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 Edit

• 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