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"Let's see. I happen to believe that no, men don't generally like or write female characters as well as women do male ones. I base this on the fact that over two years of frequent discussion on a large (2500+ members at that time) forum dedicated to a particular fantasy series, there would always be far more bashing from men against female characters than from women against male ones. When the forum was polled, a majority of the men said they preferred male PoVs, and many even said that they wouldn't be likely to read a book which featured mostly or solely female PoV characters.
Also, in the field of SF and fantasy, I have come across exactly two male authors whom I think consistently write women as people, not as... women. (Well, three if you count a certain scriptwriter). Female authors generally do a lot better with male characters."
This statement pretty much sums up where it's at for fan fic of all kinds.
I love Star Trek. The last ST show I watched all the way through was Voyager. I was absolutely delighted that they FINALLY put a woman in the Captains chair. I loved that they had women in roles that did other things besides care giving.
So I went on the TrekToday.com Voyager forum and what did I find? Basically it was/is a male dominated board a great many of whom DESPISED Capt. Janeway/Kate Mulgrew, the only meaningful discussion of B'Elanna Torres & Seven Of Nine that was warranted was talk of how hot they are & the size of their breasts, the catsuits worn, blah blah blah.
It was pretty clear to me that a good many there, had a problem with women in positions of power and could only put them down or trivialize their roles. Needless to say, I didn't hang out, or participate there.
Naturally I wanted to find a forum that discussed this show in a meaningful way.
Where I ended up was in forums generally dominated by lesbians. This was where I got introduced to Slash fiction which I knew nothing about.
While this was considerably better than the other forum, it wasn't perfect either. A great many of the women there expressed only disdain for the male characters if not outright hatred (Especially for Chacotay). Some went overboard with expressing their personal fantasies of how Kate Mulgrew & Jeri Ryan actually had the hots for each other regardless of all evidence to the contrary.
Whenever I pointed out the reality of the situation & how some of them were really being disrespectful to the actresses involved and that their comments could easily be picked up all over the web leaving people with bad feelings about the forum, I would be attacked, and was questioned as to why as a straight woman I would even be on the board.
I told them why I was there & that even though it wasn't perfect it was a lot better than reading derogatory comments from adolescent boys or men with one track minds!
Most of those who disliked the fact that I wouldn't ignore some of the more blatant attitudes & opinions left & things are more balanced now.
I know of 1 current writer who is a man who writes ST F/F slash fiction & is very good. He does a very good job of keeping all the characters balanced & in character. It seems to be very hard for some whether female or male writers to keep this balance without either showing their dislike/trivialization of either males or females.
I can't tell you how many stories I have read & dumped that were used as an excuse to bash Chacotay. Every story some wrote HAD to have this element it got old real fast. Or other stories that EVERY woman/man suddenly turned gay, that also got old fast.
I also have read a book by an author who participates here who had maybe all of 2 women represented in his book & neither were in roles of any importance. Sorry but in this day and age, that is simply unacceptable.
Stereotypes die hard, and society indoctrination dies even harder. There may well be more men then we know of who write fan fic, but don't make it known for fear of the women who might find out & pitch a fit, or other men who might find out & thereby ridiculing these men and calling them gay.
I've seen it happen over & over again on audio related boards that I'm a member of. Any man that expressed the slightest opinion of respecting his wife/women in general were mocked & put down, until I stood up & defended these men for being REAL men & not some overly macho thugs who have to constantly prove that they are on a bulletin board.
Like I said before, we have come a long way, but still have a long way to go to get to a good balance in this world.
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