“I find it fascinating that Paul [the apostol], writing to the Galatians, responds to the question, "What does it mean to live in Christ?" by saying, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."” WritingMeanDoeJesusChristFemaleSlaveMalesJewGreekFascinatingGalatians Author:John Shelby Spong
“I write a little bit about what it's like to be a female boss in my book [ Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?] and the things I've noticed about that, but by and large, it's just a tough job in general.” WritingLittlesBookJobsBitsLittle BitToughFemaleBossHanging Out Author:Mindy Kaling
“I had a girls' writing retreat at my condo and a bunch of other female writers came down. Me and two other writers got there before everyone and they pitched this idea to me. At first I wasn't sure what direction it was going in, but then once they kind of explained to me what they were thinking, we wrote it.” ThinkingWritingFirstsKindTwoIdeasGirlFemaleBunchRetreatFemale Writers Author:Jamie Lynn Spears
“I think the Internet really sussed things into perspective. Because twelve years ago, I could spend my days on writing and running my band and touring and making posters and practicing with my band and working on my vocals, but I didn't spend a large pie chart of my time sifting through criticism as well, and nowadays I do, and all female artists do, because to be able to promote your work, you need to live in those spaces.” ThinkingNeedsWritingYearsWellsRunningAbleArtistSpacePerspectiveInternetBandFemaleYears AgoCriticismMy TimeTwelvePieVocalTouringPostersSiftingFemale Artists Author:Amanda Palmer
“And it's one more shitty thing to write about somebody, in between getting really, really, really upset at female Ghostbusters and Gamergate, and the things that really matter.” WritingMatterFemaleUpset Author:David Cross
“Here are examples of real women who have done real things: good, bad, and in between. We're expanding not just the definition of the female or feminine hero, but also villains and more complex, nuanced female characters. Too often I hear men say, "I don't know how to write women." Here you go, here are five incredible women you can use to inspire your own stories.” KnowsMenWritingRealDoneCharacterStoriesUseKnow HowFiveExampleInspireHeroFemaleComplexesIncrediblesDefinitionsFeminineVillainExpandingReal ThingsFemale CharactersReal Women Author:Anita Sarkeesian
“I think a lot of writers, male and female, write as if their parents were killed in a car accident when they were 2, and they have no one to hold accountable. And unfortunately, I don't have that. I have parents who I care about what they think.” IfsThinkingWritingCareParentCarFemaleMalesAccidentsI CareCar Accident Author:Mindy Kaling
“It used to be that you had to make female TV characters perfect so no one would be offended by your 'portrayal' of women. Even when I started out on 'The Office' eight years ago, we could write our male characters funny and flawed, but not the women. And now, thankfully, it's completely different.” WritingYearsDifferentCharacterWould BeFunnyUsedPerfectTvsOfficeFemaleYears AgoMalesEightUsed To BeOffendedFlawedPortrayal Author:Mindy Kaling
“I guess my writing through time has focused on a number of dimensions that reflect separately on the meaning and social place of the female body.” WritingBodySocialNumbersFemaleFocusedDimensionsRough TimesFemale Body Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“From the world of the muse and writing, there will come, hopefully, the book. You're right, for me, that the muse is always female, and the book comes from a separate gender dimension than the concrete male world that, as you pointed out, has been surrounding me since I was an infant.” WorldWritingHas BeensBookFemaleMalesGenderHopefullyDimensionsConcreteMuseInfant Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“When I write, I put aside the heterosexual world to admit a muse that is a woman-loving-woman female.” WorldWritingFemaleMuse Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“What does seem to be a constant is that I write more emotional stories the older I get. I think a lot of that has to do with growing up in a patriarchal structure where unemotional intellect (male) is taken more seriously than delving into emotions (female), and gradually freeing myself from those expectations.” ThinkingWritingDoeStoriesSeemsEmotionGrowing UpTakenGrowingEmotionalExpectationsFemaleStructureConstantMalesIntellectDelvingUnemotional Author:Karin Tidbeck
