• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Leta Blake

author. human. working hard to become stellar at life.

  • Home
  • Books
    • Contemporary
      • North’s Pole
      • Punching the V-Card
      • Cowboy Seeks Husband
      • Mr. Christmas
        • Mr. Frosty Pants
        • Mr. Naughty List
        • Mr. Jingle Bells
      • My December Daddy
      • Any Given Lifetime
      • Training Season
        • Training Season
        • Training Complex
      • Wake Up Married
      • Will & Patrick Wake Up Married, Episodes 1 – 3
      • Will & Patrick Wake Up Married, Eps 4 – 6
      • Will & Patrick’s Endless Honeymoon
      • Smoky Mountain Dreams
      • The River Leith
      • Vespertine
      • The Difference Between
      • Stay Lucky
      • Bring On Forever
    • Omegaverse
      • Heat of Love
        • White Heat
        • Slow Heat
        • Alpha Heat
        • Slow Birth
        • Winter’s Truth
        • Bitter Heat
        • Winter’s Heart
      • Heat for Sale
        • Heat for Sale
        • Bully for Sale
    • Fantasy
      • Raise Up, Heart
      • Gay Fairy Tales
        • Levity
        • Flight
      • Omega Mine: Search for a Soulmate
      • Any Given Lifetime
      • Angel Undone
    • New Adult
      • ’90s Universe
        • My Skin Begs You Please
        • 90’s Coming of Age
          • Pictures of You
          • You Are Not Me
          • Only You
    • Audiobooks
  • Translations
    • French
      • Bulletin
      • Titres autonomes
        • À l’ombre de Smoky Mountain Dreams
        • Dans n’importe quelle vie
        • La chute de l’ange
        • Le coeur ne ment pas
        • Le Retour de Leith
        • Monsieur Frosty
        • Monsieur Naughty
        • Vespéral
      • Entrainement
        • Saison d’entrainement
        • Centre d’entrainement
        • Entraînement: Intégrale
      • Passion
        • La montée de la passion: Passion #1
        • La passion de l’Alpha: Passion #2
        • Une passion amère: Passion #3
      • Se réveiller mariés
        • Will & Patrick (se réveiller mariés : épisode 1)
        • Will & Patrick rencontrent la famille ( se réveiller mariés : épisode 2)
        • Will & Patrick traversent les fêtes ( se réveiller mariés : épisode 3)
        • Will & Patrick combattent leurs sentiments ( se réveiller mariés : épisode 4)
        • Will & Patrick rencontrent la mafia: se réveiller mariés #5
        • La fin heureuse de Will & Patrick: se réveiller mariés #6
        • La lune de miel de Will & Patrick: Se réveiller mariés #7
        • Se réveiller mariés: Intégrale
      • Tentations
        • Lévitation: un conte de fées gay
        • Envol : un conte de fées gay
      • Vers la vie adulte
        • Vers la vie adulte #1
        • Vers la vie adulte #2
    • Italian
      • Notiziario
      • Titoli indipendenti
        • North’s Pole: Un pacco per Natale
        • Cowboy cerca marito
        • Vespertine : Edizione italiana
        • Smoky Mountain Dreams: Edizione italiana
        • In ogni singola vita
        • Un uomo fortunato
        • Un fiume in piena
        • Le Differenze
        • ANGELO IMPERFETTO
        • La leggerezza del principe
        • Rise: Una favola gay
      • ’90s Coming of Age – Versione italiana
        • Ritratti Di Te (’90s Coming of Age Vol. 1)
        • Tu non sei me (’90s Coming of Age Vol. 2)
      • Calore d’Amore
        • Slow Heat: Calore Inatteso
        • Calore Proibito
        • Calore Amaro
      • Calore in vendita
        • Calore in vendita
      • Home for the Holidays – Versione italiana
        • Cuore di ghiaccio (Home for the Holidays Vol. 1)
        • La lista dei cattivi (Home for the Holidays Vol.2)
      • La stagione dell’allenamento
        • Training Season: La stagione dell’allenamento
        • Training Complex: Il complesso dell’allenatore
      • Svegliarsi sposati
        • Svegliarsi sposati (Wake Up Married Vol. 1)
        • Svegliarsi sposati 2 & 3: Will e Patrick incontrano la famiglia (Wake Up Married 2 & 3)
        • Svegliarsi sposati 4 & 5: Will e Patrick combattono i loro sentimenti – Will e Patrick incontrano la mafia (Wake Up Married 4& 5)
        • Svegliarsi sposati: Il lieto fine di Will e Patrick – La luna di miele infinita di Will e Patrick (Vol 6 & 7) (Wake up married)
    • German
      • Die einbändige
        • Auch in diesem Leben
        • Das Herz findet immer einen Weg
        • Heat for Sale – Deutsche
        • Mr Frosty Pants (German)
        • Mr. Naughty List (German)
        • Smoky Mountain Dreams – Deutsche Version
        • Stay Lucky– Deutsche
        • Vespertine: Der Priester und der Rockstar
      • In der Hitze der Liebe
        • Langsame Hitze
        • Alpha-Hitze
        • Langsame Geburt
        • Bittere Hitze
      • Training Season – Deutsche Version
        • Training Season – Deutsche
        • Training Complex – Deutsche
      • Überraschend … verheiratet!
        • Überraschend … verheiratet! (Wake up Married 1)
        • Überraschend … verliebt! (Wake up Married 2)
        • Will & Patrick: Endlose Flitterwochen: Wake up Married Bonusstory
      • Newsletter
    • Spanish
      • Sueños en las Montañas Humeantes
  • About

