1. Male authors writing female characters who are beautiful but somehow have no inkling of this.
Seriously, cut this shit out. I'm just so tired of "she threw on jeans and a sweatshirt, ran her fingers through her hair, and sprinted off to meet ______." Cut. It. Out. Girls who don't know they're beautiful are far more likely to be tripped up by trying to figure out what the fcuk to wear than this. They are concerned they don't look good enough. And if they're not, that's a very different character. And also, just stop it. It's been done. A. Lot.
2. Male authors writing female characters, especially YA and middle grade, who make the protagonist a tomboy, especially if they use the word "tomboy."
Essentially this is saying that the girl is okay if she's like a male. Then using her as a mechanism to allow the male character to interact with a female who is cool because she's like a male. It's also license for the male character to be more sensitive which should be a good thing, except that the female character usually berates or bullies the male character belaying the secret point that the sensitive feelings part of his character really is for girls. And that girls, if you're going to be girls, and we know you can't help having been born sucky-girls, at least want to be as much like boys as possible. They want to be boys so much they have boys as friends.
3. Any authors, but of course, especially male ones, who name-call characters girl names.
So this is Bryce, and Bryce's name is just like a girl's, so we'll call him Brenda. Hahahaha, isn't that funny?
No, it's fucking not funny.
Let me decode your shit-message. It's bad to be a girl. The character is a boy. So obviously the way to insult him is to call him girl names.
IF YOU WANT GIRLS TO READ YOUR BOOKS, STOP IT. Especially because they're more of the market than boys are. So don't make their existence into an insult.
4. Any authors, but AGAIN for the boys in the back, especially male ones, who write female characters that are trope-as-fuck.
If you are John Green, please continue writing female characters.
If you are literally any other male, have lengthy and meaningful conversations with girls where you mostly don't do the talking before you write any more female characters. Then think of Zora Neale Hurston. Channel her.
Imagine if you were trying to present a character that was an entire human and not a foreign species that needed to fit neatly into categories like: dork, librarian, slut, girly-girl, or tomboy. Instead, be inspired to create a character who is an entire person.
She has frizzy hair or wavy hair or shaves her head or dyes it or braids it. It's thin and straight and she worries about balding. Or it's so thick it will literally mold before drying without the aid of electricity.
She's smart but spaces out a lot in class because she's worried about her mother's car breaking down or the bills she sees around the house that her mom hasn't paid yet because she just gets overwhelmed.
She's vivacious and loves chorus but only really likes the friends from chorus when they're actually singing and otherwise can't think what to say to anyone. Make her real. Give her flaws. Give her ambitions.
You know, like you would a boy character.
Seriously, cut this shit out. I'm just so tired of "she threw on jeans and a sweatshirt, ran her fingers through her hair, and sprinted off to meet ______." Cut. It. Out. Girls who don't know they're beautiful are far more likely to be tripped up by trying to figure out what the fcuk to wear than this. They are concerned they don't look good enough. And if they're not, that's a very different character. And also, just stop it. It's been done. A. Lot.
2. Male authors writing female characters, especially YA and middle grade, who make the protagonist a tomboy, especially if they use the word "tomboy."
Essentially this is saying that the girl is okay if she's like a male. Then using her as a mechanism to allow the male character to interact with a female who is cool because she's like a male. It's also license for the male character to be more sensitive which should be a good thing, except that the female character usually berates or bullies the male character belaying the secret point that the sensitive feelings part of his character really is for girls. And that girls, if you're going to be girls, and we know you can't help having been born sucky-girls, at least want to be as much like boys as possible. They want to be boys so much they have boys as friends.
3. Any authors, but of course, especially male ones, who name-call characters girl names.
So this is Bryce, and Bryce's name is just like a girl's, so we'll call him Brenda. Hahahaha, isn't that funny?
No, it's fucking not funny.
Let me decode your shit-message. It's bad to be a girl. The character is a boy. So obviously the way to insult him is to call him girl names.
IF YOU WANT GIRLS TO READ YOUR BOOKS, STOP IT. Especially because they're more of the market than boys are. So don't make their existence into an insult.
4. Any authors, but AGAIN for the boys in the back, especially male ones, who write female characters that are trope-as-fuck.
If you are John Green, please continue writing female characters.
If you are literally any other male, have lengthy and meaningful conversations with girls where you mostly don't do the talking before you write any more female characters. Then think of Zora Neale Hurston. Channel her.
Imagine if you were trying to present a character that was an entire human and not a foreign species that needed to fit neatly into categories like: dork, librarian, slut, girly-girl, or tomboy. Instead, be inspired to create a character who is an entire person.
She has frizzy hair or wavy hair or shaves her head or dyes it or braids it. It's thin and straight and she worries about balding. Or it's so thick it will literally mold before drying without the aid of electricity.
She's smart but spaces out a lot in class because she's worried about her mother's car breaking down or the bills she sees around the house that her mom hasn't paid yet because she just gets overwhelmed.
She's vivacious and loves chorus but only really likes the friends from chorus when they're actually singing and otherwise can't think what to say to anyone. Make her real. Give her flaws. Give her ambitions.
You know, like you would a boy character.
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