: To quote Batman: "The hammer of justice is unisex." Your hero isn't fighting the villain because she's a woman. He's fighting her because she's a villain. And since she isn't a femme fatale

@Carla500

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To quote Batman: "The hammer of justice is unisex."

Your hero isn't fighting the villain because she's a woman. He's fighting her because she's a villain. And since she isn't a femme fatale who uses her gender to her advantage, her gender is ultimately completely irrelevant to her conflict with the hero.

So the best way to handle the gender dynamic within the story, is to ignore it. Don't treat it as a man fighting a woman, and don't have the hero think of it that way. Treat it as a hero fighting a villain, and nothing more.

If you still fear that readers may find any violence against her unacceptable, there are two options:

Tone down the violence. Have the hero do only what he needs to in order to defeat her. If she doesn't have to die, have the hero knock her out and incapacitate her. If she does have to die, have her hoist by her own petard.
Amp up the villainy. Have the villain go flying over the Moral Event Horizon. The more the readers hate her, the more accepting they'll be of any violence against her, regardless of gender.

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