“Men Writing Women”: This Online Group Exposes Clueless Male Authors Who Know Nothing About Women (35 Pics)
Reading a piece of fiction is like an invitation to escape the immediate world and immerse yourself in fantasy. You’re expected to put your disbeliefs aside and blot out any distractions to fully experience the story. But some passages in those same books are so blatantly disrespectful and hilariously inaccurate that they can leave half of the population straight-up rolling their eyes. You guessed it, we’re talking about male authors portraying female characters and missing the mark by a long, long shot.
Some male writers are notorious for describing women as one-dimensional beings in unrealistic, often sexualized, and very unnecessary detail. So let us introduce you to the 'Men Writing Women' online community dedicated to busting such examples. This corner over on Reddit has simply had enough of "how men who create films, books, TV, and graphic novels characterize women," and pokes fun at their clueless endeavors.
Dedicated bookworms from all over the world have been sharing their equally ludicrous and infuriating findings. We’ve gone through the subreddit and gathered some of the best examples to share with you all. So continue scrolling to witness just how little some men know about women, as well as to read our in-depth interview with writer, developmental editor, and book coach Trisha Loehr. If you can handle even more examples of women being depicted in baffling ways, check out Part 1 of this feature right here.
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Hardly A Coincidence
This Is Honestly Worse Than The Average Post Here
Tumblr Already Knows
That's not enough for a motive. He hasn't even mentioned her breasts yet.
The phrase "written by a man" has gained traction on the internet over the last few years, with increasingly more people taking notice of men describing female characters through the male gaze, and no longer buying into it. The 'Men Writing Women' project started back in 2017 and has amassed nearly 530k devoted members eagerly waiting for new posts to grace their feeds. With the tagline, "She breasted boobily down the stairs," this online community has set out on a mission to bust the sexist and often downright creepy quotes from published work by men.
Of course, certain writers do their research and don’t shy away from asking female friends for advice. "There are many phenomenal male authors out there who write women characters well and give them quality storylines," writer Trisha Loehr told Bored Panda. "Unfortunately, there are many male authors who intentionally or unintentionally do the opposite."
Sir Please, I'm Just Trying To Do My Job
The Kind Of Thing That Gets Your Blood Boiling
There was an Olympic swimmer who won gold and the headline was football players wife wins gold
Curious What It Looked Like When She Walked In
Loehr, a writer and developmental editor based in Calgary, Canada, has made a career out of helping authors of many genres, including fiction and nonfiction, to craft better stories to bring joy to their readers. She pointed out that male writers often fail to create realistic and rounded portrayals of women in their work due to internalized misogyny from living in such a deeply patriarchal society.
"I am speaking here from a Western, North American perspective, and as a white woman," she added. "Our Western culture is full of imagery and other content that is rampant with both misogynistic ideas that tell people that women are sexual objects to be used, silly and not as intelligent or strong as men, and not quite as valuable as men and thus who need to be guided by the men around them."
Sadly, many people wholeheartedly believe these falsehoods, Loehr stated. "Many don't think they do, but have internalized a lot of these ideas. And thus, it often comes out in writing. Again, this can be intentional or unintentional."
I Know It Isn’t Sunday But I Have Zero Patience Or Memory
Golden Skin Shimmering In The Summer Sun
To be honest, crying in my car eating chicken is a habit I frequently engage in
Reading George R R Martin
This apparent inability of many men to write female personalities who are complex and have solid backgrounds of their own is often regarded as lapses in the authors' judgment. Although this doesn’t take away the fact of how damaging these far-fetched depictions can be. The superficial characters they create often lack depth and seem to be put into the story only to move it forward. Moreover, the way men write about a woman’s body and appearance is often alarming. Females become reduced to their physical attributes in an objectifying and condescending manner.
All of this can have alarmingly dire consequences. When the amount of male authors falling for this pattern exponentially increases, other men (and even young boys) can begin buying into these unrealistic portrayals of the opposite sex.
The Artist
Sarcasm And Accuracy Ftw
I Mean It Kinda Counts
"Possibly from Quebec or America" Might be the most accurate part of the picture Edit: If it's fake then nevermind
Writer Loehr agreed with this line of thinking. "The content we consume impacts our understanding of the world. If the only books/comics that a man consumes present women as manipulative, big-boobed sex objects, that's what they will assume most women are."
"If all they read is books where women are used as fodder for a man's progression up the social or career ladder, then that's what they will see the purpose of the women around them as. If the female characters in the books they read always flirt back and immediately fall into bed with the hero of the story, they may assume that women should do the same for them," she added.
Mission Completed
This ‘Author’ Of His Own Effed Up Narrative
I Know This Is Satire But I Really Wouldn’t Put It Past Some Of The Authors We See On Here
Thankfully, Loehr was kind enough to lend struggling male authors a helping hand and offered suggestions on how they could become better at building female characters. "Read books by women authors. Read books by non-binary authors. Read books that center on female characters. Read books in your genre and outside of your genre."
