I wasn't really planning that far ahead. I wasn't even thinking about re-using the same protagonist for the next book.
This has been a very interesting thread, and I'd just like to throw out a request to the female members following. The story I'm working on has a male character who's able to take over bodies (for a limited time). He's unaware of his ability at first, and the first person he "possesses" is a woman. To drive home the shock of his ability, I've considered having the body either be in the midst of, or begin, her period while he's in possession of it. If there are any women keeping track of this thread who'd be willing to privately answer some questions about the overt physical effects, please drop me a PM. If it's not something you'd be comfortable talking about, no worries, neither is Mrs. A. Thanks for reading.
Yes!! There are very few female characters I like. They are whiny and too emotional about men, or unrealistically strong (physically), or incapable of having sex with more than one man because then they can't be the heroine - unless they are having sex with everyone. Very few feel real to me (especially when it comes to sex - like our only options are to sleep around or wait for one perfect man). And just as few make me wish I could be them - which is the escape I'm usually looking for. I find myself clinging to the aspects of them that I enjoy, and trying to ignore the rest.
Wow. You're hard to please, aintcha. If the character you want to see is ordinary and like you, why would you wish to be them? They're already you.
Lol. No. Not hard to please. There's a lot of room in there for a real character who can then go on to do things I wish I could do...
Yeah. I keep trying new things... Meanwhile, I write characters that I wish other people would write. So, not bad advice...
Too emotional about men eliminates the romance genre, unrealistially strong eliminates most fantasy and action heroes. As said by Carly Berg, there are literary and autobiographical works that cover this sort of characterization. The real woman you identify with. It just sounds like you're looking in the wrong places.
I'll be honest, my lack of understanding of relationships feels like its detrimental to my writing. All my characters pretty much have to be asexual loners solely because of my ignorance. It also doesn't help that I can't really see into the minds of my female characters. As for that female villain I mentioned? She was originally a male character I couldn't get to work. All I did was switch his gender, and suddenly she's an interesting character. Also, I kind of feel bad about the character thinking about it. She comes across as a feminist to me, even though all she is is a selfish male villain I gender-swapped. So yeah, a feminist to me feels like a male villain. Yeah, I'm all kinds of messed up in the head. I don't know what I can do about it even. Yeah, I could have an entirely male cast, but then I'd probably get accused of being a misogynist. Hell, J K Rowling (a female) got accused of being a misogynist essentially because of how she depicted her characters early on.
I think misogynist is becoming horribly over-used. Though we can offer equal opportunity to both sexes the fact remains men and women are both physically unique and think differently. The thinking differently part--and how women react to situations--is the key in getting them right. Watch, observe, study.
Research clearly shows that males and females aren't any different from each other psychologically. This became obvious to me personally when I started seriously doing research into foreign cultures years ago. When it comes to what is considered appropriate for each gender, there are no universals. Yes, in most societies males and females tend to come out differently, but that's because of the expectations their society puts on them. And going into a bit of an adult topic here, even sexually males and females aren't truly different. Female sexuality can be easily explained by how their sexuality is demonized in society, while males is shaped by the fact that our society (I'm an American, if anyone cares) pretty much requires males to be mindless perverts just to prove that they're not gay. And there are in fact males and females that demonstrate a sexuality more in line with the opposite gender, despite any lack of a genetic or physiological difference. And with talk about erotic plasticity as of late (how susceptible one's sexuality is to change over time), its commonly accepted now that gender differences are based purely off of nurture rather than nature. The only 'nature' part that really seems to factor in at all is that females are of course the ones who get pregnant from sexual encounters, thus even in more sexually open societies they normally are less interested in casual sex than males. Also, a study a few years ago showed that males thought about sex more than females, which is no surprise, except a year earlier in India scientists had done the same research on their own and found that in India, females think about sex more than males! It would also appear that both males and females have the same sex drive, its just that females aren't as comfortable with their own sexuality in our society as males. Not that I'm saying that's a character flaw, in truth males shouldn't feel like they're entitled to sex. And not thinking you have a right to it seems to be healthier for you psychologically. And yes, I have a lot of interest in sexology.
LOL yes they are. So how come if you go on the Omegle's unmoderated section, where they don't even show their faces, the number of men masturbating to the camera outnumbers the women by some 100 to 1? How come when a transwoman blocks her testosterone she unanimously reports a reduction in sex drive? How come when a trans man goes on testosterone he reports an increase? How come going on masculinizing anabolic steroids makes male and female users both, almost uncontrollably horny? How come there are whole communities of anonymous, romantically and sexually frustrated men online (True Forced Loneliness) but no equivalent for women?
I think the point they're making is that it's rather common for female characters to fall into unauthentic archetypes because - assumingly - the writer is probably more fussed about creating a certain persona than a deep and 3 dimensional character. They aren't being "difficult to please" rather they actually have expectations and wanting a character that isn't so flat and unbelievable as aperson. Not every strong female character has to be Lora croft esque Every teenage girl the ignorantly boy obsessed ect. There is diversity in real people thus there should be in characters too. And obviously this is pretty broadly speaking and not saying every single female character is like this,
They're really isn't a huge difference I think you're just overly obsessed with individuals and small specific groups. There are plenty of women with huge sex drives and plenty of men with small. You might want to broaden your perspective beyond such generic assumptions of gender lol.
I couldn't agree with you more and you presented your perspective really nicely! Quite interesting XD
Why would you try to support gender differences???? You obviously don't believe in equality, or overwhelming evidence, if you want to insist that males and females are different. If the two genders are different, then they are not equal. It is impossible for two different things to be different and equal. If they are different, then one is clearly better than the other. I believe in gender equality, and I'm beyond fucking sick of the bullshit stereotype that all males are rapists constantly fighting to control themselves. I'm sick of not being seen as a person just bc I had to be born with a fucking dick. Even now, I hate people of my own gender, and I struggle to see a female as anything other than a fucking divine being, all because of the bullshit I grew up with. If you're male, you're not a person, you're a fucking animal that is mentally deficient in so many ways you can't possibly do anything useful or be of any worth or do anything that isn't somehow destructive and detrimental to the entire fucking planet. I don't need your sexist bullshit.
I'd say that's a difference in a tendency toward exhibitionism, not a difference in sex drive. "Sex drive" does not equal "eagerness to have sex in front of a large audience."
She didn't call for diversity actually. She said the Lara Croft/action hero type is unlikeable. The emotional romance lead is unlikeable. That's explicitly a call for realism, not diversity. They're not small groups though. I talked about transsexual people, who at even a fraction of a percent of the world's population is a huge number. I talked about Omegle, a free website open across countries with no password. Users of anabolic steroids are a small group, but they report unanimously profound effects on sexuality. To propose men and women have similar sexualities is to propose the effects of these hormones are benign, and we know they're not.
I think the comments above here really well summarise what I was trying to convey and the issues I also have with your statements. You might want to take a look.
No, exhibitionism would be just showing off your body. Engaging in explicitly sexual acts/ seeking cyber video sex is sex drive.
I believe in reality first and foremost. Different doesn't mean unequal in value. Higher sex drive = all men are rapists now? Animals? Where do you people come from?
It doesn't have to be. It's a way of expressing sexuality visually and completely anonymously with no real life interaction or judgement. A perfect set up to see if shaming has an effect on the observed female sex drive. Women are not so horny as to masturbate and cyber sex to strangers like men are. A clear difference in sexuality. To a massive degree.
