Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46194
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The initial problem was that writers (mostly, we assume, male) were writing female characters that were thinly imagined, stereotypical, and largely there only to reflect glory at the male protagonist, to serve as window dressing, or to advance the plot. They were based on male fantasies, not on portraits drawn from life. The ineffective solution was to write a new set of female characters that were just as thinly imagined, but were now based on a just-as-rigid inversion of traditional stereotypes. **Most of these characters were still male fantasies, but just different ones**.

**The solution is to write _better_ female characters,** not just different ones --_ones based on more than just your own personal image of what you'd like a woman to be_.

Do you have close female friends? Have you done extensive reading of books by female authors? Have you had long conversations with women where you were mostly listening --and where they were talking about things important to them, not things important to you? Do you pay close attention to the women in your life? Do you really see them? Do you have female beta readers who you can trust to be honest? If not, **it doesn't matter how many tropes you avoid or avert** , you'll just be committing new offenses while avoiding the old ones.

Original score: 2