Writing Blog Number 2

20241219 'Misogyny' In Writing

'Misogyny' Peeves

I am on Discord in a couple of writing groups, and in one we were talking about misogyny in writing. Not in characters – they can be as misogynistic as the story needs – but in situations and language used by writers.
         I thought I’d use this blog post to point some of them out.
         This was inspired, in part, also by my "20241216 Poor Characterisation"  post. While not poor characterisation, per se, it does lend itself to that.
         First, I should say this is not about pronouns. I am not going to enter the discussion about that; it is way beyond my pay grade.
         So, first is the situation. The female character needs to be rescued, and the male character is the only one who can. In certain types of stories, this is accepted, but not giving the female character any agency in the situation, and just having her easily replaceable by a bag of gold without the story effectively changing is demeaning.
         If two (or more) female characters are talking, they talk about the male characters, and yet the male characters do not do the same. This is called the Bechdel Test, by the way.
         Not naming female characters at the same rate as male characters. If the book only has main characters named and no secondary characters, then that’s fine. If even the third-string male characters have names, but the female is called ‘bar-wench’, then it’s an issue. A corollary to this is not giving females surnames when the males have them. So, even if the characters all have names, the naming conventions in-world need to be equal.
         Even if the female is included in events, she and/or her actions are described in relation to the males. He finds her body curvy. He misses her and wants to touch her body. She has no agency in a relationship.
         And this last is the worst one – when, to show a bad guy is really bad, he sexually assaults a female. Using a female as a tool to show evilness. Especially egregious when he does not do it again in the work. It reduces a female to a means of perverted gratification.

In addition, there are some that I am in two minds about as well.
         A woman changing who she has been throughout the work to get the guy (see the film Grease) seems like the female is basing her own sense of self on a male. I am in two minds about this because in some stories a male does the same thing.
         A woman falling for a male she had zero interest in at the start of the work when the male has not really earnt it. The problem is, the change/ redemption arc might be subtle that leads to this, but otherwise, it makes the female look wishy-washy. However, some writers do the same with male characters.
         The female falling into bed with a male for story convenience, not because of any great emotional connection. The problem? Same can be said for some male characters.


And so there are some of my pet peeves when it comes to portrayals of women.