Without reading all the other replies, all I can say is, yes, I believe there are fundamental differences in the ways males and females think and react to things in general, but that's just it--in general. Characters and viewpoint aren't general, they're specific. So one can never generalize facts or theories about gender differences and hope to apply it to individual characters in a meaningful way. One male character will react like a "typical male," one won't. Same with female characters. One can theorize about how a male or female MIGHT think or react that would make them different from the other gender, and try to apply this to characters and viewpoint, but every character and person is so individual that after a while, applying the "standard" becomes meaningless. It becomes stereotype. How much effect social influences or nature or nurture or whatever have on a female or a male is all highly individualized and can never be applied to the gender as a whole, the same as generalizations about a gender should never be applied to an individual character. I might be able to tell you how society has influenced me concerning my gender, and how my personal experiences have influenced me, but it'll just be MY observations you're getting, and they're likely to be far different from another person's. I'm female and I seem to write from the male POV more often than female. Nobody's called me on it. I don't focus on the things that men are "supposed to" think about, I just focus on the things that my individual male (and female) characters think about. I'm guessing it can help a writer to understand the opposite gender's viewpoint but in the end all you're understanding is some general observations, or the observations of one person, that can in no way apply to everybody. As a female, I never understood the tendency of most of the other females in junior high to gossip and gab and talk about boys and fashion and squeal insanely over the latest boy band. (I remember one girl giving me a totally aghast look when I admitted I didn't know the names of the individual New Kids On The Block. Well, did she know the names of the individual Egyptian gods?) I was too busy with other things like writing. *shrug*
