Do you think it would be weird if a woman wrote a book like that?

Quote from HwaGoose

Well... I once wanted to write a short story (or perhaps longer than a short story), where one of the topics is "masculinity".

Or at least in that story, there are the two guy main characters, one of them being more "feminine" (uses makeup and is into fashion and stuff) and the other one is "masculine" (goes to the gym a lot and likes sports and stuff)

And I also wanted to touch on the subject of "toxic masculinity".

I have written some short stories about the "boys don't cry" thing though.

Like one story is about a guy mourning over his father's passing, but he tries to hold back tears and also pretends that he is fine because he doesn't want to be seen as weak.

Some men would perhaps be thinking "Oh, a woman telling men how we should act "

There is a story, I'm currently writing, where the main character is a guy who wears makeup, but the "makeup" part isn't important to the plot.

Would it be like if a male author wrote a book about femininity?

Perhaps a book, where one of them is girly and the other one is more tomboy.

And then the book also touches on "society's expectations on women" or "toxic femininity".

I can imagine that some women would perhaps refuse to read that book.

Even though I have watched some Youtube video essays by men, that touch on subjects like that, and haven't felt offended.

And just to clarify, I know that an author is allowed to write a novel and have the main character be of the opposite gender.

Like the Harry Potter franchise is a popular example of that. Even though there is a kinda related reason behind why she published that book under the name "J.K. Rowling " and not "Joanne Rowling". (but that had more to do with marketing and also the fact that it would attract young male readers.)

There are times though when I have wondered if the male characters in my stories are too obviously written by a woman.

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I think it wouldn’t be weird at all. It would be weird if it was portrayed in a very obviously uneducated and inaccurate way—but if you do your research, find real opinions, and make it your goal to exceed in real thought-provoking exploration of topic respectfully, I believe it’s completely fine.

It’s not bad if a male author writes well about femininity in my opinion, it’s just that they usually end up doing it really badly which is why it typically has a negative connotation.

Another thing is avoiding leaning too much into stereotypes and typical opinions. Look at books that are female characters written by male authors that aren’t badly portrayed (and vice versa: books that are male characters written by female authors), and take note of how they did it. Then look at the bad portrayals—and notice the differences.

I think very importantly is not giving your characters an “idealised” personality. For example, the ideal of what women think men are like. That’s what ends up being the pitfall for many authors.

Not all works have to be on personal experience—it can also be on a topic you feel passionate about or anything philosophical you’d like to explore.

If people are saying “you’re trying to tell us what to do” (not as constructive criticism) after you’ve painstakingly written a book as respectful as possible, it shouldn’t be taken to mind.

Hope this helps!