badly written characters

Heteronormativity or Misogyny? How About Both! #lgbt #gay #mmromance

January 6, 2014 by Leta

Interesting discussion at Brandonshire’s blog about heteronormativity in M/M Romance. I replied there with the following and wanted to post it my comment on my blog. It’s a bit out of context, but I think sense can be made of it. Otherwise, you can check it out at Brandon’s blog for full contextual understanding. 😉

**

What you’re describing is not actually this, “Even the most effeminate gay men are still that, they are men, they aren’t women, they shouldn’t be written like women” but rather this, “That is writing a stereotype of a woman, who is not a woman.” Because what you’re describing are BADLY WRITTEN CHARACTERS. Women don’t behave in those ways either.

So, to me, the issue is not if the gay man is effeminate, or horny, or not horny, or “alpha male”, or whatever else…the issue is whether or not they are written as well-rounded, true-to-life human beings. Basically, when I see people complaining about gay men being written like women, I start wondering just how they see WOMEN, you know? I mean, when was the last time I read a woman in a book–especially a romance–that I related to as a woman? It’s sadly been awhile.

So, I have no problem with you or anyone else pointing out that some of the characterizations of gay men (and of women) in books are deeply problematic because they are unrealistic, stereotypical, and lacking in creativity, but I guess I do end up having a problem with the idea that it is because the men are being portrayed as ‘like women’…because generally I don’t even know any women who behave like these stereotypical characters we see in books.

Maybe a better phrasing would be “gay men who behave like the worst and most unrealistic stereotypes of women”. That’s a phrasing I could probably get behind.

**I have been told that I should shut up about this and that female authors of m/m can write whatever they want because women are the biggest readers of the genre.**

and

**I’ve had gay friends of mine (authors) who were told by female readers of the genre that their gay men were wrong, because they didn’t fit how they see gay men.**

Well, obviously, that’s shitty and short-sighted and homophobic and fetishizing on the part of those who have said these things. I’m certainly not expressing that opinion. I’m just challenging the idea that these characters are written “like women” because I think that they’re just crappily written characters who are not like women at all.

Hope this made sense! I haven’t had my coffee yet!

Filed Under: Feminism, Gay, Gay Rights, LGBT, Reading, romance, writing Tagged With: badly written characters, effeminate, gay, heteronormative, heteronormativity, man, men, misogyny, stereotypes, woman, women

Footer

Search

Follow Me

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • tiktok
  • amazon
  • book

Join Us

Copyright © 2025 · Leta Blake - All Rights Are Reserved · Designed by SloanJ Designs