Something that's really starting to bug me.
The idea that it's perfectly okay to say "I'm just not interested in male characters" without being called misandrist, but "I'm just not interested in female characters" will bring accusations of misogyny almost definitely.
Something doesn't add up.
Ignoring the fact that misandry and misogyny are horribly overused and, I feel, misrepresented, either way you have people proclaiming to only attach themselves to characters of one gender or another, to the exclusion of the other.
It should theoretically, be just as fine to find yourself drawn to male characters more than female characters, but that isn't what's seen. Take for example the slash=misogyny discussions. Would that conversation have ever really happened if slash/yaoi in fandom had always been mostly gay men writing it as opposed to young women?
That being said, there ARE some fairly misogynist trends in yaoi/slash fanworks, and I chalk even that up to the fact that itty, bitty writers will write what they read - that's not to say they won't improve over time or have potential, but it is something they tend to do. I'd argue that that's not so much misogyny as 'being young and stupid and just not thinking about it' - NOT THE SAME AS HATING WOMEN. NOT THE SAME. I'm not talking about the TROPES associated with slash fics in fandom, I'm talking about the concept of m/m slash itself, and ultimately, that is the center of the discussion.
OR, better yet, the concept of book reading. If someone says "I won't read that book because it has a female lead" - it sounds HORRIBLE. But if someone says "I won't read that book because it has a male lead" it's 'way to reject the male-dominated media'.
Basically, either it's all sexist, or you like what you like. I'm sick of the double-standard and I'm sick of seeing people proudly wave "I prefer female characters", while simultaneously knowing they are likely to react affronted to someone saying "I prefer male characters" (ESPECIALLY if that someone happens to be female). If equality is so damn important
Now, I know that I, in the past, have said that I have an easier time writing male characters rather than female characters, and this is probably damaging my credibility. I couldn't tell you why. I'm sure there's tons of wonderful psychology that goes into that that will come pouring out during a therapy session when I'm forty and pulling my hair out from stress. It's also because I've read a lot of books with male protagonists, but that doesn't make a lot of sense, since I've also read a lot of books with female protagonists. Admittedly, when I write, I gravitate towards male leads, and I have no fucking clue why, but it's never to the expense of my female characters and I will never limit what I read based on whether the protagonist is male or female. Either they'll have qualities I like or they won't.
Couldn't, theoretically, ANY of our characters be genderbent and shouldn't they basically be the same person? Feminine and masculine characteristics can apply and can be portrayed as individual strengths/weaknesses...but not in a way that fundamentally alters who that character is. So, that raises the question - what makes us choose one gender to write about over another? How do we ever really know whether our reasons for choosing that gender are sexist or not?
I want to say that it's nobody on my flist that sparked this (I know a lot of you have blogged about feminism in the past, but most of you are fair or at least tolerant about this in particular), but rather a combination of comments I've seen from a variety of sources, all coming back to the same basic thing have bugged me considerably, and I'm tired of the idea that it's considered 'more feminist' to prefer female characters, when 'prefering male characters' is often presented as inherently sexist.
Something doesn't add up.
Ignoring the fact that misandry and misogyny are horribly overused and, I feel, misrepresented, either way you have people proclaiming to only attach themselves to characters of one gender or another, to the exclusion of the other.
It should theoretically, be just as fine to find yourself drawn to male characters more than female characters, but that isn't what's seen. Take for example the slash=misogyny discussions. Would that conversation have ever really happened if slash/yaoi in fandom had always been mostly gay men writing it as opposed to young women?
That being said, there ARE some fairly misogynist trends in yaoi/slash fanworks, and I chalk even that up to the fact that itty, bitty writers will write what they read - that's not to say they won't improve over time or have potential, but it is something they tend to do. I'd argue that that's not so much misogyny as 'being young and stupid and just not thinking about it' - NOT THE SAME AS HATING WOMEN. NOT THE SAME. I'm not talking about the TROPES associated with slash fics in fandom, I'm talking about the concept of m/m slash itself, and ultimately, that is the center of the discussion.
OR, better yet, the concept of book reading. If someone says "I won't read that book because it has a female lead" - it sounds HORRIBLE. But if someone says "I won't read that book because it has a male lead" it's 'way to reject the male-dominated media'.
Basically, either it's all sexist, or you like what you like. I'm sick of the double-standard and I'm sick of seeing people proudly wave "I prefer female characters", while simultaneously knowing they are likely to react affronted to someone saying "I prefer male characters" (ESPECIALLY if that someone happens to be female). If equality is so damn important
Now, I know that I, in the past, have said that I have an easier time writing male characters rather than female characters, and this is probably damaging my credibility. I couldn't tell you why. I'm sure there's tons of wonderful psychology that goes into that that will come pouring out during a therapy session when I'm forty and pulling my hair out from stress. It's also because I've read a lot of books with male protagonists, but that doesn't make a lot of sense, since I've also read a lot of books with female protagonists. Admittedly, when I write, I gravitate towards male leads, and I have no fucking clue why, but it's never to the expense of my female characters and I will never limit what I read based on whether the protagonist is male or female. Either they'll have qualities I like or they won't.
Couldn't, theoretically, ANY of our characters be genderbent and shouldn't they basically be the same person? Feminine and masculine characteristics can apply and can be portrayed as individual strengths/weaknesses...but not in a way that fundamentally alters who that character is. So, that raises the question - what makes us choose one gender to write about over another? How do we ever really know whether our reasons for choosing that gender are sexist or not?
I want to say that it's nobody on my flist that sparked this (I know a lot of you have blogged about feminism in the past, but most of you are fair or at least tolerant about this in particular), but rather a combination of comments I've seen from a variety of sources, all coming back to the same basic thing have bugged me considerably, and I'm tired of the idea that it's considered 'more feminist' to prefer female characters, when 'prefering male characters' is often presented as inherently sexist.