“I grew up in a household of women, they ran the show, they kept it all together. I credit my ability to write in female voices, as well as male, with having grown up with older sisters in a neighborhood largely populated by girls.” WritingWellsShowsTogetherGirlVoiceAbilityGrewGrew UpFemaleMalesCreditRanNeighborhoodHouseholdOlder SisterFemale Voice Author:Wally Lamb
“My muse can take the form of a landscape, an era, a style of writing, a piece of music, and, perhaps that which I find strangest of all for a muse, a human female. Of course, she's also adept at taking the form of toothless old Japanese men or young English lads with tattoos.” MenWritingHumansFormYoungCoursesPiecesStyleFemaleErasLandscapeMuseTattooLadAdeptToothless Author:Quentin S. Crisp
“I thought about ["Summer Sisters" ] so often as I was writing about these female characters who love each other and hated each other and were sort of in love with each other.” WritingCharacterSummerFemaleHatedLove Each OtherFemale Characters Author:Lena Dunham
“As long as 85,000 women are raped every year and 400,000 sexually assaulted in England and Wales alone, it's hard to argue that there isn't a problem. Not to mention the fact that fewer than 1/3 of our MPs are female, that women write only 1/5 front page newspaper articles, that they're less than 1/10 of engineers and that 54,000 a year lose their jobs as a result of maternity discrimination... to name but a tiny sample of issues. It's not 'going too far' to demand equality, and we're certainly not there yet.” WritingYearsLongHardFactsProblemJobsNamesLosesResultsIssuesFrontsDemandPagesFemaleEnglandArguingTinyNewspapersDiscriminationArticlesFewerEngineersSexuallySampleWalesMaternityMps Author:Laura Bates
“I started out writing romance novels, and that's a side of publishing that's very female oriented. 99.9% of the writers are women, most of the editors are women, and these are books written for the female gaze. And so my point of view - the way I looked at fandom and publishing and writing - was all about women. So for me that's what was natural, that's what was comfortable. And then I moved over to comics. And all of a sudden it was... Pardon the expression, it was a sausage fest.” WritingBookRomanceNaturalNovelFemaleMovedPoint Of ViewPublishingRomance Novel Author:Marjorie M. Liu
“I feel that the thing about film and particularly about TV, actually, is it's being created now. We're living in the best time so far because there are many more women writing and women directing, women producing, and people are finally catching on to the fact that women want to go and buy tickets to see female characters and more than one in a film. So I actually think it's a very fertile time to be a woman over 40.” PeopleThinkingWritingCharacterFilmFemaleWomen Want Author:Cynthia Nixon
“I think that female musicians are constantly fighting an uphill battle in general. Even when I'm not writing heartbreak songs... the fact that songwriting is so difficult and music criticism has become so content driven means that sometimes critics can go for the easy descriptors rather than an in-depth analysis.” ThinkingWritingMeanSometimesSongFightingEasyDifficultBattleMusicianFemaleCriticismCriticsDrivenSongwriting Author:Marissa Nadler
“As an actor, especially one who's worked in casting, you read so many scripts, and some of them are terrible. They're terrible and they're getting made, and some of them are good but the female role is just painful or underwritten. So after years of that, I had this idea kicking around in my head for two years, and I thought, I'm just going to start writing.” WritingTerribleFemalePainful Author:Erin Maya Darke
“The way that I'm feeling the shift in movie industry is that women are allowed to be part of the development process. So I do feel like things are changing because I'm allowed to option books or write an original screenplay or direct. Those possibilities are really wide open. I think that males still struggle to write for females, which is totally fine because I don't think I could write a really impactful male role because that's not the life that I lived. So we'll just keep shouting and say we need more opportunities for not just women but people that are just different.” PeopleThinkingWritingBookDifferentFeelingsOpportunityStrugglePossibilityFemaleDirect Author:Brie Larson
