Gender Politics

Dangerous ground this. I never feel comfortable talking about writing female characters, beyond saying that I don't feel confident in my ability to do so. In the same vein I don't feel comfortable talking about other women writing men because I tend to resort to stereotypes and in an ideal world any character could behave as they wish without the constraints of social opinion.

Let's break it down into simple and somewhat offensive terms.

Man writing woman as tomboy (yet still hot) = empowering.

Woman writing man as feminine (looks irrelevant) = not attractive.

So are the details of male and female in the character's attitude? The way they react to things? Is it overt or is it in the little details?

I'm thinking damn it!