Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
“Men Writing Women”: 50 Times Male Authors Proved They Know Next To Nothing About Women (New Pics)
Have you ever read a book and thought, "Women's bodies don't really work like that" or "I've never seen a woman actually do anything like this"? Well, you wouldn't be alone. For most of history, writing books has been an exclusively male endeavor. In the U.S., women were legally allowed to publish books under their names only since the late 19th century.
So, perhaps it's not surprising that a lot of the depictions of women in books by men are somewhat... questionable? The "Men Writing Women" subreddit collects the most absurd and ridiculous examples of women badly written by men.
Haruki Murakami is a frequent offender on the subreddit, but there are loads of other male authors who can't conjure up a complex and realistic female character without objectifying her. And here are the funniest and most distasteful examples readers have come across lately!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Thought This Sub Would Enjoy This 😂
RELATED:
#2
An Antique Call-Out
#3
Actually My Chest T**s T***tily
There's this thing called the Bechdel Test. Many might already be familiar with it, but here goes: in 1985, cartoonist Alison Bechdel came up with her personal criteria for whether or not she was watching a movie. She listed three main requirements:
- The movie had to have at least two female characters;
- The two female characters had to interact and talk to each other;
- And this conversation had to be about something other than a man.
Naturally, many audience- and critically-acclaimed films failed her test, among which were the original Star Wars trilogy, Blade Runner, and even Breakfast at Tiffany's. But today, Bechdel agrees that her test might be too rigid and a disappointingly low bar for movies and books to pass.
#4
The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Fellfromthemoon 2 months ago (edited)
Again, the author is poking fun into common tropes of the genre.
#5
["Everything Men Know About Women" By Knott Mutch]
#6
Meme I Saw On Facebook
Just because there are two women talking in a movie about something other than men doesn't automatically make it impressive or culturally significant. "If you think about it, they're pretty superficial criteria," Bechdel told NPR in 2023.
"It would be easy to make a movie that fulfilled them in name but kind of missed the point. There can be movies that completely fail the Bechdel Test that are great feminist movies or at least have a feminist perspective." She names the movie Fire Island as an example. "The men talked about women writers in the movie," she said. "The whole movie was based, like, on a Jane Austen plot. So I thought it was pretty feminist in its way."
#7
In A Doctor Who Kids Book, Of All Things
#8
Her A*****t Was So Wonderful That She Spent Her Life Looking For Him?! (Love In The Time Of Cholera By Gabriel García Márquez)
#9
Some Inspiration For Any Aspiring Writers Out There
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 months ago
I like this one. Mine are the colour of green sprouty potatoes though.
In trying to explain this deficiency demonstrated by male authors, many people revert to simplistic generalizations. "Men just aren't able to empathize the way women can," they say. "They can't just put themselves in the shoes of a woman and read her mind!"
But there's a lot of sexism in such sentiments. Aside from not giving men enough credit for being empathetic, it also ignores the historical side of publishing: perhaps women just had more insight into the male psyche because most of the books they read growing up were written by men?
#10
[Drawing Dragons By Sandra Staple] The Dragon Gender Norms
Dragons Exist 2 months ago
Dragons do not have hair (unless they have a horse-like mane or are entirely furred) and do not look like whatever the fuck that is
#11
Nietschze The Incel
#12
Anti-Suffragette Political Cartoons From The Early 1900s Are Wild
Dragons Exist 2 months ago (edited)
Not too different from today's ads, except today has different oppression
At least this is what columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett suggests in her opinion piece for The Guardian, too. "It isn't that these male authors are unable to empathise, it is that they haven't bothered, or needed to," she writes. "How could they know, when we are only really near the beginning of exploring its depths ourselves in (published, respected) writing? Do we expect telepathy?"
#13
I Do Think That Mediaeval Poets Were The Og Men Writing Women
#14
Women Writing Women
#15
"She's Learned Her Lesson...and She Loved It!" [just Married #58]
"So much of femininity is unspoken," Cosslett continues. "Moving through the world as a woman, the way you are viewed and treated, your emotions, your approach to your body (not to mention its private, shameful functions and rebellions) involve subtleties and complexities that are often unarticulated, even sometimes between women themselves."
#16
[gray Matters] By [william Hjortsberg]. Found This In A Retro Book Shop, Opened It To A Random Page And Was Assaulted With This Synonym
#17
Pen Writing Women
#18
At Age 35, She Can Feel Her Breasts Sag Audibly In The Night. [letters From The Dead By Campbell Black]
Upstaged75 2 months ago
What do sagging breasts sound like?? I've never heard my own make any noise.
That's not to say that all women protagonists written by a man are bad or insufficient. Leo Tolstoy created one of the most tragically complex and compelling portraits of a woman in literature in Anna Karenina. Gustave Flaubert criticized how 19th-century French society reduced women to wives, homemakers, and etiquette-obeying ladies in Madame Bovary.
