Active and Passive Male Characters

[Bramblethorn]

Ah, I was gonna ask about that, but from your previous comments as someone with experience on this site, I kinda already suspected that's the case.

Erotic literature is traditionally considered a somewhat "feminine" domain. With that, I would have expected, perhaps naively, most of our community to be women, or at the very least a rough 50/50 ratio (among the binary demographic).

But you're basically confirming lit has been "overrun by men" (and thus features predominantly male fantasies?).

General musing possibly worth its own thread:
Do we feel that's an inevitable sort of trend, with a project like this?

There's a post here on the demographics of Literotica. It's almost ten years old now, and it depends on people's profile data which of course is not 100% reliable, but it may still be informative.

According to that post, 33% of Literotica authors identified themselves as female vs. 44% male and 23% various other options/no reply. If one takes that at face value, it's a bit skewed to male but not hugely so, and some of the individual categories were pretty close to parity (BDSM, Interracial, Romance, Toys/Masturbation) with Lesbian and Non-Human being majority female authors.

Some guys do represent themselves as women, maybe for flirting purposes, maybe because they think their stories will be better received. OTOH it's quite common in some areas of the internet for women to adopt neutral/male identities to avoid harassment. I don't think any of us knows for sure how those two factors weigh up against one another.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Ah, I was gonna ask about that, but from your previous comments as someone with experience on this site, I kinda already suspected that's the case.

Erotic literature is traditionally considered a somewhat "feminine" domain. With that, I would have expected, perhaps naively, most of our community to be women, or at the very least a rough 50/50 ratio (among the binary demographic).

But you're basically confirming lit has been "overrun by men" (and thus features predominantly male fantasies?).

General musing possibly worth its own thread:
Do we feel that's an inevitable sort of trend, with a project like this?

There is no confirmation, that is one person's speculation based on their prejudices.
It's been discussed here several times during my tenure, no one really knows what the demographics of this place are for writers or readers.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

My guys are not a whole lot more than props for the ladies to play with and use for their own entertainment.

The ladies are over the top outrageously, stupendously, (unrealistically) gorgeous with perfect centerfold type (after airbrushing) bodies who are successful in business, strong willed, confident and able to do anything they wish. They're also exceptionally kind, loving, caring and attentive.

In other words, both are total bunk and simply do not exist in real life.

 

[AG31]

The majority of writers on lit are men. Let's be real, a good many of the female writers on lit are actually men pretending to be women (and there's nothing wrong with that). There aren't many male accounts that are women secretly pretending to be men. So the actual male writers is much more than half.

Ah, I was gonna ask about that, but from your previous comments as someone with experience on this site, I kinda already suspected that's the case.

How do you know when a Lit member is pretending to be another sex? Just curious here.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

How do you know when a Lit member is pretending to be another sex? Just curious here.

There are signs. If I said some of them out loud I might be outing some people here so I won't (since there is nothing wrong with pretending to be a different gender on an anonymous forum like this). Also, these signs are much more clear in chat than on the forum, but from seeing them so often in chat I can spot the same things in the profiles of people on the forum fairly often. Now, these signs are never 100% sure, but when someone shows multiple signs, one can be 90% sure. So if we take ten 'suspicious' female profiles, we cannot prove than any of them really are dudes in disguise but really what are the chances that none of them are dudes? Hardly likely. What are the chances that half of them are dudes? Pretty good. What are the chances that eight or nine of them are dudes? Quite likely, or an order of magnitude more likely than none, so yea, they definitely exist.

 

[SamBomb]

Most of my stories have a mix of passive and active men. Variety is the spice of life and adds the most interesting scenarios.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Writing isn't about what gender we are; it is about writing a story that appeals to an audience, which isn't about what gender they are. I write for myself and have a small following of fans. I'm perfectly comfortable with that. I am selling some stories that help feed Cat the cat. I write under a pen name; my first name in my pen is my first name, and the last name of the pen name is a nickname. I don't know who's an actual female and who's a female. We could write a Who's Who of who isn't who they say they are and doesn't change their writing, doesn't change the attitudes they exhibit here, and doesn't matter a tinkers damn.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Writing isn't about what gender we are; it is about writing a story that appeals to an audience, which isn't about what gender they are.

Actually, if you are writing to appeal to an audience, gender is a huge deal. There are writers who are trying to appeal primarily to straight dudes. There are writers who are primarily trying to appeal to women. There are writers who are primarily trying to appeal to lesbians. There are writers primarily trying to appeal to transgenders, etc, etc, etc.

Even if you believe that you do not have to be the gender of the audience that you are trying to appeal to (which I would definitely include myself in that group), don't kid yourself about it. Certainly any gender can write for any other, but it takes some skill and some observation to pull it off convincingly, so the gender does matter. Just look at the lesbian stories that are certainly written by men in disguise because the story is actually just girl-on-girl and actual lesbians can tell fairly easily most of the time.

