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We haven't hit our weekly quota of gender posts yet, so, let's have another one. (This one's not about trans people, don't worry.)
This will be an unorganized series of bullet points because I'm responding to an unorganized bullet point video.
The Sentence I Only See Men Write: How writers flatten a female character
In the not too distant past, I was engaged in a conversation in which a familiar complaint was lodged: "Why aren't there more complex™ female characters in fiction?" (Are any real humans "complex" in the way in which that term is applied to fictional characters? I consider this to be a wide open question.) "Why are male literary characters allowed to be anything and everything, while female characters are consistently shunted into a small group of familiar and repetitive archetypes?" To which my immediate response was: "Well, the people who are most deeply invested in this issue and are clamoring the loudest for complex™ female characters are also the ones who most strictly police how female characters are allowed to act, and they complain the loudest when characters don't meet their stringent standards". Fortunately, the youtube algorithm furnished me with evidence to support my hypothesis (that being the linked video above).
Her first point about the "perky tits" thing is, y'know, perfectly valid and reasonable, point granted. That is a silly thing to write. My quibbles started with her second point about the "competence tax":
"Why anybody wanted a competent FMC to begin with". As though we, collectively, sit down with a book carefully chosen for its "competent" FMC and then ensure that the character meets every requirement on our checklist before continuing. This is an NPC's way of approaching art.
Anyway, isn't she just giving away the game here? To be a complex character (i.e. not a "flat" character, the exact phenomenon she claims to be opposing) is to have weaknesses and face adversity. But she immediately claims that a female character whose weaknesses are too prominent will be seen as "wounded", and readers will start to "worry" for her. She complains when she gets what she claims to want. Do you see the issue here?
Do woke feminists truly want female characters to be complex (meaning, multifaceted and sensitive, nuanced and reflective, yes, but also at times damaged, depraved, unloved and ostracized, perhaps even for perfectly valid reasons)? Could feminist literary critics really stomach say, for example, a female Shinji Ikari? Someone who has duties they are expected to fulfill, but who has no identifiable virtues in the classical sense, consistently fails to meet every challenge that is posed to them, and has to be literally, physically dragged into action by other people during the critical final battle (shortly prior to causing the extinction of all humanity due to what is essentially a childish emotional outburst)? I have an inkling that a hypothetical Female!Shinji would fall flat and fail to resonate, particularly for a female audience (regardless of political persuasion), although to be honest I'm not entirely sure why. Meanwhile Male!Shinji, despite not being anyone you could classify as a "role model", is still felt to express something important and universal.
To the extent that we have difficulty imagining a female Hamlet, or Leopold Bloom, or Humbert Humbert, I think it's due to a combination of men and women feeling that 1) such characters would be unrealistic, or would at least represent the extreme ends of the bell curve of possible female behavior, and would thus be seen as novelties, and 2) the Women Are Wonderful halo effect kicking in and causing people to want such characters to be shielded from unnecessary harm and risk. Perhaps these attitudes are immutable, perhaps they are not. But my point is that these attitudes are just as strong among the woke as they are among "traditionalists", if not more so, and this is part of what explains their preference for repetitive generic girlboss characters.
The video continues with some further Do's and Don't's:
I mean. I talk like that. And I'm a dude. Is that a bad thing? Should I not be doing that? (Yes, I know that you just clarified that it was ok, but you also called it insufferable, and you felt that it was important enough to include as its own point in the video, sooo...)
None of them are "bad desires", buuuuut only certain types of desires can actually "drive the plot", apparently.
At some point, the relentless girlbossification of all characters just starts to look like the demonization of perfectly normal and healthy psychological traits (many of which are more common in women, but all of which can also be found in men as well).