"Think deeply about every female character you include in your stories: Do they have a character arc? Do they have dialogue on the page that is not about the male characters? Are they full-rounded characters with a backstory, goals, etc.?" She also advised men to find female beta readers to get feedback on their characters: "Listen to what they tell you, thank them, and pay them for their time and expertise."
After Venturing Back And Forth Through This Subreddit, I'd Say This One Isn't Exactly Surprising
Women's Insides Are A Maze, Apparently
“How To Cure A Feminist”, Published In The Maxim Magazine
If my partner ever uttered that I, a man, completes her, I’d faint, once I came round I’d be seeking some sort of therapy with her. We are a complete couple but neither of us was ‘incomplete’ when we met. I didn’t think women NEEDED men in 2003 and I don’t now.
“Turn an unshaven, militant, protesting vegan into an actual girl!” is such a hateful (and weird?) way to try to describe a woman, and kind of makes me worry about the OP. (“Unshaven?” Men don’t usually shave their bodies and seem to be surviving just fine, but I shall probably burst into flames the instant I’m not sexually attractive to a single observing male? Give me a break, I’m too busy for this. Lmk when the men figure out what their problem is with us. Must be nice to not have to be expected any body hair or be expected to weir makeup and style your hair and get made fun of if you don’t, yeah tell me again why feminism is such garbage and sooo annoyyingggg to youuuuu personallyyyyy 🙄 would love to show up to work with fully hairy legs but the same guys telling me “feminism is the worst thing to ever happen to women” are the guys telling me “ew I hate seeing a woman with armpit hair” so wtf kind of timeline are we even living in
Load More Replies...The fact that “vegan” is included as criteria for a feminist is insane. My piano teacher is vegan. He is male. Idk why this vegan thing is even included at all.
Judging by the fashion, it was the early 2000s. The words fminist, vegan, and lesbian were used interchangeably and they all had negative connotations.
Load More Replies...Testicles: yes. Penises?: just going to be a lot sexually frustrated world leaders, which would quickly lead to WW3.
Load More Replies...I really hope this is a parody. And I suspect that it is tragically not.
Nope, they actually were telling men to flat out lie to women...as GOOD, unironic advice. And then wonder why divorce rate is steadily climbing....
Load More Replies...Why is the feminist pictured as a loser wannabe gangster man? Most women are feminists, and if they're not than they're religious zealots
This is so disturbing and in reality not that far from today's view on feminists (and women). The ones that don't "obey" are asking for too much, angry, hairy, and overall just "hate men". There's a big difference between hating men and hating the patriarchy (that this is an example of). No true feminists hate men or want to cut of penises. And the physical attributes belong to a stereotype. You can shave and have make up and wear whatever you like and still be a feminist.
something that i also hate about this (beside the obvious) is how they twisted Jennifer Baumgardner's words into something they like. you CAN still be feminist if you prefer dress, makeup and other "girly" stuff like that.
When you think it can't get worse, you get to the last sentence and ... 🤯
Well, this IS Maxim magazine, a veritable clearinghouse of sleaze. You can tell a lot about a magazine by who they put on the cover...
Wtf you just want to undress he she was fine before!!!!!! Wtf get a life
She does get cuter the further to the right you go on the page.
Load More Replies...I think I just vomited a little. Their version of "cure a feminist" reads an awful lot like "treat living, breathing human beings as objects for your personal gratification, because women have no identity without men."
WTF??? I thought this was a cute Photoshop job, then I looked it up. Someone actually published this? In 2003?
i can guarantee that whoever wrote this has never dated a woman, let alone a feminist woman for more than 30 seconds before they realized the mistake they made
And men ask women why they don’t trust them and even feel fear (and sometimes loathing) when they approach them…
So, “complete” her by manipulatively erasing her personality, make her say what you want to hear, & treat her like she’s sub-human & incapable of making her own decisions about her life & body so you can get into her pants without consent or consequence. What could possibly be wrong with that?
by it's format it's from Maxim's earlier days (90's) and this is a total spoof/send up.
Relatively hairless? Seems I'm getting less "Feminist" as I grow older, then... I'd never object to someone opening a door or picking up a check occasionally, as long as they'd never object to me opening a door or picking up a check occasionally. A guy who makes a lot of hassel to open a door for me, that I was closest to and I was on the right side to hold up for him, is a finicky guy.
Removing all penises is a cure for Earth and all other species, not feminists.
Removing all penises would cause the extinction of humans.
Load More Replies...All of the pictures are hot except the first one.
Load More Replies...We’ve long heard that the best writers should be well-read. Reading allows us to expand our mental horizons and become more educated and well-rounded human beings. Finding ourselves in that middle ground of leaving and yet staying in our sphere also offers us fresh insight into the world and even our inner selves.
