Agency is the ability for a person, or agent, to act for herself or himself. A person who is not allowed to act for her/himself is lacking in agency, or is said to have been denied agency.
In geek circles, women (real and fictional) often lack agency compared to their male counterparts.
Examples
- When men speak on behalf of women, they deny them agency. Instead, men should allow women to speak for themselves.
- Dismissing or lowering the value of a work created by a woman with a Denial of Agency attack, implying or directly stating that she is not truly its author.
- Fictional female characters who act at the behest of male characters, without any will of their own, lack agency. Eg: the Buffy Bot in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
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