How important is sex in literature?

That question is, I admit, entirely misleading. In honor of International Women's Week, I conducted a series of interviews with some prominent, successful young women of the dA Literature community and asked them to address issues of gender, sex, and societal pressures, as well as provide insight and advice to being and becoming a satisfied female writer. The answers I received surprised me, thrilled me--and showed me that I am as clueless about women now as I was when I was thirteen. Truly, it was a humbling experience.

And so, with reverent thanks, allow me to introduce you to a few women well worth listening to (besides your mother).

_{This article is the first in a series.}

Pressure

In trying to discover the experience of writing from a woman's point of view, I asked if there were certain societal pressures that young female writers face in regards to acceptable subjects and modes of writing. What I learned from ~windwater, which was also echoed by several other ladies, is that women are pressured to write about women and women's issues:

I think the popular idea is that if you are a woman, and you are a writer, you must be a woman’s writer, and your issues must be those of your sex. The best-sellers table is filled with pink and green books by women on rape, motherhood, sisterhood, orgasms, dating, or life as a single thirty-year-old. Women aren’t expected to write fantasy, or science fiction, or mystery, or horror. That’s one of the reasons J.K. Rowling decided to go with initials instead of her full name. People are unsettled when women write about something other than their sex’s life experience.

Is this true, I wondered? Can it be, in our push to empower women and make them feel more comfortable with their gender, that we have pigeonholed them into labels that seem more open-minded but are really just as confining as the gender roles of the past? It was a troubling thought, and one that seemed to trouble *fallenidle, too:

Honestly, yes, I do feel there are certain limitations society places on female writers that at best, inhibit, at worst, completely derail, the attempts of said writers to break out of boundaries. The biggest thorn in my side, for this example: chick-lit. There are some incredibly talented women writing these novels, and far be it from me to say that they aren’t truly connected to their subject material, but I cannot condone the messages that these books give, which is: the only important thing to a women is, or should be, a successful relationship.

I admit I'd never noticed "Chick Lit" until she mentioned it--or, I should say, never took notice of it--but looking at the list of topics ~windwater discussed and comparing it to the popular novels written by the authors *fallenidle discovered, I absolutely noticed a trend. Even `LadyLincoln agreed:

In regards to my “gentler sex,” I have discovered that most of us are expected to write what is commonly known as "Chick Lit" or just strictly “generic” romantic related prose or poetry. Most of what I choose to write does happen to fall into the “romantic” genre category, but for me personally, it happens to be my primary interest. That does not mean that I will purposely shy away from other more male-dominated genres...

Where does this pressure come from? What have we done to our women? Worse, what have women done to our women? *fallenidle continues:

I feel it’s more of my own gender putting these particular pressures on me than the opposite. Women expect other women to fit their comfort levels, their ideas of propriety, and writing about the heartache and trials of finding your one true love is a very safe, time-tested and more or less endearing tale. It is, definitely, a mold I would love to see female writers break out of. Women are so much more in tune and aware of things around them, so much more driven to achieve things that do not include finding a husband; we need to be shouting these dreams from the rooftops, and inviting every other female to join in.

Hell, even I was inspired! However, I wasn't sure if this pressure was universal or simply a product of individual (though collective) experience, and =Negated did help me to see things from a slightly different perspective:

The problem is not to sound like “a young female writer” so much as to sound like me (which is a real enough constriction, but irrelevant here). I don’t think of myself as “a young female writer” or “a young Chinese-American female writer” or with any such labels which I often see lumped onto authors. Sometimes I don’t think of myself as a writer at all. I think once you do trap yourself into those identities, you have to face the stereotypes and expectations, and it would be very difficult to mentally get out of them, never mind get everyone else to see you clearly.

And it brings up a good point. Can we escape our gender and simply assert ourselves as the writer with the writer's voice? Should we? I believe it becomes an individual choice, and not one to take or make lightly. Indeed, as writers--whether male or female--there is always an audience to consider. It does beg the question, however: is the audience available to a female writer different than that for a man? As ^lovetodeviate recounts:

In one of her essays, Shashi Deshpande describes an incident in which a man asked her to sign one of her books. After asking her, he added, "It's for my wife, you see," as if to say, "Look, I don't read this woman stuff, but I'm sure my wife will like it." To Deshpande, this brought on an intense awareness that a large majority of her audience was female and she didn't like the thought at all.

This doesn't happen to all women writers, but most are -- whether they like it or not -- read under the ambit of "women's writing", a label that suggests that only women's issues get written about. There is an expectation (especially in India) to write from a woman's point of view, have a female protagonist, explore issues of sex, rape, childbirth, patriarchy, and so on. There are separate canons for writing by women. Right now it's probably a necessity, but I'd like to see us move into a world in which we don't instinctively label writers as "female", "gay", or that awful term, "third world" just to read the text.

Struggling as a "gay" writer myself, I can understand that sentiment, but ^lovetodeviate uncovers an important issue. Even if we are capable of avoiding a label in our individual experiences, we are often unable to avoid the labels that society thrusts upon us and, as writers, it does appear there is an expectation that women are writing for women and not, perhaps, for everyone. But should that affect the way a woman writes? Should that expectation be considered when beginning a story? A career? As ^StJoan says:

Often there is the pressure to have a female protagonist, but we forget that women are just as capable of villainy as men--and not always as some sultry vixen who seduces an otherwise pure and virtuous man.

Capable, indeed! =WineWriter speaks to that capability and tells us, perhaps, where men actually fall behind with a refreshingly simple and honest take on the whole issue:

I feel that the world has really opened up to female writers, although there may be some expectations. In some cases, men have fewer choices than women. Most romance novels, for example, are written by women, although there are been a few great male writers for that genre. As a whole, romance novels seem to be a gender classified. As for character realism, some people argue that men can’t pull off writing from a woman’s point of view, but that point can be argued on. Realism is not always the most important element in romance. The next time your bodice is ripped by a vampire prince that strangely resembles Fabio, tell me. It’s subjective.

I do feel that some people will judge, but just like out of a group of 500 people, there are bound to be people who dislike you...I just hope that the person who feels that science-fiction belongs to men is in the public, and not behind the publisher’s desk...

*wordworks seems to echo these sentiments, focusing not on the expectations placed when writing, but rather on what happens after that writing leaves your hands:

Excepting hard genre and the stereotypes they perpetuate--say, men as the prominent sports writers and women continuing to dominate romance novels--I don't see any definite boundaries drawn. It may be that certain "territories" still exist, but in my time as a writer, I haven't wandered into them or been informed that I was trespassing.

I would like to think that in judging a piece of work, regardless of the medium, the content comes first and the creator is a later consideration, if not the absolute last. The person that judges the quality of my work based upon my gender, sexual preference, or any other aspect of my personality that does not directly influence the validity of the piece, is a person whose judgment means very little to me.

And that, I believe, is the heart of the matter. If there are expectations or judgments made, what should a woman do with them? Should she take them into consideration? Should be rebel? Should be comply? *kLiT-sHy's opinion brought me the most comfort and, if we're being honest, made a lot of sense to me:

I write, others read...and some may never get it, some may even find me abnormal, but nobody has ever come up to me and told me straight to my face, so I presume they can accept my thoughts, if not now, maybe later.

There might be an invisible expectation, an unspoken pressure--perhaps even cultivated and created by other women--but in the end the woman just writes. She crosses her fingers, and she writes, and some will read (and some will not), but she must be the one comfortable with her content, and her voice, and her role. It is in discovering this that every woman, and every writer, is truly empowered.



With another warm "Thank you!" to: