Recently, my writing group discussed whether a writer could adequately portray someone with far different life experiences. One member gave as an example of a male writing a sympathetic protrayal of a woman, Thomas Hardy in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. My immediate reaction was emotional. I was required to read that book in high school English class and the experience has forever haunted me. My recollection of details may be highly inaccurate after more than fifty years, but I still feel personally angry at that author for creating a deterministic world where a young woman spent her whole life stalked by her powerful rapist. The story reinforced the message pounded into me as a young woman: any sexual encounter you have will ruin your life, even if you are a victim of rape. Perhaps the author accurately portrayed the young woman’s emotions, but the overall misogynistic fatalism displaying the powerful man always getting what he wants from a powerless woman has troubled me ever since. In fact, the message so endured, that I dared not read even a synopsis to fact check until after I had finished composing this blog post. Be careful what you write! Is it oppressive for any segment of your readership? What could be its impact?