Is there really anything so wrong with your wish including "another person's name"? Is that something that a modern liberated woman is always going to feel a bit icky about? If there is any residual "structural misogyny" that remains in the culture of first world western countries in 2026, it lies in our hyper-individualism. Who can you go to today who will not tell you "be your own person, don't care what other people think, define yourself, your own opinion matters most"? Who will tell you the opposite? "Actually, maybe what other people think does matter. Maybe their opinion of you is more important than your own opinion of yourself. Maybe you need other people, in a very deep sense, and that's ok. It's just as legitimate as any other way of being". No one, that's who. (People who are adept at social games will of course tell you that what other people think matters, but usually only in a cynical and utilitarian way, rather than in a deeper personal sense.) Material dependence is actually relatively normalized, at least on the economic left. "Who do you think built all those roads?", "do you know how many government programs you actually use?", and so forth. But emotional or spiritual dependence? Unthinkable. Attitudes that are only fit for weaklings and children.
This is why the Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalytic tradition has the capacity to serve as such a powerful corrective to the excesses of both woke moralism and rightist traditionalism/hyper-individualism; it represents a sort of "middle voice" that has been culturally suppressed. Lacan stresses from the beginning that desire as such is always the desire of the Other ("what does the Other desire from me?"), thus there is no such thing as desire outside of a relational context. A desire that is completely purified of the Other's name is a fantasy. But I digress.
Let me reiterate, the mere fact that a character exists to fall in love is not flatness. It could be written in a flat and uninspired way, particularly if the author is a flat and uninspired person themselves. But those properties are not intrinsic to it qua life project or psychological trait.
Perhaps there are real humans who "exist to fall in love", or perhaps there are not. I pass no judgement on the empirical question. But to the extent that there are such real humans (or, to the extent that we can imagine them, and weave together the threads of such a character as they might emerge from the infinite sea of possible stories), their mode of existence is just as pregnant with possibilities, just as liable to contain secret worlds, just as much an inexhaustible well of pathos, as any other legitimate mode of existence that you might care to name. To assume otherwise would be to import the aesthetic and value judgements of "common sense" and adopt them wholesale; but it is precisely the task of art and the artist to interrogate these judgements and put them into question.
What makes someone an artist (as opposed to a dancing monkey) is their capacity to look at what has hitherto been considered ordinary, common, uninteresting, lowly, drab -- or, in the limit case, ugly, horrific, and evil -- and see the beauty in it that went previously unnoticed, teaching people to look at it anew. To the extent that these principles have hitherto not been applied to "genre fiction" or "commercial fiction", this is a skill issue.
As always, everything comes from the fact that women are born, but men are made.
Men only have value when they prove themselves. A woman, on the other hand, is of value the moment she finishes puberty. It is said that young women become social millioniares, which is true, but only half the story. The other half is that they are defenseless millionaires. To be a young woman is like being given a million dollars, but being forced to carry it everywhere in a clear backpack, in the roughest neighborhood in town.
The hero leaves society as a boy, struggles against adversity, grows as a result, and returns to society a man.
A heroine cannot go on this journey. A young woman is of great value as it is, and to leave society would mean instant predation and likely death.
The heroine's story is the mirror image, because the conflict is fundamentally social. In the heroine's journey, the young woman is already flawless, but she is not recognized by society (or at least the social class she aspires to). Instead of struggling against adversity to improve herself, she struggles against society, changes society, and is recognized and accepted.
A woman will write a story about a woman who struggles to be accepted and recognized in spite of her inherent goodness. Men read that same story and see a faultless female protagonst who undergoes no challenge and no growth.
A man will write a story about a woman with flaws, and how she struggles against them and is changed by the struggle. Women (especially 21st century ones) will read that same story and see a story about how women aren't allowed to be competent and flawless, and think the man is implying that women don't deserve acceptance.
If you've had the (mis)fortune of reading kid's books about scientists, the pattern becomes obvious. Books for boys about male scientists are about the challenges the scientist faces, the spark of inspiration, and the joy of seeing hard work rewarded. Girl's books about scientists don't have any science in them at all. The woman scientist's social challenges are detailed (nobody believes in her because she belongs to some specific groups), but she believes in herself, and because her self-belief is so strong, one day she is accepted and celebrated. The social struggle is foreground, the science is merely background.
We cannot escape our ancestral scripts. Man struggles against the world, and strengthened by it. Woman struggles against society, and is accepted by it.
