Young Writers Society

A few years ago, someone once told the POV character that a piece I'd written -- in first person, from the perspective of a cis woman -- sounded male.

But then, others say (a viewpoint with which I totally agree) that a character's gender doesn't really matter per se; one should just write the character as a character (unless of course you're writing about the Suffragettes. In which case gender is very important).

But realism is still important, right?

And -- several years on -- I now wonder wonder: is there a "(fe)male POV"? What makes a character sound like they identify as a certain gender?

What makes a 'woman' sound like a 'woman' or a 'man' sound like a 'man'? What makes say, an effeminate male character sound like so? What if the character is a traditionally masculine man?

What if they fall outside the gender binary? How do all the various forms of gender expression tie in with what a character 'sounds like'? Or is 'sounding like' something an outdated way of thinking of character POVs?

Keen to hear others' thoughts!

This is a topic I've definitely thought about in the past, seeing that a good number of my protagonists are male. My gut feeling is to say that there shouldn't be a specific way that a story is written to show the gender of the protagonist - all that the writing style should do is give the reader a good idea of the character's personality.

On the other hand, I know that a boy might see the world in a different light than I do. They might notice different things, and they might miss things that would have come to my attention. The same thing could be said about someone who falls outside of the gender binary. I think that's what ultimately gives the reader a feeling of what gender a character is like, if they're paying attention to something like that.

If that's not the case, I think it would have to do something with experiences a reader has had with characters in the past. There was one book series I read that had the first person perspective of a male character, and this writing style was really unique. I think if I read another book with a protagonist/narrator like that, I'd first think of them as a male character - even if that turns out not to be the case. It might be the same like that with that friend you mentioned. The way that you wrote that particular character reminded them of male characters they've read about in the past, even though you made it clear that your character was a woman.

(I wholeheartedly apologize if this sounds like one big ramble!)

So. I assumed I would never ever ever be able to write a male PoV. I don't know why. I just kind of assumed. Then I started doing it. And it's a lot easier than I thought.

There are a couple of things I check myself on: I tend not to describe people's clothes, and I mute my love of descriptive colours when I'm writing in a male PoV. I'm careful to make the interactions my male POV characters with their male friends slightly different to those of my female PoVs with their female friends. Girls are slightly more open, and more physically affectionate. The boys in my stories are a little more mocking of each other but all done in good faith. Because I mainly write YA there's always a lot of hormones flying around, and I notice a slight difference in the way my male characters view people they fancy as opposed to the female characters, but mostly in that I think they're a little bit more intense, a little bit less subtle. But it's possible that that's just my own characters as well. Because in some cases girls can be waaaay more intense about that kind of thing. The experiences they have with peers they don't like is different too - one of my characters gets physically beaten up, while on the other side the female characters play more with snubs and exclusion.

So, I guess most of what I'm saying is more to do with their interactions with others and, ultimately, it comes down to how they're socialised. After all, what does effeminate even mean, and where does it cross the line between being a positive thing and being a negative one? I have male characters obsessive about their wardrobes, who love flowers, who are in touch with their feelings, who are sensitive, who prefer the company of women. These are all feminine characteristics at baseline, but I don't think that it makes the majority of them less "masculine."

I had a topic recently about how to write masculine characters who weren't "toxic". One of the big things that came out of that, for me, is the urge to be strong and protective over your loved ones. For Pip Starsfall, who probably lies somewhere funny on that feminine-masculine scale- handsome playboy, slightly arrogant, mainly female friend group- this was a big thing for me. He is fiercely protective of his sisters- and this doesn't have to be a gendered thing that he thinks he needs to protect them because they're girls and can't protect themselves or whatever. He just feels like it's his job, for whatever reason.

At the end of the day - does gender matter? Only in the context of how we have been socialised to set store by it. But have your characters also been socialised? Probably!

In Unruly, I have a society that doesn't discriminate on girls' rights to inherit or rule, and anyone can be a breadwinner. In fact, in a society with magic, your ability to do a lot of things depends on if you are "Gifted" or not, not your gender. But the girls still wear dresses, there are still knights, and two subsets of characters are segregated into single sex boarding schools. It allows me to explore different gender dynamics without making it somehow a discussion about equality or feminism because I don't intend it to be, and discussions about gender don't always have to include that kind of thing anyway (Though it's important too!) So yes, if you were writing about the Suffragettes then gender takes a different level of importance. But that doesn't mean that's the only way in which it can be important, useful and enriching to your story.

Sorry, I've waffled. I'll probably be back because this is a topic that interests me.