Do male authors get women wrong in fiction?

Question

When do they get women wrong and how should they have written the woman character differently?

Answer 1

Sometimes yes. For instance, in Honeymoon, James Patterson's female murderess was a very high end Interior Designer. She is driving I believe it was a Jaguar and killing men to rake billions from their bank accounts. Yet she walks away from the nurse's station at her mother's nursing home and leaves her handbag sitting there. Of course that was the clue he needed to have someone discover her identity and nail her as the killer. But come on! Any woman in the world knows that a woman who is THAT rich is packing a very expensive handbag and would never leave it anywhere - especially not with the keys to the Jag in it. Totally destroyed the character's credibility for me. But it was one of Patterson's famous Deus ex Machine events that just fall out of the sky because he doesn't know how to write a mystery for beans. Had he observed female Interior Designers or interviewed any, he would have known this was a very unlikely scenario.

I think male authors tend to stereotype female characters the way they stereotype them in movies and on TV. They don't do research, conduct interviews, do their homework. Instead a lot of them tend to use female characters as "window dressing" and I am afraid Patterson is a repeat offender. He will never be able to write a female character with the depth he affords to Alex Cross. Pax - C

Answer 2

Experts around the globe say that Shakespeare was a woman and had to write with the help of a male to get her work published and read. Look at Agatha Christie's works---she really knew her men. The first prophet was a woman, Deborah in the Hebrew Bible and she taught, wrote and even helped to win a war when pagans wanted to kill off those that believed in One God and she was a judge for over 12 years and married too! The sages have always stated that a male could not teach or become a judge unless married--why? because he could not understand the true details of life and it's complexities without the help of his partner, his wife. So many women have written under "male" names so that men would feel comfortable about reading the book or poem or text. Women seem to have the 6th sense of understanding right from wrong more than men do--look at the Bible story of Sarah and Abraham--she knew that Ishmael would not remain loyal to the Seven Laws of Noah by his own deeds and actions towards his mother, half-brother and father--and Abraham didn't see this and God had to have Sarah bring up the situation. Men just seem to be good at one thing at a time, which is good, I wouldn't want my car brought back to me rearranged. But remember, both men and women have both male and female hormones in their bodies, just in different amounts. The early weeks of the life of an egg to fetus---all are female, and it is only through the intro of the Y sperm that triggers the female egg to change to male. So it is no wonder that there are great men that understand women and can write well of women's life, and women that are great about understanding men and can write about a good male hero. I know a lot of men that read the basic life story of the real "Bones"--not only her books, but the TV show produced by her, as Kathy Reich is an American crime writer, forensic anthropologist and academic.She is one of the eighty-two forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Reichs has been a producer for the TV series Bones and what Sue Grafton? Faye Kellerman? So many women have been part of the great CSI shows. The first women graduate in Police Science and Administration at UNH in CT (1968) wrote many male hero mystery stories based on true cases under a male pen name. So some women have come forward in their own right using their own name, others have had to keep their identity quiet for many reasons, sometimes for political, some religious, some for their own safety. So you never know that a book you like by a so-called "male" might all along been written by a woman.

Answer 3

totally depends on the story and the author. The book I'm reading right now is written by a man and he so has his finger on the pulse of what women are really like - it's scary!
But yes, other male authors do tend to trvialize or beautify their women thinking no one will beleive and smart yet unattractive woman could be one of the main characters.

Answer 4

Not all male authors "get" women wrong in fiction, just as not all women are the same, and therefore there is not one specific profile to "get" which applies universally in all circumstances.

Very generally speaking, it is easier for a man to write about men, and women to write about women, simply from a broad scope of personal life experience, but depending upon the strength of the individual writer, anything is possible!

Answer 5

In the books I have read, everything seems normal about female characters--I guess.

What I would like to know is how come it is so easy for the main male character to get these women into bed so easily.
Love scenes a little over done, but then again, maybe I am underdone.

Have you noticed how many female writers there are now?

Answer 6

No way, men can write female characters. Haven't anyone read anything by Henrik Ibsen? Especially "A Doll's House". It's amazing how he manages to portray people, especially women.

A good author can write both sexes in a realistic way. Of course, there are those who aren't that good at portraying the opposite sex, men and women.

Answer 7

Male writers get women right a lot of the time. I haven't read a book where the author didn't.

It's the same as when women write about male characters.
People are so diverse, that you can't get a gender wrong.

Answer 8

How so? I'm a little confused by this question.

Could you elaborate a little on this?

Answer 9

Sometimes, IDK, it depends. I"ve seen if both times, where I've read it and I was like, wow, they're totally right, and then other times I'm like what were they thinking? Like I said it just depends...
-CayleeJO