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The 'sexism' argument is always an easy one for people to pin onto something that they do not like. But whether something is indeed 'sexist' is very subjective - after all, are there any rules surrounding what makes a work of art 'sexist'? If you look at it by one person's rules, then LOTR features strong, challenging female characters, by another person's it is sexist simply because it does not have enough female characters.
Now, if Tolkien had set out to write LOTR as a book about relationships, then the argument might stick - but it isn't about that.
I find it irritating that academics (and pseudo-acadmics, i.e. journos) like to search works of art and literature for oblique sexism as a way of criticising them. Far more useful would be to look at the modern media, e.g. women's magazines which are full of so much ephemeral rubbish that we get brainwashed into accepting. Perhaps it's just because I spent years at university listening to the same old lines, but they have become tired arguments to me.
Anyway - Eowyn, she's a complete star in my opinion, one of the most complex and inspiring female characters in literature!
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