"Read widely in and around your genre. Read books by authors of all races, backgrounds, gender identities, and sexualities. Read new books and backlist books. When writing a book, think about what your point is. Why are you writing this particular story with this particular protagonist? What message do you want your readers to come away from your book thinking about? Everything in your story needs to support that," Loehr advised.
The Wheel Of Time: The Dragon Reborn, By Robert Jordan. A Map Of The City Of The Aes Sedai, An Organization Of Powerful Female Sorcerers. Yup
Of Course, We Don't Get Real Pockets In Our Pants Because We Have Tiny Purses In Our Vaginas!
Old Advertisements That Didn't Age Well
Most of us have encountered pieces of prose, movies, or TV shows where the male author has written about women poorly, to put it gently. At the same time, we have spent many years of our lives overlooking or unconsciously ignoring it because we submerge ourselves and devour the plot of the story. Luckily, many women are starting to see what’s been right in front of them all along, and they’re not staying silent.
The 'Men Writing Women' subreddit has inspired many book-lovers to seek justice and have discussions around the misogynistic breadcrumbs scattered all over our favorite and most lauded pieces of writing. One spin-off project, the 'Men Write Women' Twitter account, was created as a more condensed version of the online group on Reddit. "Women just want to be written as human. That's it," Meghan Vondriska, an advertising social strategist and founder of the page, told Bored Panda in a previous interview.
Haven't You Ever Shut Your Vagina In Rage? Ways Of Going Home By Alejandro Zambra
I... Have No Words
Ah Yes, The Good Ol' Death By "Letter-Reading Fits"
To be fair, I've once died from mmmf . It's a real issue. #MmfIsNotAJoke
Behold, My Brother’s Twitter
your brother has some issues... WHERE IS THE UNSEE JUICE?? I NEED IT
I'm Looking At You Stephen King, You Big Virgin
Don't Your Boobs Roll Like Your Eyes? [ It's Kind Of A Funny Story- Ned Vizzini]
Vondriska pointed out that a lot of male writers who tend to be thought of as the "founders of the literary canon" are continuous offenders. "John Updike, for instance. But the greatest repeat offender is definitely Stephen King. His portrayal of his female characters is honestly offensive," she added.
"Pay attention to what you're reading, and who you're reading. You have to make sure your bookshelf isn't made up of just men. Add in some spice—some female authors, some nonbinary authors, authors of color. And lastly, just because you were assigned a book in high school doesn't mean it's good!"
Sorry If This Is A Repost
Ovaries Just Shooting Around All Willy-Nilly, Controlling Our Decisions. Thanks Michael Robotham, Very Cool. From “When You Were Mine”
A Wonderful Description
Thank Goodness For Vitamins…
Redditor Thinks Hearing The Engine Of Expensive Cars Can Change Women’s Hormone Levels
Herbert Tells Us The Perks Of Small Bust In "Small Busted Women Have Big Hearts"
From Logic’s Book “Supermarket”. Yikes
“I Adorbs High Heels” - Goran Parlov
Note: this post originally had 140 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
Yup. I thought this would be a funny post, but definitely not. Many of these should never have been repeated online.
Load More Replies...So… Male authors: This is a GIRL, a CHILD, but she has REALLY NICE BOOBIES.
*stumbling up to the comment section* I made it! That was a disgusting ride into the pits of hell but I don’t know what I was expecting.
Clearly you shouldn't be generalizing about an entire gender based on a few posts. How do you think women would respond if someone said women don't know how to write something?
Load More Replies...Learned 2 things. 1. breast is best. 2. Bras were invented by women so men don’t know what they’re thinking.
Here - I've got some Southern Comfort. Lemme pour you a glass. Ice?
Load More Replies...I couldn’t make it all the way down 🤮 im going into the forest to scream again, thank bp 🤢
They forgot to include the classic " "Male writers writing female characters": “Cassandra woke up to the rays of the sun streaming through the slats on her blinds, cascading over her naked chest. She stretched, her breasts lifting with her arms as she greeted the sun. She rolled out of bed and put on a shirt, her nipples prominently showing through the thin fabric. She breasted boobíly to the stairs, and títted downwards."
I'm not sure whether the curators for this collection understood that some of the posts in the sub-reddit are satirical, even if they don't say it!
Hm. A lot of men are really obsessed with boobs it seems :-D. 2 things. - If you're so obsessed with them you would expect to know a lot about boobs anatomy (no, they don't move around like ferrets or whatever). - In many places in the world boobs are seen as strictly functional, to feed babies. So men there pay no attention to boobs AT ALL. I've been to places in Africa and Latin America where all women were topless and nobody cared.
Husband tried to tell me what size to make my boobs when I got them reduced... told him he doesn't have a say, at all.
