Who's a better writer, men or women?

[Lakelander]

Gannon has it! Post Number 83. "The question is not whether the author is male or female, it's how talented the author is regardless of sex. I couldn't agree more. So would you believe that the annual 'Orange Prize' which is worth £30,000 is for women writers only? No I couldn't either, because I thought there were laws against such blatant discrimination.

[AmandaRose]

I agree that it's not about your sex. If you have the inspiration and talent, then I really wouldn't be concerned if you're a man or woman. Look at J.K Rowling; she first started writing with that name because it was thought she would have better success if her readers thought she was a man. Now here we are in the year 2012, and everyone knows that most talented writer on the planet (just saying that to make a point) is a woman. Gender didn't, doesn't, and will not matter when it comes to writing. It's either you have it, or you don't.

[Homemaster]

Only a man would ask this question!

[resaleebook]

Writing skills and ability of a particular person, can be regarded as a way he/she can consolidate his/her knowledge about a given topic. No matter whether the writer is men or women, he/she should have the ability to persuade their readers through their writing.

[Carrie R]

Yikes, dangerous question! I don't think one gender is better than the other--of course not. There are greats on both sides of the aisles. The nice thing is, we all have different tastes, so what doesn't appeal to one person may appeal to someone else.

[goldengate]

"Talent is talent - no matter the type of genes (or jeans)." That is a quote from... me earlier in this thread. I am amazed that this topic has gone on... and on... etc. The topic indicates that sexism is still alive and kicking... PEOPLE write. Some good, some badly but I challenge the position that sex or gender in any way impact the quality of writing.

Yes, there are more books written by men - as for most of the history of the written word men were considered the sex with the brains to write. I had hoped that this obviously incorrect theory would have gone the way of the dinosaur.

The fact of this thread and the number of contributors who voice the "Men are logical. Women are emotional" statement only points to the fact that things have not really changed for women as much as we might like to believe.

A brain is a brain and sex hormones do impact some of that brain's functions but to say that women are only capable of writing emotion and men only capable of logic does a disservice to both sexes.

Let's try to move into the current "supposedly" enlightened era where folks are thought to be judged by the quality of their work not the accident of birth.

There are many reasons to judge an author's work but WHEN will we reach a point where the sex of an author is not a determining factor?

Think about it folks. How many exceptions to the "Men write fact... Women write emotion" are out there. Doesn't it reach a point where the exceptions belie the theory? Are we there yet???

[Carrie R]

"

Think about it folks. How many exceptions to the "Men write fact... Women write emotion" are out there. Doesn't it reach a point where the exceptions belie the theory? Are we there yet???

Exactly! I guarantee you Nicholas Spark's books are way more 'emotional' than mine, which are more scientific and plot-driven. Well said.

[Homemaster]

7 pages supporting a misogynistic OP

[Fran]

7 pages supporting a misogynistic OP

I think maybe you need to re-read the posts .... the majority are certainly not supportive of misogyny.

"Personaly, I believe man are better in describing situations, women describing feelings".
Although I don't happen to agree I really don't see how you construe that this is a misogynistic statement, it is surely simply the opinion of the OP, albeit IMO an illinformed opinion.

[htddubai]

Obviously men are good writers

[BooksNJoy]

Both are very good in their job, maybe this is only a matter of feeling.
Maybe most women need to feel what they write because many women are romantic and many women want to read something that fits with their feelings.
But men are in a way more matter of facts. Of course they can feel things but most of them won't communicate through their feelings.
I don't think men are superior. Men and women are equal but different.
When you read a book you haven't chosen it because a man wrote it but because the plot is good, or because you like this topic...

[MelMariah]

You would think gender would play a somewhat major role in this, good debate I say.
Although when you actually take a good look at it I think gender doesn't actually play a role at all in who's better at writing.
Purely just skill and experience.

-- 28 Dec 2012, 22:35 --

Also, isn't it funny how (well, personally) you always hear of men doing very little reading and women almost always fond of reading yet there's an extremely large amount of male writers. Possibly even more than women? I'm not sure.

[BooksNJoy]

Well we can say some "male author" write for women like Marc Levy or Douglass Kennedy but we can't generalize because all women don't enjoy reading and if they do there are women who never have read one of their novel.

Yet your right most of the readers are women but are also many men. For instance if you take the métro in Paris you will probabaly notice that even when it's overcrowded most of the "male" standing passengers are still reading. Some sat on the stairs, some other grasp the bar in one hand and hold the book in the other one.
I admitt that most of the men I saw reading where between 30 and 40 (or more) whereas women are used to reading for a very long time. For some young men we could say it's like a sudden awakening when they read for the first time and find they can enjoy it and they want more. And some finally happen to read in a foreign language.

Well there are "female author" but it depends on what you would read. If you want some advice to cook, to take care of children or the household... many women write on that but I agree that's not litterature but it's still books. You have also teenage books writers (J.K Rwoling, Stephenie Meyer, Sara Shepard...) or mushy novels writers, they are women.

I'm not telling women are only good at taking care of their children, telling them beautiful stories before kissing them goodnight or cooking very good birthday cakes. A woman is not only a mother and a woman and a wife. Maybe the publishing business leaves only a few room for women to express themselves.

[Fran]

@BooksNJoy
Quite extraordinary ... I'll be charitable & presume your post has lost a lot in translation

[StephenKingman]

Men of course.

Oh sorry I though the question was "Who is better, men or women"?