yet another critique on the heroine's journey

A difference that struck me when looking at the Heroine’s Journey is the way it portrays growth. In the Hero’s Journey, the MC grows into themselves and almost elevates into a higher version of who they are. They make a point to include stages of “rebirth,” where the hero is able to go through metamorphosis and shed themselves of their past. On the other hand, the Heroine’s Journey focuses on growth through self-acceptance. To me, (in comparison to the Hero’s Journey) the Heroine’s Journey is very stagnant and doesn’t allow for real growth. 

The Heroine’s Journey’s flagship is showcasing the MC’s relationship with “the feminine.” The most notable stages (which occur simultaneously to any greater plot the narrative may follow) are the heroine’s separation from the feminine and descent into the masculine, then yearning to reconnect with the feminine and healing their “mother/daughter” spirit (aka a return to the feminine). This structure clearly promotes self-acceptance. However, I think it limits the MC. Rather than becoming a stronger, new version of themselves (as an MC would in the Hero’s Journey), they just return to a version of themselves in the beginning. 

I feel like this structure kind of forces the femininity back onto the MC. It pushes the concept that, as women, they will never be able to escape themselves. No matter how far they go, they will always be the person they were in the beginning. 

To an extent, I see the vision. I just think this would be very easy to get wrong. It kind of creates a thin line between “coming to terms” with feminity and truly embracing it. If done wrong it seems kind of insulting--as if femininity is something characters have to cope with. It's also easy for narratives to struggle with writing growth; they can introduce the hatred toward feminity but don’t fully explain how or why the MC gets over it. 

The issues within the Heroine’s Journey also complicate the question of “what is a heroine?” At first glance, any female hero should be a heroine. But then, is a female character who exhibits masculine traits and follows the Hero’s Journey (rather than the Heroine’s Journey) still a “Heroine?”  If they eventually choose not to return to who they were, can they still be a Heroine? The structure seems to reject female characters who don’t fit into the traditional feminine mold. It forces them into pure feminity or to transform into an inherently masculine character and fall into the Hero’s Journey, therefore devaluing their weight as a powerful female character. 

I am not exactly critiquing how heroines are barred from embracing the masculine because that is seen in the final stage, where they supposedly combine the masculine and feminine. I am critiquing how it forces the heroine to be wrong and take back their initial feelings, therefore invalidating how they feel. I think it kind of pushes a message that girls should bottle any emotions that go against the inherent feminine because they will eventually (and inevitably) just accept who they are.