History SoYouWantTo / WriteACharacterOfTheOppositeGender

** AllMenArePerverts vs AllWomenArePrudes: A real man participates in sex while [[MyGirlIsNotASlut a real woman abstains]]. Women are taught that they should only have sex with their husbands, and that being sexually active before then makes them DefiledForever. ''Men'' are taught (with a few exceptions such as some religions, though the standards apply to both men and women) that having an active pre-marital sex life makes them awesome, [[VirginShaming and ''failing'' to do]] so puts them straight into LoserArchetype territory.

Periods can suck. Your body is expelling a piece of itself, and it's coming out all gory and sticky, and you have to walk around with a chunk of wet cotton pressed against your downstairs to absorb it--how good a mood would ''you'' be in? Even worse, there are a lot of aches and pains associated with it: aside from the cramps as your uterus tears its own insides apart, you can have acne breaking out, you can get headaches, your breasts can get extremely sensitive or even feel like they're burning, you can feel sluggish and depressed, you can start [[WackyCravings craving certain foods]] (chocolate, salts, fats) to the point that it becomes an obsession, your sex drive can go completely off the charts in ''either'' direction... Of course, every woman's different. Some remain chipper while some get really emotional. Some have pain while some don't. The length of the process is different from person to person. Even the ''quantity'' of discharge can vary: Website/TheOtherWiki claims that the average volume is 35 milliliters but that anything from 10 to 80 mL is still "considered typical."

Periods suck. Your body is expelling a piece of itself, and it's coming out all gory and sticky, and you have to walk around with a chunk of wet cotton pressed against your downstairs to absorb it--how good a mood would ''you'' be in? Even worse, there are a lot of aches and pains associated with it: aside from the cramps as your uterus tears its own insides apart, you can have acne breaking out, you can get headaches, your breasts can get extremely sensitive or even feel like they're burning, you can feel sluggish and depressed, you can start [[WackyCravings craving certain foods]] (chocolate, salts, fats) to the point that it becomes an obsession, your sex drive can go completely off the charts in ''either'' direction... Of course, every woman's different. Some remain chipper while some get really emotional. Some have pain while some don't. The length of the process is different from person to person. Even the ''quantity'' of discharge can vary: Website/TheOtherWiki claims that the average volume is 35 milliliters but that anything from 10 to 80 mL is still "considered typical."

The feminist viewpoint probably needs no introduction. It is such a large and powerful movement that there are many branches of UsefulNotes/{{Feminism}}, but all are ultimately attempts to explain female experiences of society with the aim of improving society's treatment of women. Feminists see societies past and present as a "patriarchy" designed to exploit and oppress women, citing historical injustices against women and lingering unconscious prejudices among other things. Especially since circa 1990, most feminists assert that gender is entirely a social construct.

What we ''are'' saying is that what counts as "feminine" and what counts as "masculine" is by no means universal; they change depending on the ''where'' and the ''when''. So do the ''responses'' to [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy feminine men and masculine women]]. In some places, deviation is [[SeriousBusiness punished severely]]--there are constant tales out of the Middle East and India about people doing savage things to women because she acted on her sexual desires. In some places, people turn a blind eye; in AncientGrome, nobody cared who you slept with as long as you knocked up your wife. (Mythological Greece was very patriarchal; their word for wife, "gynē," also meant "womb" and gives us the modern word "gynecology". This tells you something about what Achaean men thought their women were for.) And in some places you might even get applause for it: in feudal Japan, BoysLove was considered ''virtuous'' because it meant you were so RatedMForManly that women couldn't satisfy you! ...Of course, you were expected to be the {{seme}}. (We must have ''some'' standards here. AncientGrome felt the same way.) And this gets us right back to the first point about how the definitions of masculinity and femininity change depending on time and place. In most locales, the {{uke}}--the gay man who "receives" the sexual interaction--is considered perverted. On occasion, he is venerated, as he was in Shogunate Japan, but not most of the time. Think about modern American culture, where the idea of the seme does not even really ''exist'' (the closest is HardGay, which itself is almost a caricature), and the CampGay--you know, the effeminate one?--is the typical stereotype. When two Camp Gays get together, who's on top? American Homophobia would prefer we not answer that question. (Which is a little hypocritical of American Homophobia, since it's them who insist that the dilemma exists by refusing to admit that gay men can ''be'' masculine, but we'll just sip our tea and leave it at that.)

