Eve vs. Adam: The Never-Ending Bullshit-o-rama

All right, Sandra, you asked for it. Sandra's post today is on the issue of male writers vs. female writers. What are the differences? Does one gender handle certain scenarios, topics, character- izations better than the other? Is it something writers should be aware of as they work? Here was my knee jerk response:

"I get kinda tired of the whole gender debate. Yes, men and women have different perspectives. Yes, it is partly a matter of bio-chemicals and yes, it is partly socialization. So what? Does it really matter in terms of creative process and output? I'm not dismissing the gender divide in term of business/sales/etc., but I really don't give a flying fuck about whether (in general) a man writes better action scenes or if (in general) a woman has a broader range. There are always exceptions to the perceived rules, and it just seems silly to get tied up in knots over who is better, or not, and why. Of all the things rushing through my head and my life, this one is pretty damn low on the totem pole. Whew! An unexpected mini-rant!"

And you know what? It is pretty damn ludicrous, and I am sick of it. What matters to me are the words on the page. Am I able to cruise down the highway of the story without hitting tons of speedbumps in the form of poor grammar, awkward phrases, cliches, and unbelievable characters or situations? Yes? Then it matters fuck-all to me if the words on the page were written by a man or a woman.

Here's the plain, uncomplicated truth: men and women are different. And that's okay. Wanna hear something else that's interesting? The hormones that affect the development of the human brain occur in differing amounts on an individual basis. So yes, it's entirely possible for one woman to have a brain that is more masculine in its construct than another woman. It works that way for men, too. So making facile generalizations based on what kind of hardware someone's sportin' isn't quite so damn simple, is it?

What really pisses me off is when men and/or women adhere so strongly to an ideology that the science goes out the window. I actually heard an intelligent, college educated, master's degree carrying woman tell her daughter that it was bullshit that male and female brains work differently. This conversation came about because the daughter was talking about what she learned in her biology class. My question is this - since when did "functions differently" become synonymous with "inferior functioning?" Good grief, people. Get a freakin' grip.

When you get into the business side of things, the issue gets trickier. Here the hardware you're sportin' often does make a difference. Sorry, but it's true. And (not that anyone cares but me) here's my take on it...Deal with it, get over it, find a way to work through it, 'cause screaming "no fair" isn't going to change a thing. Does this mean I think inequality shouldn't be pointed out as the bullshit it is? Uh, no. Does this mean I think women should shut up and take it? Again, no. What I'm saying is that pissing and moaning alone isn't going to accomplish jackshit, and I'd honestly rather use my time working on my writing. Bitching without having the action to follow it up is a waste of my time and energy. No thanks.

Ahem.

Rant over.