A few years ago, someone once told the POV character that a piece I'd written -- in first person, from the perspective of a cis woman -- sounded male.
But then, others say (a viewpoint with which I totally agree) that a character's gender doesn't really matter per se; one should just write the character as a character (unless of course you're writing about the Suffragettes. In which case gender is very important).
But realism is still important, right?
And -- several years on -- I now wonder wonder: is there a "(fe)male POV"? What makes a character sound like they identify as a certain gender?
What makes a 'woman' sound like a 'woman' or a 'man' sound like a 'man'? What makes say, an effeminate male character sound like so? What if the character is a traditionally masculine man?
What if they fall outside the gender binary? How do all the various forms of gender expression tie in with what a character 'sounds like'? Or is 'sounding like' something an outdated way of thinking of character POVs?
Keen to hear others' thoughts!
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