History Main / MostWritersAreMale

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.

->'''Elaine:''' ''(after reading Jerry's pilot based on his life)'' I'm not even in here!\\
'''Jerry:''' ''(awkwardly)'' Yeah, I know.\\
'''Elaine:''' I thought there was going to be a character named Elaine Benes.\\
'''Jerry:''' Well, there were too many people in the room, we couldn't keep track of everybody.\\
'''Elaine:''' You couldn't keep track of everybody?\\
'''Jerry:''' Well, we tried. We couldn't. We didn't know how to... 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!\\

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 [[BuxomIsBetter 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]].

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, TheChick is a prevalent character type. 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.

One of the major causes of FemaleGroinInvincibility and MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial. Caused by WriteWhatYouKnow. See also MostGamersAreMale and GirlShowGhetto. For another type of disproportionate representation in media, see YouHaveToHaveJews. Compare MostWritersAreWriters.

-->'''Elaine:''' (after reading Jerry's [[ShowWithinTheShow pilot based on his life]]) I'm not even in here!
-->'''Jerry:''' (awkwardly) Yeah, I know.
-->'''Elaine:''' I thought there was going to be a character named Elaine Benes.
-->'''Jerry:''' Well, [[BlatantLies there were too many people in the room, we couldn't keep track of everybody]].
-->'''Elaine:''' You couldn't keep track of everybody?
-->'''Jerry:''' Well, we tried. We couldn't. We didn't know how to... 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!
-->'''Elaine:''' [[TranquilFury You have no idea?]]
-->'''Jerry:''' ...Something derogatory?
-->-- {{Series/Seinfeld}}, "The Shoes"

- ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}''

-->'''Elaine:''' [[TranquilFury You have ''no idea''?]]

-->'''Elaine:''' (after reading Jerry's pilot based on his life) I'm not even in here!

->''"The hero’s journey is centuries of narrative precedent written by men to mythologize men. Its pattern is inciting incident, rising tension, explosive climax, and denouement. What does that remind you of?"''
-->-- '''Creator/BritMarling''', “[[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/sunday/brit-marling-women-movies.html I Don’t Want to Be the Strong Female Lead]],” ''[[UsefulNotes/AmericanNewspapers New York Times]]''

One of the major causes of MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial. Caused by WriteWhatYouKnow. See also MostGamersAreMale and GirlShowGhetto. For another type of disproportionate representation in media, see YouHaveToHaveJews. Compare MostWritersAreWriters.

->''“The hero’s journey is centuries of narrative precedent written by men to mythologize men. Its pattern is inciting incident, rising tension, explosive climax, and denouement. [[FreudWasRight What does that remind you of?]]”''

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 {{Anvilicious}} point about [[YouGoGirl girl power]], and while {{Fanservice}} may not necessarily be absent, it tends to be more realistic and appealing to both sexes.

{{Irony Funnily enough,}} [[Creator/DanielleSteel the best-selling author in the world]] is a woman.

[[Irony Ironically,]] [[Creator/DanielleSteel the best-selling author in the world]] is a woman.

->''“The hero’s journey is centuries of narrative precedent written by men to mythologize men. Its pattern is inciting incident, rising tension, explosive climax, and denouement. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything What does that remind you of?]]”''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/30_rock_writers_room_7.jpg]]

[[quoteright:150:[[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/30_rock_writers_room_2.jpg]]]]

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]].