I wonder if it's ever worked the other way, where a woman had trouble writing about a man. If we view the issue through oppressive structures, I wouldn't think so. Historically, men saw woman as something less than themselves, believing those structures to be a function of nature and not society. To write a woman well because she's a per…
I wonder if it's ever worked the other way, where a woman had trouble writing about a man. If we view the issue through oppressive structures, I wouldn't think so. Historically, men saw woman as something less than themselves, believing those structures to be a function of nature and not society. To write a woman well because she's a person requires that writer to see themselves in her, a task too great, it seems. We have less trouble understanding that those artificially placed above use are no different from us.
I would have hoped that such issues were becoming artifacts of a former time, but recent events suggest otherwise. Specific to Cormac McCarthy, though, he was a strange fella, willing to live in abject poverty rather to take on any work than writing--and subjecting his wives to that same poverty as a result.
Hailed in his time as the greatest living author and yet unwilling to talk about writing, saying he could think about no subject more boring to talk about.
Very true - I can't think of anytime I read a book written by a woman and I questioned the representation of men; however, as Men have owned the narrative for so long, maybe any representation of a man feels valid... Women in fiction/TV/ media in general are still fighting for representation as ubiquitous as men - they are still stereotyped negatively, whereas men are still stereotyped positively - there is still a need to fight battles which should have been long dead. It does not need to be reiterated that a woman can do everything a man can, but men cannot do everything a woman can... yet here we are...2025 and the land grab for narrowing mindsets and obscuring truths is in full effect again.
I wonder if it's ever worked the other way, where a woman had trouble writing about a man. If we view the issue through oppressive structures, I wouldn't think so. Historically, men saw woman as something less than themselves, believing those structures to be a function of nature and not society. To write a woman well because she's a person requires that writer to see themselves in her, a task too great, it seems. We have less trouble understanding that those artificially placed above use are no different from us.
I would have hoped that such issues were becoming artifacts of a former time, but recent events suggest otherwise. Specific to Cormac McCarthy, though, he was a strange fella, willing to live in abject poverty rather to take on any work than writing--and subjecting his wives to that same poverty as a result.
Hailed in his time as the greatest living author and yet unwilling to talk about writing, saying he could think about no subject more boring to talk about.
Very true - I can't think of anytime I read a book written by a woman and I questioned the representation of men; however, as Men have owned the narrative for so long, maybe any representation of a man feels valid... Women in fiction/TV/ media in general are still fighting for representation as ubiquitous as men - they are still stereotyped negatively, whereas men are still stereotyped positively - there is still a need to fight battles which should have been long dead. It does not need to be reiterated that a woman can do everything a man can, but men cannot do everything a woman can... yet here we are...2025 and the land grab for narrowing mindsets and obscuring truths is in full effect again.