Written by a man or woman?

Are you written by a man or a woman?

The internet is somehow a massive platform of unending content, yet somehow we all end up hearing the same phrases and slang. One of these emerging terms stems from the idea that men and women write characters differently based on their perspectives that are influenced by their gender. If you haven’t come across the phrase ‘written by a man/woman’ or if you want to better understand what it really means and how it came to be, you’re in the right place. Today we’re going to be investigating how this phrase came to popularity and what it means for the culture of literature. 

Now, obviously, writing plays a huge role in society, you see it everywhere, but the term ‘written by’ is specifically talking in terms of characters, although it has drifted from its original parameters. If a character is written by a man they are influenced by the male gaze, while female characters that are "written by a man" are typically one dimensional. Fit conventional beauty standards is also infatuated with the male characters, speaking of their male counterparts are normally more nuanced, and also conventionally attractive but not defined by their looks. In juxtaposition female characters written by women are typically extremely well rounded, independent and accomplished but are often accompanied by the ‘dream man’ whose conventionally attractive, thoughtful, soft, introspective and if a love interest extremely impressed and enamored by the female character. However, these terms have evolved to encompass a broader range of subjects. For example, Harry Styles has been coined as ‘written by a woman’. Some girls use written by a woman to describe their boyfriends as a way of saying, he’s a good one.

Basically in both scenarios the author writes their own gender as a reflection of who they want to be, while the counterpart of the opposite gender is just a reflection of their desires. In most scenarios the ‘written by’ phrase is weaponized women to criticize or compliment men for their behavior. It’s a bit outdated of a mindset considering that gender doesn’t always apply as the defining factor in whether an author can accurately portray characters. But, we’ve seen time and time again that words and phrases can loosely or change in meaning, for example the word ‘literally’ now being used as the opposite of what it means. It’ll be interesting to see the evolution of the phrase and whether it will fade into the woodwork or stand the test of time.