The heroic canon is overwhelmingly male, with women relegated to supporting roles.

Evidence

Male superiority is overwhelming: Perseus, Hercules, David, Achilles, Lancelot, Duguesclin, Bayard, Napoleon—so many men for one Joan of Arc; and behind her stands the great male figure of Saint Michael the archangel! Nothing is more boring than books retracing the lives of famous women: they are very pale figures next to those of the great men; and most are immersed in the shadows of some male hero. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 700

Categorization

• XREF: Fits Beauvoir’s later analysis of myths that anchor women to immanence while man is transcendent hero.