Line #10 Main/MostWritersAreMale


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Series/ThirtyRock https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/30_rock_writers_room_7.jpg]]]]
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5	->'''Jerry:''' We couldn't write for a woman. We didn't know what you would say. Even right now, I know you're about to say something, I have no idea what it is!\
6	'''Elaine:''' You have no idea?\
7	'''Jerry:''' ... Something derogatory?
8	-->-- ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}'', "The Shoes"
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11	Count the number of women in the {{Producers}} section, and you'll see that television is still a very male-dominated industry. The Writer's Guild of America (West) claims that only 27 percent of film writers and 19 percent of television writers it represents are female.
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13	Naturally, this results in the male voice being more greatly represented in media than the female voice, and the audience respectively will be assumed primarily male. Main character ensembles will typically be composed of primarily males, maybe with a TokenGirl thrown in on the side. Due to people usually understanding their own sex better than the other, said girl tends to be based on relatively stereotypical notions. Thus, TheHeart is a prevalent archetype for female characters. Being unable to develop characters of a different sex as well as characters whose sex matches the writers', many times the female characters end up being either {{Flat Character}}s, [[HystericalWoman Hysterical Women]], DamselInDistress types, or {{Tomboy}}s. This also explains the presence of characterisation tropes such as LineageComesFromTheFather or NeverASelfMadeWoman.
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15	A major effect of having male writers in greater proportion than female writers is that {{Fanservice}} tends to be skewed towards the male audience. Female character(s) are more likely to appear in {{Stripperiffic}} gear and have [[BuxomBeautyStandard large breasts]] (even when it sharply bends WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief) than male characters are to receive a ShirtlessScene--and even when men do, it's more often a male-perspective power fantasy than the result of actual objectification by women. Many times, the TokenGirl will be used primarily as an intentional MsFanservice, while MrFanservice is rarer and tends to be less blatant. When a man [[ThePornomancer has the power to get some of the most beautiful women on the planet to pole dance]], he generally [[AllMenArePerverts tends to use it]].
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17	Of course, for skilled writers, their sex will not affect their ability to write a cast with well-developed female characters as well as male characters, or appeal to a female demographic. They will write their female characters as actual people rather than including them because they have to or to make an point about [[YouGoGirl girl power]], and while {{Fanservice}} may not necessarily be absent, it tends to be more realistic and appealing to both sexes.
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19	Outside of fiction, 'recognizable examples' also tend to be written with (heterosexual) men in mind. ([[AllGuysWantCheerleaders You know, like that time that hot cheerleader didn't want to go to the prom with you]].) This is especially common on [[ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet geeky websites]], though there are inversions.
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21	Around the world, men have barred women from entering the creative industries or even employment in general, and most of the world's illiterate population remain female. Historically, many women writers have gone as far as to adopt a masculine PenName--a MoustacheDePlume--in the hope (or [[ExecutiveMeddling their publishers' insistence]]) that this will make them more marketable, especially in traditionally "male-oriented" genres--which unfortunately [[SelfFulfillingProphecy feeds back into the cultural perception of this trope's universality]].
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23	Note that this is not in effect in traditionally "girly" genres such as the RomanceNovel, where male writers have been known to take female pen names. The effect here is to say, "you can have the romance and the silly, frivolous, emotional stuff, but the rest is for the boys." Likewise, this perception is very much inverted when one gets into {{fanfiction}} territory--see MostFanficWritersAreGirls. Paradoxically, M/M (male/male) romance is largely written by women for women, creating a rather specific GenderFlip of this trope, as gay male readers can often tell when an M/M romance was written by a straight woman.
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25	One of the major causes of FemaleGroinInvincibility and MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial. Caused by WriteWhatYouKnow. See also MostGamersAreMale and GirlShowGhetto. Compare MostWritersAreWriters.
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27	[[{{Irony}} Oddly enough,]] 5 of the 10 best-selling authors of all time are women. [[labelnote: Note]] Agatha Christie, Barbara Cartland, J. K. Rowling, Danielle Steel, and Enid Blyton. [[/labelnote]]

Context Main / MostWritersAreMale