My usual trawl for interesting science stories turned up this announcement about a couple of academics trying to find out whether authors can actually write characters of the opposite sex. As this is the sort of topic that is liable to generate a flame war on LiveJournal I’ll just note that it is a shame the work is focusing on Italian literature because it might be useful for the researchers to take a look at a gentleman called James Tiptree Jr.

Much more appropriate, however, would be for them to read this interview with Kelley Eskridge in which she talks about writing her character, Mars, who in the space of several stories has yet to confess to a gender, one way or another. Writing a character of the opposite gender is one thing; managing to write a character who never gives a clue as to its gender is quite another.

One of the things that rather depresses me about gender politics is that most of the time you escape one stereotype only to be oppressed by another. It isn’t just conservatives wanting us to adopt “traditional” gender roles. Feminists look down on women who do present “traditionally”. Gays and lesbians look down on bisexuals, and argue amongst themselves as to whether it is more politically correct to pass for straight or to be out and proud. And everyone has it in for transsexuals. What Eskridge has to say seems much more sane to me:

I do what I want. I do what feels good to me and what I think best expresses me. So I don’t have a problem with people having a gender or expressing gender along expectation lines. I think people should do what they want and be who they are.

(I hasten to note that this is taken out of context and that Eskridge is talking about gender expression, not saying that anyone should be allowed to do anything they want.)