#this is me remembering why I don't read French books written by male writers

[chalilodimun]

Why is it that cis male writers who write fantasy always put women in horrible situations? Why is it that every woman is either "at home" or a whore? Why did I have to get jumped by the freaking 13 yo MC getting sloshed at the 90% mark and raping a 20-something whore as his first time? Fuck, she was crying the whole time and the only thing that happened to the MC was getting the disappointed glare of his mentor who supposedly thinks women are equal to men.

Fuck that.

Why do male writers always have women raped in their fantasy books? Tolkien wasn't very feminist at all, but at least, his women didn't get scorned. Or raped.

[tenrose]

I have finished Zig Zag by José Carlos Samoza. and honestly it could have been a five stars if wasn't written by a man... I mean the whole story is great but the female MC is a scientist and a top model and every guys want to fuck her, which considering a part of the plot is kinda fucked up.

It's funny though, when I was younger and reading lot of fantasy written by men I thought it was the norm writing women like that... Some of you may remember that I was a huge a Terry Goodkind fan before 😬😬😬😬 while now if I was re reading the sword of truth I would probably have the urge to strangle him just for his rape kinks (not even counting on the plot bullshit lmao)... I do however still hold very dear to my heart the show legend of the seeker (cheap fantasy TV my beloved)

But as an adult I have dnfed many books because of that. I have dnfed a very famous, apparently best french fantasy book over that (Gagner la guerre) because at some point, the male mc is insufferable and it's the whole point but I 100% wasn't sure it was criticism. It was, the writer said so himself, and even if I had my doubts, it was pretty clear, but the fact that it is somehow always a man who writes these kind of characters and that's why I wasn't 100% sure because it's always the freaking men, the fact that he himself had to say the MC wasn't made to be loved because some men thought he was cool... Yeah. I mean no disrespect for the author I don't him, but he's been clear and I believe him, and honestly even though I didn't finish the book it's pretty clear that the MC is a loser. It's just why somehow you rarely see women write this???

I also have to dnf 1Q84 over this and I'm still really pissed over this one. Because I really wanted to read that one. The thing is, if you haven't read it, there's a mention of woman's breast literally every single page, and I am 'ot exaggerating the slightest. Like it's crazy I've never seen someone obsessing over boobs this much. There female MC has a chunk of her personality revolving around the fact that she thinks her boobs are too small???? Hello???? And the thing is, I really liked the atmosphere it's oneiric, it's different from what I read usually and it's slow passed so it feel cozy and dreamy but this obsession with women's breasts really ruined the whole atmosphere for me and I had to dnf over this, and yes I'm pissed (if you have books recs with that kind of vibes I'm taking it).

Honestly Zig Zag has the luck to have a thriller plot being way too addictive for me to dnf over that and every other aspect of the book was great. Like other than that I genuinely had a good time and I devoured the 1 000 pages in no time, and I wish in 2 years I would rec it because it has a great mixing genres of SF, thriller and horror plot but I will probably remember it as 'this guy was writing his fantasies'

Anyway, it's really great that I've grown up as a reader, I'm more open and I have a better sense of criticism, but I wish I was still able to ignore men writing women like I was 14.

Luckily, I also read way more women writers than before, which is maybe why I notice these things more now.