More About Writing Women - for my own curiosity. :)

[ficwize]

So, my curiosity knows no bounds. I'm interested to see if my perception is skewed, admitting that my perception is based on a self-selected group of friends and communities on my flist.

So, if you don't mind answering this poll, I'd appreciate it. Also, if you want to pimp it to your flist, I'd be curious to see a large sample of answers.

Thanks!



ETA: Please assume that the "/" mark does not indicate sexual relationships unless otherwise indicated. So if you write a mixture of canon male and canon female characters, please check canon male/canon female. Thanks and sorry for any confusion!

[Poll #1249139]

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Would you mind if i steal this poll for my flist?

Since I think I originally brought up the point that i perceived my flist to be different from yours in this respect?

I'm not sure if I will post it or not, i just might want to.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd love it if you would. I'm really curious now about how "self selection" of flists might be affecting my perception of fandom.

Also, I consider myself to be a feminist. I went to a women's college. I identify with women's issues, so it's a bit disconcerting to realize that I may self-select myself into a primarily MALE fandom experience.

Not that I'm getting rid of any of it/any friends, but I might need to be conscious of that and self-select a larger group.

Thanks for giving me lots to think about. It's been really interesting!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Understood! And I never meant to question your generalization about fandom overall, b/c I think that's accurate. A largely female audience gives a greater amount of attention to male characters -- overall -- for a lot of different reasons.

What I'm less sure about is any theory that links this with the idea that the female characters who exist are not as interesting -- because I think the people who ARE fannish about those characters disprove that. If there was nothing interesting to find in those characters, then the fandom shouldn't exist at all. It's not that there's no there there, it's that fewer people are interested in exploring it. And I don't mean that as a criticism, just an observation.

Does that make sense?

Also, since you asked about female-centric Marvel fic, xmenfirstclass is a place to start. Most of the posts there, I'd say, focus on Jean and/or Wanda, even though they are heavily outnumbered by the boys in the book.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

What I'm less sure about is any theory that links this with the idea that the female characters who exist are not as interesting -- because I think the people who ARE fannish about those characters disprove that.

I really do see your point. The very fact that there is a fandom for a character would mean that someone finds them compelling and quality enough to explore.

I guess I was just implying, although not clearly saying, that I assumed (yipes! So many qualifiers in this sentence!) that if the characters were "compelling" and "quality" there would be a large fandom around them.

Thanks for the recs to xmenfirstclass. I read those when the ficathon came out and was both impressed and surprised by the number of people who focused on Jean and/or Wanda. It was a surprise, though, because it struck me as being so out of the norm for the X-men fandom.

A largely female audience gives a greater amount of attention to male characters -- overall -- for a lot of different reasons.

I just wonder why, I suppose. It might be that my first suggestion is more accurate. Maybe women (generally) focus on characters they want to be with over characters they want to be?

Or maybe it's a whole other factor that I just don't see.

Also, I really hope I never came across as defensive. You've given me a lot to think about and it's been really interesting. :)

So, thank you!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I guess I was just implying, although not clearly saying, that I assumed (yipes! So many qualifiers in this sentence!) that if the characters were "compelling" and "quality" there would be a large fandom around them.

It's my experience that there's very rarely a large fandom around the characters I find most compelling.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

Why do you think that is?

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Can we table this for a time when I've been able to give it some thought?

I just feel like we're coming at this from completely different angles, because honestly never occurred to me to think that the amount of fic about a character or pairing was in any way a commentary on the quality of the source material so I'm not even sure how to answer that.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

Can we table this for a time when I've been able to give it some thought?

Of course!

Any time you'd like to revisit it, let me know.

I just want to state, for the record, that I really hope I haven't offended you or upset you at all. I swear I didn't mean to do anything like that.

I just feel like we're coming at this from completely different angles

I would agree, at this point, and I'm not totally sure how to redirect the conversation so that we are on the same page again. I think you've made some excellent points and that's why I kept asking questions. I was curious as to how you arrived at your conclusions.

Anyway, I hope you have a good night! And get some sleep. :)