"It'd be different if you were gender nonconforming or questioning"

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[–]UncleWillard56 4 insightful - 8 fun4 insightful - 7 fun5 insightful - 8 fun -  (0 children)

Receptionist: How do you write women so well?

Melvin Udall: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

[–]LordoftheFliesAmeri-kin 2.0. Pronouns: MegaWhite/SuperStraight/UltraPatriarchy 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (13 children)

Leaving aside the eyeroll-worthy dip into genderspecial nonsense, there's been plenty of authors who've written under assumed names, including names that intentionally masked their true sex. In fact, there was a notable sci-fi author--though I'll fucked if I can remember the name at the moment--who everyone thought was a guy for a long while.

It happens, and 99% of readers don't give a shit. And the 1% who do care, nobody cares about their thoughts on the matter.

[–]ClassroomPast6178 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

D C Fontana?

I seem to recall that Mills & Boon, Harlequin etc hire solely on writing talent and as such have male authors writing alongside women for their overwhelmingly female audience.

[–]LordoftheFliesAmeri-kin 2.0. Pronouns: MegaWhite/SuperStraight/UltraPatriarchy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

D C Fontana?

No, I eventually managed to cudgel my brain into giving the name I was thinking of, it's C.L. Moore. It helped when I recalled that (s)he wrote during the pulp era. But two other notables who did the same sort of disguised writing (at least early on their careers as authors) were Andre Norton and James Tiptree, Jr.

[–]OuroborosTheory 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I first thought of Tiptree too, but she's more obscure

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Why would you care who the author is so long as the books move?

[–]ClassroomPast6178 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I wouldn’t. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that publishers have done extensive market research into this and found that certain genres sell better with authors where the perception is that they are a certain sex.

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm certain they've done that. But that's why pen names and ghost writers exist.

[–]NormalPear 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Why not? People want to know who is writing the stories. Especially if said author might have a criminal or creep record.

[–]LyingSpirit472 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Because if the author looks like the reader, wants to have sex with things the reader wants to have sex with, or uses the same gender as the reader- then the READER might be able to write a book too! (They won't, but they could imagine they CAN!)

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Leaving aside the eyeroll-worthy dip into genderspecial nonsense,

That's the best part though.

It's not ok for a man to pretend to be a woman. Unless the man is pretending to be a woman. Then it is ok.

[–]QueenBread 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

It's still common for female authors to use male-sounding pen-names, in order to be taken seriously. Because the patriarchy totally doesn't exist.

[–]Vulptexghost fox girl ^w^ 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

That's probably because not enough women do it. So it's frowned upon like everything atypical.

[–]QueenBread 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Nah, it's frowned upon because it's not "feminine". Women are supposed to write romance novels or kiddie books, haven't you heard? Despite the fact that, much like actor Bela Lugosi once wisely said, it's women who understand horror far better than men.

[–]Vulptexghost fox girl ^w^ 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Which is because they don't do it enough.

[–]IMissPorn 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I was under the impression that for romance novels specifically, this was really common.

Not sure on the proportions of actual women vs. men with female pseudonyms vs. androgynous pen names writing romance or anything, but I've certainly heard of it before. In other genres, women using male pen names is fairly common. The name "J. K. Rowling" would be in the gender neutral category, but IIRC her publisher basically advised against writing a book about a boy wizard under the name "Joanne Rowling".

[–]wylanderuk 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I can honestly say I don't and have never given a shit about a writers sex if I enjoy the books and I am a voracious reader of my preferred genres. fuck when I am on a roll I am talking about multiple books per day sometimes.

[–]Wanderingthehalls 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I have to admit I've read a few "psychological thriller" books written by authors with an 'A B Surname' type pen name and they were truly awful. I don't know why that has been the case as when I looked into it, some were written by men and some by (actual) women but they all shared weirdly unbelievable characterisation and a feeling that the author may have been taking some pleasure in the descriptions of abuse.

My only guess is that they are trying to ape after crime writers like PD James but with pen names instead of talent.