“Much of the writing I do about the female body is to remind women, myself included, that they make life and they make death. That strikes me as a far more powerful stance than the weak lies told about mothering.” WritingLyingPowerfulFemaleWeakMotheringFemale Body Author:Samantha Hunt
“Aaron Sorkin wrote me one of the best female roles on television, I think. He's a wonderful writer for all people. If he chooses to write, hopefully he'll write something that involves more women next time, because I would love to do it.” PeopleThinkingWritingWonderfulFemaleHopefullyNext Time Author:Allison Janney
“I think people always have - not just journalists who help their careers, I think all people struggle with this idea that a female pop artist can write all her songs. Even I do it sometimes, you see a really good female pop artist and you're like, 'I wonder if she writes her songs.' That's never really my first initial reaction to a male popstar.” PeopleThinkingWritingSometimesHelpingArtistSongWonderStruggleFemaleJournalistPop Art Author:Ellie Rowsell
“I was lucky enough to date my first love for five years. We had a very romantic, very dramatic teenage love affair. And it has impacted me because I have married a man who is simply the grownup version of my first love. So, I believe my first love was just preparing me for the man I'm married to today. And it has also impacted the way I write, because there will always be a love story in every movie I write. Always! I think having a positive first love experience before the heartbreak made me a more confident in who I am, a more confident female today.” ThinkingMenWritingBelieveHeartEnoughTodayI BelieveHe ManLuckyMarriedFemaleAffairLove StoryDramaticFirst LoveTeenageLove AffairGrownupsVery Romantic Author:Amma Asante
“People ask me: "Do I consider myself to be a Latino writer?" "What does it mean to be Latino?" Those are very strange questions to answer , but feminism is easier because it's just an ideology, a way I live my life. And absolutely in the most political sense I try to sit down and write very strong female roles.” PeopleWritingTryingMeanPoliticalStrongFeminismStrangeFemaleIdeologyAsk MeVery StrongLiving My LifeLatinoI Live My LifeStrong Female Author:Quiara Alegria Hudes
“If I were writing about Picasso and pointed out that he painted women because he was interested in the female form, that would seem like an obvious point. I don't know why people revolt when I point out that Rockwell painted the male figure and was interested in it.” PeopleWritingFemaleObviousRevolt Author:Deborah Solomon
“I do not consciously reclaim. I am not those "some readers" and so I think it would be impossible for me to see my work that way, as reclaiming a preserve. I write in a way that is aimed at all levels - conscious and unconscious - at pleasing the kind of reader I am. Some of the authors I read are male, some are female, and some are even in between. And speaking of in between, maybe now is as good a moment as any to point out that there might be no "feminine" or "masculine" literary sensibility, or sensibility generally.” ThinkingWritingKindMomentsImpossibleConsciousFemaleUnconsciousFeminineSensibilityMasculine Author:Rachel Kushner
“I always come from a female perspective and a strong music base, trying to keep a positive slant on things. It's important for you to do what you love and not let anyone bring you down, and I keep that message throughout. I like writing songs all females can relate to - songs about when you're a chick and you get your heart broken and you go shopping.” WritingTryingHeartImportantSongStrongBrokenPerspectiveFemaleHeart Broke Author:Nikka Costa
“A female writer does definitely get more attention if she writes about male characters. It's true. It's considered somehow more literary, in the same way that it's more literary to write about supposedly male subjects, such as war. You're considered more seriously by the literary establishment.” WritingWarCharacterAttentionFemale Author:Lauren Groff
“I feel like every movie has been wish fulfillment. For The Heat, I love Lethal Weapon. I watch it over and over again. I always wanted a friend like that; I always wanted to be the badass taking down the drug dealers. It was basically just writing what I wished I could be. Female friendship is so interesting to me. I often feel like when you make female friends as adults, it's polite. I wish it was less polite and you could be frank and mess around with each other.” WritingWishInterestingDrugFemaleMessFulfillmentFrankPoliteBadassDealer Author:Katie Dippold