I understand the opinion that women are born, but men are made, at least if we're talking about the real world. But this is fiction, storytelling. What stops men from writing stories where they're already wonderful and people just don't realize it?
People talk about good stories, flaws, struggles, and character growth. I think most of that is bullshit. Stories are essentially about people, not about the world. People come up with all sorts of reasons so they can be proud of the stories they like, so they can claim to have good taste, to be sophisticated.
But their tastes are ephemeral. Men and women clearly have different wants in fiction. So taste is biological. And if it's biological, then the very standard by which we judge a good story can shift with the generations.
Suppose I like stories about a Gary Stu who's perfect and loved by everyone. What if I become a tyrant, crack open people's skulls to check whether they share my taste, and execute anyone who doesn't? Only people with good taste get to breed. After a few generations, the world will be filled with people who love Gary Stu, and he'll become the new literary standard. Such is the great providence of nature.
Is the problem men? Is the problem women? I think it's consciousness.
Consciousness gives birth to the ego and to stories. The ego seeks to unify the me of the past with the me of the future. Unification across time. Stories and language seek to unify different people through shared myths and a shared destiny. We are all humans. Unification across space. It's a similar process, and both seek to avert contradictions.
People dislike contradictions. But do contradictions cause any physical harm? No, only mental discomfort. Animals don't agonize over them the way humans do. People suffer when their wishes contradict one another, when the me of tomorrow regrets the actions of my past self, even though I acted according to my wishes at the time. Likewise, people feel discomfort when they realize that others are genuinely different, that their wishes can contradict and conflict with their own.
Consciousness is ultimately about the self. The greatest pain and the greatest fear of humanity is the loss of self. At its core, it's losing your body. Losing your limbs, being unable to walk, unable to see. But it's also growing old, losing bodily functions, becoming unable to eat or speak.
And the body isn't just physical. There's also the mental body, your ego. The fear of losing your convictions, your dignity, your morals. And the mental body isn't just your individual mind, but also the enormous mental structures that extend beyond it. Your family, your company, your country, humanity.
Your body is what allows you to interact with the world. You can pick up an apple with your hand. But to do something bigger, to build a skyscraper, a spaceship, you need a larger body. You don't move your hand, you move your company, your nation. Just as your brain moves your limbs, your consciousness moves these larger bodies.
I'm not just a part of my family, my country, humanity. I am my family, my country, humanity itself. Arrogance? The brain is just one part of my body, yet it declares itself to be the entire me. So why should I be any different?
Consciousness is what makes this possible. And it absolutely demands unity.
To me, what people call Trump Derangement Syndrome is not a syndrome of the physical body, but of the mental body. It's the absolute horror of feeling your own body fail, no longer functioning according to your will.
I see the conflict between men and women in much the same way. When their wishes genuinely contradict each other, the unity of the self begins to unravel. What you thought was your own body suddenly seems alien to you.
Perhaps the culture war is simply a form of body dysmorphia. Consciousness and modern technology have allowed us to see the entire world as our own body.
And the body refuses to obey.
Isn’t this the underlying theme of most superhero fiction?
No. Most superhero fiction is about men who are ridiculously competent and powerful... but alas have enemies to match. And in the origin stories, they tend to have to become wonderful people. Peter Parker has to make a moral error which kills his Uncle Ben in order to learn. Superman has had more origin stories than I can count, but in many of them as a boy he uses his powers selfishly and has to be corrected. Batman's origin story is creating himself from nothing but money and his butler after the death of his parents.
This trope predates superhero fiction. Arguably it is the main story arc of The Epic of Gilmagesh, which would make it quite literally the oldest one in the book.
Man is born strong by divine gift, learns moral wisdom in order to direct his strength towards a happy ending, is the original plot; good man learns practical wisdom in order to become strong and achieve a happy ending is the modern variation.
Today's essay, class, is "Is Gilmagesh a Gary Stu?"
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I’ll give you Batman, but it’s definitely there in both Superman and especially, Spider-Man. Also not a superhero movie but It’s a Wonderful Life.
I think that there is a subtle difference between It's a Wonderful Life and a female-focused story where society discovers how wonderful the woman is. (For example the Cinderella tale.)
