Male vs Female Perspective: Which Do You Prefer?

[miwoodsman]

Looking through my stories, I notice that I write mostly from the female point of view and wondered why that was since I am, in fact, a man. (At least my wife thinks so.) Perhaps it's due to the fact I find the female perspective more arousing. I checked some of my favorite erotic stories other authors have written and most of those are from the female point of view, too.

A breakdown of my stories' perspectives:

A Brief Encounter - 90% female
Alice Unbound - 100% female
Designated Driver - 100% male
Devil May Come - 98% female
Muse - 90% female
The Talent - 50/50 split

Which do you prefer and why?

 

[galaxygoddess]

You know what's weird?

90% of my stories are from a male perspective and I can't figure out why.

The main part that bugs me, is the fact the female in my story is supposed to represent ME in someway, so why the hell am I writing from the GUY's point of view?

It's kind of bizzare to me.

 

[rgraham666]

I switch back and forth. Although all my first person stuff is from a guy's perspective.

Doubt I'd get a woman's mindset described too well.

 

[Guest]

I switch back and forth. Although all my first person stuff is from a guy's perspective.

Doubt I'd get a woman's mindset described too well.

You describe other womanly things, though.

 

[rgraham666]

You describe other womanly things, though.

I have a good imagination.

 

[R. Richard]

Since I am a man, I write my stories from a man's perspective. What the hell else would I do?

 

[miwoodsman]

Since I am a man, I write my stories from a man's perspective. What the hell else would I do?

I'm a man, too, but I find it more satisfying to write from the woman's viewpoint. I also find it difficult to write a good story from the man's perspective unless I make it first person.

I was just wondering what other freaks may be out there...

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I find the woman's point of view to be more erotic than the male's. I enjoy reading about a woman being stuffed, and stroked, and touched, and manhandled from her perspective. Especially if she resists her own primal urges a little before giving in.

And yet I would never let anyone penetrate me with anything more than french kissing a woman.

 

[miwoodsman]

And yet I would never let anyone penetrate me with anything more than french kissing a woman.

HA! So what's good for the goose ISN'T good for the gander?

 

[S-Des]

I find stories about discovery more interesting from a female POV, but I find them more arousing when written from a male's. I've done one from a Female POV and got some compliments on the way I did it, but it's a lot easier to write from the male perspective for me.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

HA! So what's good for the goose ISN'T good for the gander?

No. Not for me.

 

[Guest]

I just went through my stories, and only one is from the woman's point of view. (Taking it for a spin) The rest are male, or third person pov.

I often want to write from the female perspective, but would feel like a fraud. I like to touch on my characters motivations for their actions, and with a woman, and sex, I would be thinking like a guy. And with my luck, I'd get some impressionable, naive young male reader and forever skew his understanding of women (which is limited, at best, for any man).

 

[S-Des]

I just went through my stories, and only one is from the woman's point of view. (Taking it for a spin) The rest are male, or third person pov.

I often want to write from the female perspective, but would feel like a fraud. I like to touch on my characters motivations for their actions, and with a woman, and sex, I would be thinking like a guy. And with my luck, I'd get some impressionable, naive young male reader and forever skew his understanding of women (which is limited, at best, for any man).

That's why you get a female editor's input. When I did my story, I consulted two women to get their input on not only the story, but the authenticity of my character's motives and actions. I got suggestions that helped make the story much better (and proved that although I tried, I was still a clueless guy ).

 

[Guest]

That's why you get a female editor's input. When I did my story, I consulted two women to get their input on not only the story, but the authenticity of my character's motives and actions. I got suggestions that helped make the story much better (and proved that although I tried, I was still a clueless guy ).

Good ideas. I have done a few stories in collaboration with women. I like that, for the insights they bring.

 

[amicus]

Looking through my stories, I notice that I write mostly from the female point of view and wondered why that was since I am, in fact, a man. (At least my wife thinks so.) Perhaps it's due to the fact I find the female perspective more arousing. I checked some of my favorite erotic stories other authors have written and most of those are from the female point of view, too.

A breakdown of my stories' perspectives:

A Brief Encounter - 90% female
Alice Unbound - 100% female
Designated Driver - 100% male
Devil May Come - 98% female
Muse - 90% female
The Talent - 50/50 split