This article has political elements to it, because in our day and age, sex and gender are inherently political topics. As such, you may see things in this article that you disagree with and want to refute. When you do, please employ the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment.

One of the best things you can do is read fiction about men written ''by'' men, or about women written by women. It might be a good idea to stick to literature for this effort, since the written word (especially amongst the classics) is somewhat less susceptible to ExecutiveMeddling. So, men can check out things like the works of [[Creator/CharlotteBronte Charlotte]], [[Creator/EmilyBronte Emily]] and [[Creator/AnneBronte Anne]] Brontë and Creator/JaneAusten, or ''Literature/LittleWomen'' by Creator/LouisaMayAlcott, or ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'' by Margaret Mitchell, or ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' by Creator/LMMontgomery, or early novels by Creator/AstridLindgren (who wrote several "books for girls" before switching to children's literature), or ''Literature/{{Moribito}}'' and ''Literature/TheBeastPlayer'' by Creator/NahokoUehashi, or ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'' by Creator/FuyumiOno. On television there are shows like ''Series/GilmoreGirls'', ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' (incidentally, the same woman, Jenji Kohan, worked on both), ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' and ''{{Series/Girls}}''. On film we have ''Film/LadyBird'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', ''Film/BendItLikeBeckham'', ''Film/{{Clueless}}'', ''Film/ALeagueOfTheirOwn'' and more. Also check out some of the things listed on the FourGirlEnsemble and ChromosomeCasting pages.

-->"She was forty but could have passed for [[CompetenceZone a year younger]] with soft lipstick and some gentle mascara. Her dress clung to the curves of [[BuxomBeautyStandard her bosom]] which was cupped by her bra that was under it, but over the breasts that were [[CaptainObvious naked inside her clothes]]. She had a personality and [[MyEyesAreUpHere eyes]]."
-->--[[https://twitter.com/JaneCaseyAuthor/status/980545307267256322 Jane Casey]]

*** There are a ''lot'' of body-shaming messages that go towards women, many of them seemingly contradictory: A woman should be perfectly hairless ''and'' should be an ungroomed Amazon. A woman [[MandatoryMotherhood should have children]], but never [[NoPeriodsPeriod menstruate]] (or [[MyGirlIsNotASlut enjoy sex]]). A woman should exhibit IncorruptiblePurePureness ''and'' BeAWhoreToGetYourMan. BuxomIsBetter, but if you ''do'' have nice tits, you're encouraging male attention. (Arguably there is no contradiction in the last point, since attracting male attention is the only thing that buxom is better ''for''.)

** One of the worst things you can call a(n American) woman is a [[CountryMatters cunt]]. The C-word is considered the dirtiest word in the English language, surpassing even the PrecisionFStrike. Feminists believe this says something about how much derogation women are thought to need. They argue the fact that the most hated and derision-worthy element of a woman is her vagina--not her uterus or ovaries, from which she brings forth life; not her [[BuxomIsBetter breasts]] or [[StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks rear]], which are her most visible symbols of femininity; but her vagina, the organ with which she interacts sexually with men--points out how deeply misogyny is built into English-speaking culture, values and language. (A non-feminist might argue for the ''opposite'' point of view on the C-word: that it shows the vagina is seen as so sacred that you’re not allowed to insult it. After all, there are also plenty of insults based on words for male genitalia - "dick", "cock", "dickhead", etc.)

-->"She was forty but could have passed for [[CompetenceZone a year younger]] with soft lipstick and some gentle mascara. Her dress clung to the curves of [[BuxomIsBetter her bosom]] which was cupped by her bra that was under it, but over the breasts that were [[CaptainObvious naked inside her clothes]]. She had a personality and [[MyEyesAreUpHere eyes]]."