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"Writing Strong Women = Writing a Man with Boobs" What?!?
Came across a comment that I couldn't work out on Scans_daily the other day,
"I almost want to agree. It doesn't help that when Rucka writes a strong woman he tends to just write a man then throw boobs on her."
http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_
Aside from the comment itself being stupid, it got me thinking.
In various places they've mentioned women in fiction being written differently to men, in the Jack Nicholson movie 'As Good As It Gets' for example, but when I'm writing I didn't really think about it.
Does it mean I'm writing all my characters as guys or something? I'm confused, maybe someone out there can explain it to me better.
How are women written differently from men? Or was that poster just being a sexist jerk, assuming that women are only written like women if they're talking about dresses and makeup 24/7?
"I almost want to agree. It doesn't help that when Rucka writes a strong woman he tends to just write a man then throw boobs on her."
http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_
Aside from the comment itself being stupid, it got me thinking.
In various places they've mentioned women in fiction being written differently to men, in the Jack Nicholson movie 'As Good As It Gets' for example, but when I'm writing I didn't really think about it.
Does it mean I'm writing all my characters as guys or something? I'm confused, maybe someone out there can explain it to me better.
How are women written differently from men? Or was that poster just being a sexist jerk, assuming that women are only written like women if they're talking about dresses and makeup 24/7?
(Anonymous)
My experience is that almost any man will make a cool women when swapped like this (Wolverine is a great example)but the women don't swap so well sadly.
In the original script for Alien Ripley was actually a man, but they cast a woman instead and really the role wasn't changed very much.
(Anonymous)
(Anonymous)
What I meant is that there are differences between males and females beyond parts. It's the way we interact with one another, the way we see the world, the way we are. When I read Rucka I don't see him writing strong women, I see him writing strong men or just ignoring their gender altogether. It's a subconscious note on his part that the only way a woman can be strong is by acting like a man.
As for what I mean by acting like a man? No, I don't think that the only way to write women is to have them "talking about dresses and makeup 24/7". The differences in gender are subtle and it comes down to acknowledging that there are certain traits that are feminine and certain ones that are masculine. It's embracing both and coding a character as their gender rather than using only masculine traits to make them strong and ignoring the rest.
/two-cents
(Anonymous)
Anyway I am kinda surprised I have not gotten any hate over saying that many female hero's don't translate well as men.
(Anonymous)
I do wonder if any men would not cross over well. What about James Bond?
*wonders if this is a good time to mention the time when I used to think e-bot was a woman...*
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