Men writing women

“She was 5’2, thin, but curvy where she needed to be – a pure, exquisite beauty. She smiled at him with a toothy grin. He couldn’t remember her name. But it didn’t matter because that night, he had the best time of his life with her. Even though she was a virgin.”

The representation of women in literature and in the media by male authors has introduced a highly controversial debate about whether a truthful depiction of female characters has ever been successfully achieved. With this article, I aim to explore the extent to which men fail in producing accurate depictions of womanhood, and the impacts this misrepresentation has in contributing to gender inequality.

Female characters become created through the male gaze, existing with the purpose to appeal and submit to men

Although not always as extreme as in the previous example, men strive time and time again to dispel gender roles and give it their best attempt at seeing life from a woman’s perspective. The literary world has historically been, and is to some extent even today, dominated by men, which contributes to the unequal representation of female characters created by fellow women. We, not just as women but as a society, have learned to accept the role the female persona takes on in media at the expense of male pleasure. However, there is a fundamental necessity to explore this phenomenon. Especially since, at its core, this issue raises a much more concerning question – if men are unable to create a valid, relatable female character in their work, even when intending to do so, does that mean that a vast majority of men have never seen women for what they truly are: their equals?

Literature is a form of expression, of creating fantasy worlds and made-up tales, however, the fact that even in these stories, women are deemed as less worthy and granted less complex characters than men, proves how male authors either view women in real life as shallow as they depict them or (arguably even more horrifying) create a persona of “the perfect woman” that is unreachable in reality. Following the latter argument, it becomes evident that in some cases, female characters become overly sexualised. They are easily manipulated by their superior male companion, and appear as more of a placeholder rather than actual individuals.

This in turn begs the question of if men want us to become one of their fantasies of their own creation? The answer is yes. Literature created by men has seen the glorification of pureness but equally, the willingness to satisfy men’s sexual desires. The result? Female characters become created through the male gaze, existing with the purpose to appeal and submit to men.

Women allow their male characters to be real people whilst men for centuries have neglected their female characters

Many, including various scholars, bring the claim that male authors today are still being held accountable for the ways in which their predecessors have used gender roles against women. However, to state that misogyny is a thing from the past is not just bluntly wrong, but also highly ignorant.

The idea that all women who transgress the role of tender, servile femininity must be unnatural perversions of nature is used by both Shakespeare and Dickens, revealing that despite the centuries passed, male authors have continued to hold the same views regarding the role of women in society.

At a similar time in history as Dickens, Louisa May Alcott published Little Women, and created female representation that to this day is one of my personal favourites. In the words of Jo March, “Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. I’m so sick of it.” So ahead of her time, and yet Alcott filled the gap that was (and to some extent of course still is) so painfully obvious in literature and media. When men failed to create a reasonable female character, Alcott managed to bring the female existence to the point.

An inaccurate representation of women leads to the internalisation of this wrong perception not just in men but in women ourselves

Of course, we can now ask ourselves if the same misrepresentation could apply to women creating male personas. The phrase “he was written by a woman”, is not an uncommon one, especially in the younger generations and on platforms such as TikTok. Images of Jane Austen’s character Darcy, Fleabag’s priest and Connor Waldron from Normal People come to mind. However, the crucial difference to notice is that when a woman decides to write a male character, she gives them depth, emotion, an actual role in her literary piece. In contrast, in many instances, male authors never seem to reach that standard or never even aim to. Women allow their male characters to be real people whilst men for centuries have neglected their female characters from such a privilege.

Personally, I think that detecting whether a book has been written by a female or male author is an easy task to accomplish. Whilst of course there are exceptions to the norm – for instance, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina – in many cases, the difference lies in the nuances granted to female characters. Being a woman in this society, even in today’s world, is not an easy task to accomplish. Living in an age pressured by social expectations and finding oneself in womanhood, is a unique experience which should not be deemed lesser by an inaccurate representation of what it means to be a woman in literature written by men.

The creation of unachievable looks, roles, and personality traits, is deeply rooted in a misogynistic perspective, and damaging to the perception of women in real life. I am not making the case for banning male writers from creating female characters, however, I am indeed advocating for a stronger awareness of the issue right in front of us. An inaccurate representation of women leads to the internalisation of this wrong perception not just in men but in women ourselves. Internalised misogyny and the constant urge to appeal to the male gaze, even when we do not intend to, has an incredibly strong connection to the image of women established in literature and media – by men.

Men writing about women leads to an ideal that cannot be lived up to but is still seen as the standard by both the male and female population – reinforcing female degradation.