And there's nothing wrong with any of this. I'm not being judgmental in that way, but why do you think that every so often there is a thread here in the AH where someone asks how to write characters for opposite genders? Because the author's gender is a factor, especially the lower the skill. The higher the skills, the less gender is a factor. I always applaud such threads because it shows a willingness and desire of writers to broaden their skills and hone their craft.

 

[AG31]

There's a post here on the demographics of Literotica.

Thanks! This was a fun skim.

 

[burgwad]

Back to Activity v. Passivity. I could see myself someday writing an assertive, “jumpable” MC with a heart of gold who knows how to ask for what he wants. But shit, what a tricky tightrope, making sure he comes off as assertive and self-confident but never predatory or narcissistic. And even if I clear that bar, there’s still the challenge of keeping him likable and interesting to the reader. How do I give an ubermensch a relatable character arc? What character developments are in-bounds? How do I make someone charming and confident and successful someone readers want to root for, rather than watch crash and burn?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Back to Activity v. Passivity. I could see myself someday writing an assertive, “jumpable” MC with a heart of gold who knows how to ask for what he wants. But shit, what a tricky tightrope, making sure he comes off as assertive and self-confident but never predatory or narcissistic. And even if I clear that bar, there’s still the challenge of keeping him likable and interesting to the reader. How do I give an ubermensch a relatable character arc? What character developments are in-bounds? How do I make someone charming and confident and successful someone readers want to root for, rather than watch crash and burn?

Readers seem to have no trouble rooting for guys who want to fuck their Moms, Moms who want to fuck their sons, spouses who cheat on their spouses and women who want to be raped, so I wouldn't stress so much over making your character perfectly stainless likeable.

 

[MillieDynamite]

As I have repeatedly stated on this site, I write to please myself. If anyone likes the story, that's great. If everyone hates it, oh, well, what the hell, that's fine as well. Trying to please everyone means losing who you are. Trying to produce work that men will fawn over or women will praise you for isn't what I care about. I don't have the time, talent, or inclination to waste my time figuring out what trips either of sex's or myriad of gender's triggers. Write what interests me: dominant people of either sex and all genders, submissive in all, and I love to create a world that will touch them on some emotional level. Love or hate are equal responses. If I do that well, everything else works out.

Actually, if you are writing to appeal to an audience, gender is a huge deal. There are writers who are trying to appeal primarily to straight dudes. There are writers who are primarily trying to appeal to women. There are writers who are primarily trying to appeal to lesbians. There are writers primarily trying to appeal to transgenders, etc, etc, etc.

Even if you believe that you do not have to be the gender of the audience that you are trying to appeal to (which I would definitely include myself in that group), don't kid yourself about it. Certainly any gender can write for any other, but it takes some skill and some observation to pull it off convincingly, so the gender does matter. Just look at the lesbian stories that are certainly written by men in disguise because the story is actually just girl-on-girl and actual lesbians can tell fairly easily most of the time.

And there's nothing wrong with any of this. I'm not being judgmental in that way, but why do you think that every so often there is a thread here in the AH where someone asks how to write characters for opposite genders? Because the author's gender is a factor, especially the lower the skill. The higher the skills, the less gender is a factor. I always applaud such threads because it shows a willingness and desire of writers to broaden their skills and hone their craft.

 

[AG31]

As I have repeatedly stated on this site, I write to please myself. If anyone likes the story, that's great. If everyone hates it, oh, well, what the hell, that's fine as well. Trying to please everyone means losing who you are. Trying to produce work that men will fawn over or women will praise you for isn't what I care about. I don't have the time, talent, or inclination to waste my time figuring out what trips either of sex's or myriad of gender's triggers. Write what interests me: dominant people of either sex and all genders, submissive in all, and I love to create a world that will touch them on some emotional level. Love or hate are equal responses. If I do that well, everything else works out.

Me to.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I started these last two on sort of a lark not really having a plan in mind and just let the words spill out. Both have similarities and were born out of a weird dream with the guys not really intended to be the key figures.

 

[ChuckWolf]

In most of my stories, the male protagonists are fairly good-looking submissive blank-slates with most of the attention/detail spent on the sexually aggressive/dominant female(s) in the story.

The one current exception is Eddy, the main character in my series The Making of Widow's Journey, who is a pretty well-adjusted young actor that is confident in his craft and with women, who has to engage in a type of "femdom chess game" with his lead co-star, who is in a position to make or break his career and, seemingly, uses that position to sexually humiliate and control him.

 

[AG31]

In most of my stories, the male protagonists are fairly good-looking submissive blank-slates with most of the attention/detail spent on the sexually aggressive/dominant female(s) in the story.

The one current exception is Eddy, the main character in my series The Making of Widow's Journey, who is a pretty well-adjusted young actor that is confident in his craft and with women, who has to engage in a type of "femdom chess game" with his lead co-star, who is in a position to make or break his career and, seemingly, uses that position to sexually humiliate and control him.

Love your avatar.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Love your avatar.

Thanks, not really an anime guy, but it's from one of those.

In the scene, the guy is strapped to a cross and emanating from that cross are hands caressing him and giving him an involuntary handjob.