Can men write women? Can women write men?

[scarletwoman]

10. I've been mulling over your question since you posted it.

And I've come to the conclusion that I don't know.

I know that I've read books written by men with female characters that make me roll my eyes about how absurd or insulting they are. But I've also read books written by men with female characters who are just fine, in my opinion - especially some of the Scandinavian writers.

And as far as women authors writing male characters - how would I know? The male characters may seem perfectly reasonable to me, but I'm a woman, so I can only do the same as the female author - observe the male from outside.

However, if a male character written by a female seems to generally comport with how male writers write their male characters, then it's probably accurate enough. Same in reverse, I suppose.