From time to time I run across acrid commentary about women writing male male romance or straight men writing gay love stories, or the arrogance of men writing romance between a man and woman.
Seriously? Why on earth would anyone think one gender had a great claim to expertise in writing craft as applied to any particular genre?
History offers many example of women being discriminated against. Here's where I get really confused. I would have guessed our own history of oppression, prejudice, and discrimination would have made women more sensitive and less tolerant to this kind of injustice. Reading commentary written by women, vilifying men who dare to think they can capture romance on the page, dismays me.
Are those women railing against male authored romance unaware of D.H. Laurence, T.S. Eliot, Leo Tolstoy, and William Shakespeare?
Practicing gender bias makes no sense. Thankfully the vast majority of readers are too smart to be bothered by an author's gender or sexual orientation or race or any other irrelevant label.
Right? Uh, you all aren't prejudiced against men writing romance are you?
5 comments:
Not me. I have no problem with men writing romance.
Nor do I have any issues with women writing thrillers (another long term bias).
In fact, I really don't care who writes what as long as the story is one I don't want to put down until I finish reading it.
I can't help but to agree with you. I feel that gender bias is just a smoke screen for other issues.
Making an issue on who writes what is a waste of time and energy.
The assumption that only a male could write a M/M love scene is just like saying only a serial killer could write a murder scene or only a woman can write about cooking. Good writers are able to step outside of themselves and pull you into a world of their creation.
Great post.
Thanks for stopping David, you're the inspiration for this post. I was thinking about A Dance With Bogie and Bacall and a few silly people who might miss out on your wonderful love story :)
Hi, Ms. Vickers. Thanks for the kind words of support! Congratulations on Sly's Surrender, do you have a release date?
We all should be able to write what we like without gender bias coming into it. I do think it's interesting though when I look at the different styles of writing between men and women tackling the same genre. I just had a comment from a crit partner that I had my guy opening his heart too soon and I suspect she's right! I think when you see heroes being touchy feely too quickly, it's a sign that a woman has written the book! We need men to care!!!
Hi, Barbara! I'm more a bark and leaves kind of girl, so I can miss the forest entirely. For me each writer has a unique voice. As does each well-drawn character. Perhaps your open-hearted hero is just more verbal than your critique partner was expecting. :)
Thanks for commenting!
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