WARNING: Rant ahead: I rarely rear my head and shout to the heavens, but really, Im SO sick and tired of the ongoing argument about whether straight women should be allowed to write m/m romance. Ive been published since 2006, and the subject has flared up several times each year.without fail The arguments are always the same - straight women shouldnt write m/m because they couldnt possibly understand what its like to be a gay man. M/M is the only genre in which the question is raised (with the exception of the misogyny rampant in the horror genre). My feelings on the subject obviously havent changed, since I continue to write and publish in the genre. The authors plumbing or orientation shouldnt matter. Only that the story is well-written, and the community written in a positive light. As for the argument that a straight woman cant possibly understand a gay man, I strongly disagree. A writer, whether female or male, straight or gay, can understand anyone with the proper research and the one quality every good writer must possess - empathy. Without empathy, a writer couldnt write realistically about a inanimate object, let alone another human being. Research -- talking to people, asking solid questions - helps fill in details outside a writers personal sphere of experience. Books should be considered on a book-by-book basis, not generalized by whether they were written by men or women, gay or straight, black or white, pro-life or not, etc. ~END RANT
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 22:49:21 +0000
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