#19
I Could Save The Day If I Didn't Have A Girl Brain! (Avengers #34, Lee/Heck)
#20
Because Even If A Woman Is The First To Discover Intelligent Alien Life, Her Story Isn't Complete Or Meaningful Without A Kid. (Jodie Foster Plays Ellie Arroway In The Movie Contact, 1997)
#21
1968 Femicin Ad - "I Suffered From Menstrual Cramps."
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 months ago (edited)
WTAF? The symptoms are only a problem because they allegedly affect your husband….
Some male authors get undeserved criticism for their portrayals of women. F. Scott Fitzgerald, for example, gets a lot of flak for having written Daisy as a shallow socialite in The Great Gatsby. But some readers might forget to consider the context in which Daisy lived. She may as well have been a prisoner of the societal expectations and values she'd been brought up with.
Beauty and social status are the most important things to her because she has been conditioned to think these are the only qualities that matter in a woman. But that doesn't mean she's not intelligent or observant – it's only one of the masks she's putting on. She even says she hopes her daughter will be a fool because she believes "that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."
#22
Is It Wrong For Me To Be Critical Of The Way Arya Stark Was Made To Say, “Most Girls Are Idiots” In Game Of Thrones Season 2?
#23
Script Excerpt From Death Proof (2007) By Quentin Tarantino
#24
[The Way Of The Superior Man By David Dieda] - How Many Isms Can He Fit In One Book?
But let's not say that only men don't know how to write compelling characters of the opposite gender. Women write unrealistic male characters, too! They mostly come from the romance genre. Romance book fans: how many times have you come across the trope of the tall, dark, and brooding hero and the heroine who "fixes" him (think Fifty Shades and many YA male protagonists)?
#25
Thoughts As A Woman, During An Apocalypse, As You Starve To Death❤️ "Run" By Blake Crouch
firecrackershrimp 2 months ago
No it's only men who think like this during an apocalypse, women get down to business trying to fix it , like they always do, we're not thinking about s*x, especially with the lack of hygiene that usually accompanies an apocalypse.
#26
[the Scrivener's Bones By Brandon Sanderson] I'll Admit I Didn't Know This, But It's A Neat Fact!
Fellfromthemoon 2 months ago
It seems funny. Maybe here the author makes fun of this kind of storytelling, through the character.
#27
An Old Tom And Jerry Comic. Worst Thing I've Seen Today
At the same time, there are plenty of examples of women writing complex, compelling male characters. J.K. Rowling was able to write from the perspective of a male from childhood to adulthood and did it pretty accurately. Even early English novelists Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Brontë wrote their female characters as full of contradictions, not just on the good/bad and dreamy/mean scale.
#28
Vonnegut Does It For Men Too! (Cat’s Cradle)
Upstaged75 2 months ago
Great, now I'm imagining a clock with a swinging pen!s instead of a pendulum. 🤣
#29
Posted In A Feminine Focused Subreddit, But Eventually Op Admits They Are A Male, Writing Creepy Sexual Fantasies! He Then Follows Up By Asking Responders About How They Feel Upon “The Male Gaze”
#30
[avengers: Age Of Ultron] That Time Marvel Conflated Infertility With Being A Monster
Mabelbabel 2 months ago
There's an alternative theory that Bruce thinks he's made himself into a monster-he poisoned himself and now he can't be like other people. He can't be in a relationship or have a family. Natasha talks about the Red Room creating monsters, but her meaning is that it was ordinary people that were the monsters-they deliberately took children and turned them into k**lérs, and was a monstrous act They've both been changed by something being done to them, but it wasn't their fault, so she's trying to say 'if you're a monster, then I am too' and he obviously doesn't think she is, so she's trying to reassure him she doesn't see him like that.
What are your favorite examples of men writing women badly, Pandas? Have you ever come across a description so ridiculous you couldn't help but laugh out loud? Share the wildest examples with us in the comments! And if you'd like to see even more cases of men failing to write women, check out our previous articles about the "Men Writing Women" subreddit here, here, and right here!
#31
Murakami Murakami-Ing (Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World, Haruki Murakami)
#32
Writing A Profile Of A History Lecturer For The Spectator? Make Sure You Emphasize How Her Blonde Hair Made You So Uncontrollably H***y That You Had To Get A Happy Ending Massage
Mabelbabel 2 months ago
Lloyd Evans, the journalist who wrote the article, received a huge backlash for it, with formal censure from the National Union of Journalists. Lea Ypi is a professor of political theory at the London School of Economics, and the Master of the college who invited her said that her lecture was beautifully crafted and a highlight of their calender. The only comments Lloyd Evans made publically was that she was attractive, and he found intelligent women attractive, so that's what wrote. Basically, "you made me hòrny, so its your fault I wrote about going to see a pròstitute."
#33
Birth Kink On Display - Saga By Brian K. Vaughan
#34
The Case For Marrying An Older Man By Grazie Sophia Christine
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 months ago
Most of my eggs… yeah, that’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the positives about me.
