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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42016
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42016
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Sexism, like racism, is about the larger constructs of power and not about individual feelings towards one category of people.

A man can be sexist towards women but a woman can not be sexist towards men (I expect lots of downvotes just for saying this...so be it).

Just like, in a place like the United States, a white person can be racist towards black people but a black person can not be racist towards white people.

Any of these people can be _bigoted_. Or _rude_. Or _unworthy_ people due to their beliefs. I won't justify prejudice. But a member of an oppressed class can not _oppress_ a member of the mainstream or ruling class.

With that background in mind, it really is different when you create a work that is solely or mostly about (or for) one group vs another.

Some male-based stories are fine. If you're writing about an all-male environment (boarding school, prison, priesthood), then it's normal not to have many female characters (there are generally a few). But choosing to make a story mostly all male in a location that has no reason for it is making a statement about the value of women, not just in the time and place, but to you.

If you make a mostly female story in an environment that calls for it, no problem. But if you choose to make a story mostly all female when the time and place doesn't need it, well that's okay too. Because you're focusing on traditionally under-represented characters.

Take a look at a work like _Hidden Figures_. Black female mathematicians and engineers in a workplace with few women or people of color (at least not in positions requiring higher education). The author of this nonfiction book chose this path because these were people whose stories had not been told.

If it were really the case that media depictions of gender were balanced, this might be a different answer. But you're, unfortunately, wrong about the 50-50 split. I suspect you are gravitating towards the sorts of works that interest you and these are more representative. Adding in a few extra female main characters is not going to tip the balance too far to the female side. Far from it.

Original score: 4