By Jovian Wendy Haines asks why writers have such a problem with characters of the opposite sex, and gives some well-deserved points to George R.R. Martin…
A few years ago I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A with comedic writer Graham Linehan. As a loyal fan of Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd, the prospect of potentially speaking to him in person led me near to incontinence. I could now tell a fairly long story about how I humiliated myself on the occasion, later redeeming myself through Twitter, but that is not the focus of this article. My admiration for Linehan has not lessened in the slightest, but one of his comments in the session mimicked a common complaint among writers, one that I have doubts about: that they cannot write characters of the opposite sex.
Specifically, he spoke about why there are not as many female characters in his television shows. He said he struggles to write for women, with the exception of the neurotic type (Fran in Black Books, or Jen in The IT Crowd). I apologize for not being able to reference these comments, but I hope they would not be contested by the man himself. He writes that type of woman extremely well, but I cannot help wondering why he and so many other writers (male and female), consider writing for the opposite sex to be so difficult.
There is an idea within this claim that relating to someone of the opposite sex is not possible because of biological or cultural differences. Biology is obvious, but proposing that Mars and Venus are too different from each other for mutual comprehension of the human condition is not – proposing that there is in fact no ‘shared’ human condition, only a male and female condition. This baseless philosophical claim is nothing new; it feeds off culturally conditioned definitions of gender for evidence. It serves only to maintain an unnecessary divide between the sexes, keeping Yin and Yang in their place.
I recognize this trend in art-forms other than writing. When popular musicians perform cover versions of other people’s songs, complication arises when the lyrics come from an individual perspective. If that perspective has a gender, then that gender may have to be reversed for a different singer. Rihanna cannot sing a love song directed at a woman because she cannot relate to the emotions of a man.
In a sudden (and quite fitting) plot twist, I will move on to A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin’s book series and now television show Game of Thrones. A brief glance at the series leads some to assume it is anti-feminist due to the trauma and horror inflicted on the female characters. They experience various kinds of oppression, from underage rape, sexual and other objectification (they are use as tools for trade or solving conflict) to mockery, shaming and political insignificance. However, Martin has created a world which operates through a patriarchal, medieval society. To deny the dire situation of women in that kind of society would be laughable and offensive.
On top of receiving points for acknowledging the effects of patriarchy, Martin has been praised repeatedly for the quality of his female characters. They are in great number, and are rounded, interesting participants in the main plot. His books are told in first person, from the perspective of many different characters. He does not shy away from writing the inner-thoughts of Catelyn, Sansa, Arya or Cersei. But when questioned in an interview about his female characters, his response to the praise is simply brilliant. One again I apologize for a lack of reference, but the key word he used was ‘empathy’. Empathy was all it took for him to write a female character. Catelyn Stark may be a woman, but she is still a human, so he can find her emotional responses within himself.
Inspired by this basic dispute of the Mars and Venus ‘theory’ (dare I call it that), I would urge all writers not to be held back by assumptions about gender. I am a woman, and I can tell you what it’s like on Venus: it’s really hot. Can you imagine being hot? Yes, you can. Simple.
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