#35
“The Ultimate Aphrodisiac” By Robert G Barrett
#36
[comic Excerpt] Superman Kissing A 14 Year Old (Superman & Batman: Generations By John Byrne)
#37
A Woman’s Breasts Marking The Passage Of Time [hyperion By Dan Simmons]
The Abe 2 months ago
To be fair, the relationship between the two is asynchronous in the novel (relativity effects of near light-speed travel). They sort of meet up and ...have intimacy... every 10-20 years for her, every few months for him. From her perspective the story lasts 80 years, from his it lasts about 2 years. This is told from first person, and indicates what HE (the character) notices each time he sees his lover n&ked...as she ages 20 years and he ages a few months.
#38
You Like It Darker By Stephen King Who Is Still Writing About Pre-Teen Boobage In 2024
#39
Darling Venom By Parker S. Huntington
Kelly H. Wilder 2 months ago
Writer has never seen or experienced an actual pap smear. Not even masochists get off on a pap.
#40
Nostalgia Check: Comics Edition! Back When Superheroes Needing Saving From Their Writers
#41
Found This Silly
Random Jackass 2 months ago (edited)
What literary fuckery did I just read? "Her b***s got caught in the door, her body has skin, she doesn't have centipedes on her a*s and our genitals vocalized to each other." What the actual hell?
#42
Jitterbug Perfume By Tom Robbins - Sorry, As Red As What Now??
#43
Marvel Comic Book Author Defends Hypersexualized Depiction Of A Young Girl By Saying She's A "Supernatural, Thousand-Year-Old Princess"
#44
(An Archdemon's Dilemma: How To Love Your Elf Bride) Its Not Quite Rise Of The Shield Hero, But The Concept Is The Same
Touhou Youyoumu 2 months ago (edited)
Seems someone never actually seen this anime. Rise Of The Shield Hero was written by a woman.
#45
I Know Grrm Is Not Perfect On The Topic, But He Truly Understands That "Strong Women" Don't Need To Wear Armor Or Despise Traditionally Feminine Conventions And Skills (A Clash Of Kings, George R.r. Martin)
#46
God Emperor Of Dune By Frank Herbert - You Ever Watch A Guy Climb A Wall So Good You C*m?
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 months ago
Yeah, a wall climbing kink isn’t one I’ve come across before
#47
The Institute By Stephen King (2019) — The Difference Between The Way The Boys And Girls Are Described Is So Uncomfortable
Bored Retsuko 2 months ago
IT is particularly offensive. I don't know why it's not talked about more.
#48
"Unrestrained Lesbian Passion"
#49
"The Woman Dies" By Aoko Matsuda
#50
How Would A Male Author Describe Your Breasts=
LillieMean 2 months ago
They bounce judgmentally. They slap you in the face so hard that you see last week's Tuesday as if it were yesterday.
#51
[jobless Reincarnation In Another World] Every Single Isekai I Come Across Is Writing Women This Way. My Expression Is The Same As The Blonde-Haired Girl
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 months ago
I recommend This Isekai Maid Is Forming A Union! on Webtoon. It’s a great story and pokes fun of a lot of classic Isekai tropes.
#52
The Witcher By Andrzej Sapkowski. The Character In Question Is 14 By The Way
#53
This Is From The First Story Of The Women Of Marvel One-Shot That Just Came Out Today
#54
I Will Acknowledge That Lok Had Its Flaws
But When It Came To Lgbt Relationships, Women Protagonists, Especially Female Poc Lgbt Protagonists? I Would Still Say That This Show Had To Walk So That Shows Like Spop, Toh, Or Rwby Could Run. You Have To Start Somewhere, And This Show Was Groundbreaking.
#55
I Feel Like You Can Definitely Tell A Man’s Views On Feminism By The Way They Write Wonder Woman
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Fraxinus excelsior 2 months ago
I think my kwanga just dried up and expired after reading these
Melinda Landis 2 months ago
Recently read a book ( can’t remember author right now but pretty sure it was a guy) where one of the characters goes to dye her hair from blond to black. She puts the black dye on her hair, waits a bit, then jumps in the shower to rinse it off. No mention of rubber gloves or anything. Anyone see a problem with this? I dye my blondish hair bright pink. If I did it the way she did…it would be…interesting?
Fraxinus excelsior 2 months ago
I think my kwanga just dried up and expired after reading these
Melinda Landis 2 months ago
Recently read a book ( can’t remember author right now but pretty sure it was a guy) where one of the characters goes to dye her hair from blond to black. She puts the black dye on her hair, waits a bit, then jumps in the shower to rinse it off. No mention of rubber gloves or anything. Anyone see a problem with this? I dye my blondish hair bright pink. If I did it the way she did…it would be…interesting?
You May Like 50 Of The Funniest Signs Ever Spotted In The Wild (New Pics) 41 "Nice Girls" That Got A Reality Check Online For Their Delusional Behavior (New Pics) "Don't Test Me, I'm Already Broken": 30 Hilarious Memes From This Online Group For Programmers
Mantas Kačerauskas
Justinas Keturka
Rugilė Žemaitytė
Related on Bored Panda
