(03-02-2015, 03:25 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote:(02-27-2015, 05:04 PM)Sastra Wrote: I have both a male and a female character, and I am a female irl. It's however more of a "recent" development to my RP, as previously I've always been like, me? Playing a male? Nooooope. Can't do that! Based on lack of knowledge on how guys work.ÂI've actually wanted to make a post on this for the longest time, just haven't gotten around to it.
And I know a chunk of other female rpers who have felt the same way or even still do, where as it seems more common for men to play female characters.Â
Frankly, I think it speaks to broader issues about societal notions of gender that this comes up so often. "I can't play [the opposite sex]! I don't understand them!" Well, you don't understand them because you're thinking of them as their sex or gender first, and not as people. That's really what it comes down to, really. I won't go more into this here, because it really deserves a thread of its own, but I've always thought this line of thinking to be profoundly silly, especially considering that fictional writing has a history of great stories written by people who are most definitely not the same sex as the principle characters.
Superb post, and I agree. Perhaps this is a bit of an aside to the discussion, but it always annoys me when renowned male literary authors say in interviews that they 'can't write female characters'. How do you write a female character? How, for that matter, should you go about writing a male character? It really does reinforce that whole idea of Mars and Venus, and never the twain shall meet.
