Kaylin Neya/Severn (Michelle Sagara's Cast series)
13. Bonnie McCullough/Damon Salvatore (The Vampire Diaries)
14. Vesper Lynd/James Bond (Casino Royale)
15. Anita Blake/her awesome (early Anita Blake books)
...what do you mean, that doesn't count? Okay, fine, have an extra: 16. Sesshoumaru/Rin (Inuyasha)

...apparently I like a lot of relationships where there's equality, but the girls are unequivocably in charge. Especially when the boys are a bit dangerous/amoral/etc.

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"....the gist of it being whatever a woman enjoyed wearing was feminine and whatever she didn't enjoy wearing wasn't."

-Anne Bishop "Heir to the Shadows"

...for such a little line, a throwaway paragraph roughly in the middle of the book, damn that hit hard. Because, you know, even though I should know better, on a certain level I bought into the myth of 'feminine'. Dresses. Pink. Society's carefully sculpted mould.

Anne Bishop! ♥♥♥♥

It's funny because in the Black Jewels world I think the relationships--besides the bad ones, which are really bad and acknowledged as such--are some of the healthiest I've seen in fiction. And she is very clearly saying something; along with a story and characters I love, there's a strong and very welcome commentary on gender roles and interactions.

And it's set up explicity, the Protocol and Queens and Warlords, taken to exaggeration in fantasy, and yet doesn't for a minute come off caricatured or as slapping us in the face with it.

Anne Bishop, so much love. **fangirls like mad**