From Rapunzel trapped up in her tower to legions of scream queens hitting high decibels, the damsel in distress trope is long rooted in sweet, helpless characters incapable of staying out of trouble.

As the only girl in a farming family with two brothers, my dad and my older brother taught this old gal a thing or two when I was growing up. You see, my mom gave me the name “Hope” because she was ...