Which do you prefer and why?

~~~

A worthy and interesting inquiry, IGreen, and a warm welcome to to the forum.

While trying to craft some of my very first stories, a long, long time ago, that included explicit sexual scenes, I discovered that I had no idea what a woman thought or felt about the event, before, during or afterwards.

I think I began reading, for the first time in my life, 'romance novels' written by women to get at least a 'feel' for how things were expressed, true or not as it is all fiction.

A little knowledge can be a good or a bad thing, I am told, especially if one attempts to generalize about anything, the female in specific. In other words, each is an individual and each is different.

But then, that holds true for both genders I think.

I suggest that one who writes should know and be able to write from both viewpoints. Switching POV's within a story is also an interesting exercise.

Some of the most rewarding commentary I have ever received came from those that swore I must be a woman to be able to write as I did about women.

As to preference, I wonder if perhaps the story line does not dictate that? But of course one can choose themes that only permit one viewpoint for many other reasons.

Interesting...thank you...


Amicus...

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Since I am a man, I write my stories from a man's perspective. What the hell else would I do?

Well, I'm male and I've never written from a male perspective.



Not that I'm saying I'm actually good at it...

 

[_Anna_]

Looking through my stories, I notice that I write mostly from the female point of view and wondered why that was since I am, in fact, a man. (At least my wife thinks so.) Perhaps it's due to the fact I find the female perspective more arousing. I checked some of my favorite erotic stories other authors have written and most of those are from the female point of view, too.

A breakdown of my stories' perspectives:

A Brief Encounter - 90% female
Alice Unbound - 100% female
Designated Driver - 100% male
Devil May Come - 98% female
Muse - 90% female
The Talent - 50/50 split

Which do you prefer and why?

I think I prefer the female POV for the same reason... if you're the same sex as the narrator, you can imagine that what's happening in the story happens to you as well. *shrug*

 

[sharpchick]

I think I try to be pretty equal on the her/his POV thing. Several of my stories go back and forth between hers and his POV - for the parts from the male perspective, I have a couple of men I give drafts and ask, "Would you say-do-feel this way if you were the guy?" The thing I've tried for in the stories is to write them so the men reading could put themselves in the role of the male protagonist and women reading could see themselves as the female protagonist.

 

[Darkniciad]

Most of my central characters are female. It grows out of writing for the purpose of getting my girlfriend hot and bothered when I couldn't be there to do it in person. I suppose I prefer to write female characters unless I'm using first person. I actually find female characters more interesting. When you get right down to it, we males are pretty simplistic creatures *laugh*

 

[3113]

I write gay male stories which are going to be bias toward the male perspective, so I'm not sure those should count. So being more fair and examining stories with both male and female characters when answering this question: most of those stories are 50/50. Though, again to be fair, when it's from only one perspective, it's always male.

So, male perspective for me. Why? I actually think it might have a little to do with cultural conditioning. Most movies and television shows--and yes, books as well, are filled with fascinating male characters...and very bland, cliché female characters. Make a list of some of the most memorable detectives in detective fiction...any women outside of Miss Marple? How about Lord of the Rings? List all the wonderful and memorable characters that appear in that trilogy...how many are female compared to male? How many adventure/thriller/horror/sci-fi movies have you seen where the only woman is a generic wife who could be replaced with any other generic wife from any other movie? How many great and memorable female superheroes are there compared to male superheroes?

Mind you, I'm not saying great female characters don't exist--they absolutely do! But their ratio compared to great and memorable male characters is pretty small. When someone sees or reads a story, they're far more likely to end up identifying with a male character simply because the odds are that there will be more male characters than female characters in that story (romance novels being the primary exception). Even Harry Potter, written by a woman, was woefully understaffed with female characters that little girls could identify with as compared to male characters.

So, I guess it's no surprise that I lean toward the male perspective in most of my stories. I've been conditioned to view it as the "human" perspective, which often makes me angry with both a bias culture and myself for not being a better writer. I'm doing my best to change this, at least on my end.

 

[miwoodsman]

I'm flattered that one of my stories is on the list, but really, there is a bias there.

Actually, I was referring to my story which is in the Erotic Couplings category.

Fun fact: Aside from your story and mine, there are two others on Literotica entitled "Designated Driver."

So many stories, so few titles.

 

[3113]

Actually, I was referring to my story which is in the Erotic Couplings category.

Whoops! Well, in my defense, it was the 100% male perspective that threw me. Of course, you're discussing your perspective so it had to be your story...duh! My bad!

I will edit my original post to re-focus on the question and only the question

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

I like stories written from all kinds of perspectives. Male, female, child, dog, transexual, lesbian, bisexual, clock on the mantel, tree.......whatever.

 

[Recidiva]

I like both.

I think I tend to give guys sharper lines and women more forgiveness. I think I give guys more charm and women more humor.

Helps me to show differences and contrast.

I write in romance and fantasy. When I've roleplayed males and wrote backstory and lines for them, I enjoyed that too. But those weren't romantic stories.

I tend to try to contrast what the characters are thinking versus what they're doing, too. Without too much explanation, but a pissed off guy trying to stay calm or a pissed off woman trying to stay calm are also fun to write. I like all the possible contrasts.

 

[TxRad]

The first story I wrote from the female point of view made me realize that I needed to rethink a lot of things to make the shift. It took a while and it took a lot of rewriting but in the end it became a pretty good story. I also learned a lot about myself, women and writing in general.

So which do I prefer, both would be the answer.

The fact that i like women helps a whole lot in writing about them. This has been pointed out to me by a lot of readers. I'm glad it shows through.