In It's a Wonderful Life, the main character makes various sacrifices -- he partially loses his hearing saving his brother; he cancels his honeymoon to save his bank; he never makes it out of Bedford Falls despite his burning desire to travel. And so on.
So it's not just the world discovering how great he is. Rather, the main character is suffering and sacrificing to prove to the world how great he is.
By contrast, Cinderella is made to suffer (by doing household chores) but that's not to prove that she is great; it's not to earn her stripes; it's not to accomplish anything at all, other than to (narratively) show that society (as personified by her wicked stepmother) doesn't appreciate her value.
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It's in It's a Wonderful Life (but note George is no neophyte; he actually has done things) and probably some but not all of the Superman origin stories, but Peter Parker refusing to stop a robber who later kills Uncle Ben is Spider Man's defining moment, and is definitely not about him being already wonderful.
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To me, this is an interesting question. From the female side of things, the story that comes to mind is Cinderella. Note that to become a beautiful and desirable woman, Cinderella didn't need to train with a Jedi master or do battle with some Dark Lord. She just needed a deus ex machina to provide her some nice clothes and a sweet ride.
So is there a male Cinderella story out there? What comes to my mind is The Once and Future King by T.H. White. It tells the story of a young King Arthur who is consigned to a subordinate and secondary role in relation to his foster-brother Kay. Possibly it served as inspiration for Harry Potter and Dudley which is also a sort of male Cinderella story in some respects.
But what's very different is that these male Cinderellas (1) go off on adventures; and (2) receive education and training. Only then can they assume their destinies.
So why the difference? The only thing I can think of is that generally speaking male main characters are aimed at male audiences and boys (and men) aren't very interested in stories where the male hero is already wonderful and it's just a matter of people realizing it.
In other words, it seems that this idea that women are born while men are made is believed at a very deep level by most people; perhaps it's even informed by our genes.
Harry Potter assumes his destiny (as a wizard, and therefore as a higher being than Dudley) before he goes off on the adventures or receives his education and training. Until about two thirds of the way through the first novel, everything good that happens to Harry is an inheritance (his parents' wizarding DNA, wealth, and social network)
I disagree. Cinderella marrying her prince = Harry defeating Voldemort (and to some extent, marrying Ginny).
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I've heard this complaint for Naruto too. And the answer is the same: if you could succeed by only hard work, why didn't one of the hundreds or thousands of other people who worked hard succeed before you? The story only makes sense if the main character has some natural advantages, and the hard work gets him the rest of the way.
Harry Potter absolutely has good things happen to him by his own efforts further down the line - it's just that the resolution of the opening "Cinderella" plot isn't one of them.
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We don't know what happens after Cinderella marries the Prince, but you actually could make a Karate Kid type story out of that, with her stepmother and stepsisters unwittingly playing the role of Mr. Miyagi in making her competent through adversity. But of course, that's not IN the story.
Sure, if she developed some skill from handling all those chores and then later used that skill to defeat some bad guy or whatever. And my guess is that if you tweaked the story in that way, it would seem more masculine to people; it would be more appealing to boys; it would be less appealing to girls. And if you pushed it far enough, you'd end up with Kill Bill.
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The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat is pretty much exactly Cinderella but with a boy. Basically the king's daughter, in the form of a cat picks a poor and mistreated but hardworking boy to live with her in a golden palace. https://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/the_poor_millers_boy_and_the_cat
I guess it's not as famous because it's a bit less plausible a fantasy for a boy to be picked out of obscurity by a princess than for a girl to be picked by a prince.
I read the story and found something which to me was very interesting. Basically, in order to get his reward, the boy must serve the princess for 7 years; he must chop wood; tend to the meadow; and build a house:
In other words, the boy had to prove that he was worthy.
While it's true that Cinderella had to do household chores, I would argue that the point of the chores was not to show how faithful she was, but rather to (narratively) show that society did not recognize her value.
So I would say that no, the two stories are not exactly the same. They are different in almost exactly the way described by posters who have argued that women automatically get value while men must earn their value.