“'Alien' asked ground-breaking questions about eco-politics and female empowerment. 'The Matrix' delved deeper into the concept of perception versus reality than perhaps any other film I know. But for some reason, we tend not to remember the significance of their writing.” KnowsWritingReasonRealityRememberFilmPerceptionConceptsFemaleEmpowermentDeeperAliensSignificanceVersusFemale EmpowermentEco Author:Jason Reitman
“Once I got over the fear of writing female characters, it actually came quite easily and I was really happy with it. I just thought about girls I knew really, really well and I'd just have conversations with them and tried to relay how they talk about certain things.” WritingWellsCharacterCertainGirlConversationFemaleReally HappyFemale CharactersRelays Author:Eli Roth
“Sometimes writing a novel is not unlike having a baby. You'd have to ask a female novelist to compare the pain.” WritingSometimesPainAsksNovelBabyFemaleCompareNovelistsHaving A Baby Author:Salman Rushdie
“I never felt oppressed because of my gender. When I'm writing a poem or drawing, I'm not a female; I'm an artist.” WritingArtistFeltFemaleGenderDrawingOppressed Author:Patti Smith
“Female artists are the perfect example of a creator: They know how to make life and art with their bodies. Life comes from their bodies, so on a very basic level, they have more to write about.” KnowsWritingArtBodyArtistPerfectLevelsKnow HowExampleFemaleCreatorFemale Artists Author:Brandon Boyd
“Men have a lot less to write about, unless you're somebody like Tom Waits or John Lennon. And the female voice is much more suited to melody. Men have this barky thing - we're domesticated apes with a microphone.” MenWritingWaitingVoiceFemaleMelodyTomsApesMicrophonesLennonFemale Voice Author:Brandon Boyd
“I write almost always in the third person, and I don't think the narrator is male or female anyway. They're both, and young and old, and wise and silly, and sceptical and credulous, and innocent and experienced, all at once. Narrators are not even human - they're sprites.” ThinkingWritingHumansPersonsYoungWiseFemaleThirdsMalesSillyInnocentNarratorsYoung And OldThird PersonOld And Wise Author:Philip Pullman
“But if you didn't have more urgent things to do after supper [in boot camp], you could write a letter, loaf, gossip, discuss the myriad mental shortcomings of sergeants and, dearest of all, talk about the female of the species (we became convinced that there was no such creatures, just mythology created by inflamed imaginations - one boy in our company claimed to have seen a girl, over at regimental headquarters; he was unanimously judged a liar and a braggart).” IfsWritingGirlImaginationCompanyBoysCreaturesFemaleLettersSpeciesConvincedMythologyThings To DoLiarsGossipCampsJudgedBootsUrgentShortcomingsSupperHeadquartersSergeantsBoot CampBraggarts Author:Robert A. Heinlein
“It is this delightful habit of journalizing which largely contributes to form the easy style of writing for which ladies are so generally celebrated. Every body allows that the talent of writing is particularly female. Nature might have done something, but I am sure it must be essentially assisted by the practice of keeping a journal.” WritingDoneBodyMightFormEasyPracticeTalentStyleHabitFemaleJournalDelightfulKeeping A Journal Book:Northanger abbey Source: Northanger abbey
“At the end of the day I have many answers for it. It has to do with my mom, who was an extraordinary woman, and a great feminist. It has to do with the people in my life. It has to do with a lot of different things, but -- I don't know! Because I'm not just writing from the female characters for other people. I have a desire to see them in our culture -- that was not met for most of my childhood. Except occasionally by James Cameron. [From the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, in response to being asked why he writes strong female characters.]” PeopleKnowsWritingDifferentEndsCharacterDesireCultureStrongAnswersChildhoodMomMetsFemaleResponseExtraordinaryFeministMy MomComicThe End Of The DayDifferent ThingsFemale CharactersCameronStrong Female CharactersStrong FemaleSan DiegoComic Con Author:Joss Whedon