There’s that old stereotype that women only write about small domestic issues–sewing, pregnancy, raising kids–and men write about big “important” issues–war, the fate of mankind, etc. I asked the Word Pirates the other night if they think this still goes on. Are there still women’s subjects and men’s subjects in writing?

My guess is yes, these stereotypes still linger, although not officially. Women aren’t confined to writing about society and family like they used to be, but they still do it. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we need both genders writing about all subjects. And frankly, men tend to dip into the women’s subjects more than the other way around–you are more likely to find a male writer writing about family than you are to find a female writer writing about war.

Anyway, we came up with a list of stereotypical Male subjects and Female subjects, and it rather amused me. Here is it:

Subjects Regularly Covered By Female Writers:

Family
Children/Pregnancy
Emotional strife
Romance
Jane Austen
Vampires being romantic
Fashion/shopping
Death from cancer/car accidents
The emotional ramifications of sex

Subjects Regularly Covered By Male Writers:

The condition of mankind
The end of the world
Sports
War
Physical strife
Science
Vampire being violent
Death from terrorism
Politics
The sex act itself and the ramifications of women having emotional reactions to it
Cowboys

This is, of course, tongue-in-cheek. Still, I think there’s some truth to it.