To be sure, I don't dispute that if you looked hard enough you could find stories out there which go against this dichotomy. But it does seem like, at a minimum, the idea is very deeply ingrained in human thinking.
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Surprisingly common trope, actually. A lot of coming-of-age plots out there, where the main character has inherited some great power, and he has to accept himself in order to use it.
Depending on execution, the "prophecized hero king who will save the world" trope is this. The main character is born awesome and talented, and even in his darkest moments he cannot keep himself from being competent. His skills are neglected and dormant, not neglected and gone. Some authors make it into more than this, but some really do just revel in the fantasy of being talented and loved by the word.
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I think the answer is that, in our post-feminist egalitarian society, (the majority of) women believe people are born, and (the majority of) men believe people are made, and they don't really recognize each other's concept of value.
This was especially noticeable in the 2010s, when workplace DEI debates were largely focused on male-vs-female gender equality. Women would focus on the idea of the office as a social environment where the most important part of success was how many inherently-high-social-status people you had on your side. Men would counter by focusing on competence in on-the-job skills, and argue that fewer women had put in the work to become valuable in these areas. This usually devolved into namecalling where women would yell "myth of meritocracy! toxic rockstar!" and men would yell "diversity hire!" No one ever proposed a compromise where some people would be hired to complete tasks and other people would be hired to look pretty.
So to (most) men, a story about society recognizing your inherent social value is just a story about being a diversity hire. It isn't a compelling narrative unless the diversity hire is a villain who gets defeated by someone with skills.
There's also a popular version of the narrative where you just imply that the hero did a lot of training and skill development off-screen, and then those skills are tested in a high-stakes situation. This can superficially resemble the "society needs to recognize my inherent value" narrative, but the central conflict is still whether or not the hero has trained enough to overcome the obstacles.
The counter-example which comes to my mind is the movie Groundhog Day. In terms of the relationship between the male lead and female lead, it followed the pattern that the man had to work on himself; and learn; and develop; and overcome his flaws; and finally make himself worthy for the woman. The woman didn't change at all during the movie, she was more or less perfect from the beginning to the end. In other words, it seems that the movie was a very close fit to the narrative that women are born while men are made.
Nevertheless, my impression is that Groundhog Day was very popular among women. And as far as I can tell, they don't seem troubled at all by the fact that Bill Murray's character was 100% made not born. In fact, they seem to like the whole character arc where he grows and makes himself worthy of Andy McDowell's character.
Here's a thought experiment which takes place in real life: Suppose a woman is looking for a husband and she would prefer a man who is financially well off. Would it make a difference to her if the man is wealthy due to an inheritance or due to having put together a successful startup which sold to Google, Microsoft, etc.? (All things being equal, of course.) I think that the woman (and in fact society in general) would have a great deal more regard for a man who built something valuable from scratch. There just seems to be a deep-rooted societal idea that a man needs to go out and slay the dragon (and become more formidable during the process.)
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Have you seen Trump’s new press secretary? Lol. The dude who wrote her script clearly had a job to do. She was clearly hired to look pretty, because she couldn’t even read off the basic script that had been written for her. Not to mention her horrible wardrobe selection, coming to a press conference looking like a flight attendant.
I think that's an example of what I was talking about, actually. The modern White House press secretary's job really is just to look pretty on TikTok while delivering statements written by other people. But enough people are uncomfortable with the White House hiring someone just to look pretty that they had to settle for someone who looked pretty and also falsely claimed to have spent time and effort becoming a lawyer.
Also, what I'm calling "pretty" isn't quite the same thing as conventional physical attractiveness -- 2010s feminists didn't want tech companies to staff their teams with skinny blondes either.
Oddly enough, skinny blondes were fairly common among the female tech employees in the office I was in. Mostly data scientists from Eastern Europe.
Thin Eastern European blondes, how awful.
What company and office location was this specifically, though? Just so I can avoid lateraling into such a misogynistic, male gaze-centric workplace.
Google NYC, but they took some pains to keep them segregated from the (symbolically) unwashed mostly-male SWEs.
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This is called "OP MC aurafarming slop". It's very popular in niche online publishing.
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