Do you think they're ever able to pull it off? So far I've never seen a straight make portray any lesbians well. Doesn't matter if they're writing a romance story, an R rated story or a story with a lesbian character.
I've seen both straight male authors pull of lesbian fiction pretty well, and I've also seen straight females pull off male X male stories. You don't necessarily have to be gay to write a gay story. I mean, i'v seen some kickass dragon stories but they ain't wrote by dragons are they?
Can a man write a story about a woman? Sure. Sexuality is just some part of a character. Basically good writer will write a good story. Bad writer will not. There are lesbians of all kinds... so a good straight male author can portay a lesbian, maybe less common type of a lesbian, but still... why not? It just has to be a good writer who would also commit himself to research, listening to actual lesbians and so on. I've read good male characters written by women, and vice versa... not sure about lesbians. However, if a straight guy can portray a straight woman, a lesbian is just as much a woman, so... Bottom line is just a captain obvious kind of answer: if the writer is good - yes.
I've read some really good yaoi and gay romance stories written by women, so why can't guys write stories about lesbians?
When guys write about lesbians it feels like they're writing about soulless barbies. I don't like being seen like a soulless barbie, so it kind of offends me. Even when they don't write about soulless barbies they just suck at creating lesbian characters.
Some male writers are like this yes, but not all. May I just say, THE best lesbian fiction that I ever read was actually written by a male. I would link it but can't due to PG-13 rule here. But trust me, if you just focus on the story instead of who's behind it, then you'll find more stories which are good, and you'll not have the preconceived idea that men can't write lesbian fiction, which can affect your judgment in a story.
Yup, not all, it's not fair to generalize. I don't think that your gender or sexual orientation has to stand on the way of creating a good character. Of course you can always make a background check on the writer if you prefer stories writen by lesbians/gays/heteros/blacks/jews/catholics/whatever. It's up to you. I know I felt surprise as I found out that the writer of Brokeback Mountain was a woman, but it didn't changed my opinion about it. You can be more than capable to understand the struggles of someone who might be your opposite in real life, the fact that you are going through the same struggle might help, but it's no warranty you'll be able to write a good story or direct a good movie just because of it... Or even that you'll write a story that would reach everyone on the same situation. What's inside of a skull might be unrelated to your biological gender or sexual orientation, think about any transgender person.
I'm sure some probably can, but so far the ratio of men who write about women's sexuality, whether it's straight or not, well vs. those who don't that I've read is pretty unfavorable. Most of the books I've read that are written by men that have lesbian/bi characters miss the mark pretty badly and in most cases, the f/f relationships are just a passing phase on the way to the character's end game of being with a man. That or they die.
That's part of the problem. Girl on girl fantasies are demeaning. But if a straight man can avoid girl on girl fantasies I guess he could do an alright job.
In a Pansexual Male and I Imagine things like that. I thought it was natural. I don't write it but I imagine things like Guys/Guys and Girls/Girls and Girls/Guys. If men feel Like that kind of stuff that's their business and I'm not going to get in the way of it. That's like Calling out girls that write fanfictions and things about two guys? Is that demeaning? I guess not because it's a girl. Men are just like every other human, They have desires and wants and when they can't have them they express it in different ways. Argument? I'll be waiting
What about gay authors who write about heterosexuals? I honestly think it depends on the writer and their perspective.
I honestly think that if a man wants to write about lesbians, then he needs to do research and not rely on fantasies. If he DOES do research, then I have no problems with it. Sometimes even having the experience yourself doesn't mean you'll do a good job with representation either. For example, I'm on the autism spectrum, and yet the most ignorant comment I ever got was from another autistic person. That's because some of these people have so much bias for their own experience that they invalidate others. It's always best to take a middle ground. I don't fit the typical lesbian image so I'd love to read more stories about me (never seen one thus far)...if anyone can pull it off, I don't care if they're male or female, straight, bi, or gay.
Yeah, I'd agree with this. I think in general, regardless of what you're writing about research is always important when writing about something. I've had to research things for my stories that I wouldn't have thought about otherwise. A writer can write about someone completely different to themselves, but in order to do so they must first learn to empathise with the character, even if they're a villain they should at least have some understanding of the character they are writing about, and take time to do some research on the topics they are going to cover.
I was actually pretty disappointed that one my favorite authors chose to fall for "man-hating lesbian" stereotypes in one of his books. True, this was in the 80s, but didn't exactly help the LGBT cause... She was squat, hairy, of lesbian persuasions, and the atmosphere about her pervaded with a manly odour which all her many perfumes could never hope to obscure. Rogued and painted, with her elbows on the table and one hand scratching at her chin while the clawlike fingers of the other rapped upon the old oak, there was this overpowering air of aggression about her, this impatience, this great disdain - mainly of men, Maglore supposed. He also had a tendency to use words like "queer" and "faggot" freely, and I've noticed in many stories, there's also a secondary villain described as being "effeminate", "weird", and "thin". It's never outright said, but implied, that these characters are bisexual.
I certainly enjoy guy on guy fictions written by girls. And oh yes, they can be very demeaning. I love it. When it comes to sexual fantasies, both genders can get downright nasty. Yum.