James Patterson's "Women's Murder Club". 4 adult women, 3 of whom have known each other for over 20 years. The conversations between them are the most uptight, stilted & artificial I think I've ever read. Real women friends do NOT speak to each other the way he writes them. If my best friend's name is Colleen & I've known her for 20 years, she's gonna be "Coll" or "Eenie" or SOMETHING. I swear the man writes like he's never met an actual woman in his life.
For some reason - all of these bring to mind the Bulwer-Lytton competition...(I think that's what it's called)
Nathaniel, Katie Lutesinger & catGirl's commentary were hysterical! I need this laugh!
First of all, a lot of these are women making fun of male authors, not male authors themselves. Second, I'm sure not every female author writes men well either, but I've never seen people make fun of them based on their gender.
Okay I don't like the sexualization of children - that's a hard no. But the male authors...I mean they are just writing about their fantasies. Unless they are incels - acting hateful towards women for not being like this - I don't see a problem. It's as silly as my fantasy about being able to eat whatever I want, travel the world without any money, have all my problems just melt away because of my beautiful hair and boobs.....it's just entertainment and it's okay to have silly entertainment.
It doesn't bother you that there are apparently *so many* men like this? Also, fantasy doesn't have to be written down and published.
Load More Replies...Fantasy is almost never a problem. Being horny is fine. But some men and even some women don't seem to understand the difference between fantasy and reality. And then they approach in real life spouting off on fantasies to control and sexualize and degrade women's anatomy. That's what the problem is and why there is a place to get together, point it out and correct it.
Load More Replies...Yup. I thought this would be a funny post, but definitely not. Many of these should never have been repeated online.
Load More Replies...So… Male authors: This is a GIRL, a CHILD, but she has REALLY NICE BOOBIES.
*stumbling up to the comment section* I made it! That was a disgusting ride into the pits of hell but I don’t know what I was expecting.
Clearly you shouldn't be generalizing about an entire gender based on a few posts. How do you think women would respond if someone said women don't know how to write something?
Load More Replies...Learned 2 things. 1. breast is best. 2. Bras were invented by women so men don’t know what they’re thinking.
Here - I've got some Southern Comfort. Lemme pour you a glass. Ice?
Load More Replies...I couldn’t make it all the way down 🤮 im going into the forest to scream again, thank bp 🤢
They forgot to include the classic " "Male writers writing female characters": “Cassandra woke up to the rays of the sun streaming through the slats on her blinds, cascading over her naked chest. She stretched, her breasts lifting with her arms as she greeted the sun. She rolled out of bed and put on a shirt, her nipples prominently showing through the thin fabric. She breasted boobíly to the stairs, and títted downwards."
I'm not sure whether the curators for this collection understood that some of the posts in the sub-reddit are satirical, even if they don't say it!
Hm. A lot of men are really obsessed with boobs it seems :-D. 2 things. - If you're so obsessed with them you would expect to know a lot about boobs anatomy (no, they don't move around like ferrets or whatever). - In many places in the world boobs are seen as strictly functional, to feed babies. So men there pay no attention to boobs AT ALL. I've been to places in Africa and Latin America where all women were topless and nobody cared.
Husband tried to tell me what size to make my boobs when I got them reduced... told him he doesn't have a say, at all.
James Patterson's "Women's Murder Club". 4 adult women, 3 of whom have known each other for over 20 years. The conversations between them are the most uptight, stilted & artificial I think I've ever read. Real women friends do NOT speak to each other the way he writes them. If my best friend's name is Colleen & I've known her for 20 years, she's gonna be "Coll" or "Eenie" or SOMETHING. I swear the man writes like he's never met an actual woman in his life.
For some reason - all of these bring to mind the Bulwer-Lytton competition...(I think that's what it's called)
Nathaniel, Katie Lutesinger & catGirl's commentary were hysterical! I need this laugh!
First of all, a lot of these are women making fun of male authors, not male authors themselves. Second, I'm sure not every female author writes men well either, but I've never seen people make fun of them based on their gender.
Okay I don't like the sexualization of children - that's a hard no. But the male authors...I mean they are just writing about their fantasies. Unless they are incels - acting hateful towards women for not being like this - I don't see a problem. It's as silly as my fantasy about being able to eat whatever I want, travel the world without any money, have all my problems just melt away because of my beautiful hair and boobs.....it's just entertainment and it's okay to have silly entertainment.
It doesn't bother you that there are apparently *so many* men like this? Also, fantasy doesn't have to be written down and published.
Load More Replies...Fantasy is almost never a problem. Being horny is fine. But some men and even some women don't seem to understand the difference between fantasy and reality. And then they approach in real life spouting off on fantasies to control and sexualize and degrade women's anatomy. That's what the problem is and why there is a place to get together, point it out and correct it.
Load More Replies...