Writing a captivating piece takes way more than putting pen to paper. The author spends countless hours developing the plot, writing and rewriting it, crossing out hundreds of unnecessary lines, and doing the research—lots and lots of it. Some writers could work more on the two, wiping out some of the information or researching it better. Otherwise, they might end up being shamed for some of their inaccurate, unrealistic, or plain foolish lines. As these male writers depicting female characters did.

The subreddit “Men Writing Women” is dedicated, as the description suggests, to “how men who create films, books, TV, and graphic novels characterize women”. Members of the community clearly don’t shy away from sharing their finds, and we have gathered some of their best examples into this list today. If you feel like it’s too short, check out our previous pieces about “Men Writing Women” here and here.

#1 Who Doesn't Love To Bleed And Writhe In Pain Once A Month?

Image credits: Haebak

#2 What Else Could A Woman Want After Coming Out Of A Coma? Beyond The Darkness (1979)

Image credits: FreudsteinLives

#3 Jane Goodall Should Just Go Ape S*it

Image credits: Faenix_Wright

A Jack of all trades is a master of none, they say. That rings true, as there’s hardly a person who knows the ins and outs of every subject out there. And writers are no exception; no matter how well-read they are, writing about specific topics usually requires specific knowledge, which they might not have.

Similarly, writing about certain groups of people calls for knowing what they might be like. Or the basics of their anatomy, at least, if that’s what’s important for the story. Otherwise, you might end up sounding ludicrous to those who have a better understanding of the topic, not to mention the experts.

#4 Scientology, A New Slant On Life - By L. Ron Hubbard (1965)

Image credits: friends-waffles-work

#5 I’m Surprised No One Has Posted This Guy Yet?? From Jpod By Douglas Coupland

Image credits: Picklebaby626

Grammar Factory suggested a rule of thumb for doing enough research for your writing. According to them, you should analyze it enough to be able to write your first draft with no holes, without it becoming a reason to put off the writing process itself.

In his book, ‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’, Steven King pointed out that even though the research shouldn’t outshine the story itself (well, unless it’s a research paper you’re working on), it’s crucial for fixing any possible errors in the story and adding some credible details.

#6 [clans Of The Alphane Moon By Philip K. Dick] How To Assert Your Dominance Over Other Women: Scare Their Nipples Off

Image credits: snugglyaggron

#7 Til That I, A Virgin, Have At Least One Kid. (Once Gone, By Blake Pierce)

Image credits: schrodingers_cat42

#8 In Death, I Hope All My Friends Remember Me For My Great Rack [1q84, Haruki Murakami]

Image credits: mustardleaves

In order to avoid sounding foolish, you can always turn for help to experts or outside sources that are brimming with factual information. Grammar Factory emphasized just that by suggesting using books, the internet, or expert interviews as ways of researching information for your book.

#9 I’d Like To Imagine This Was Done For The Male Characters As Well

Image credits: Lwannagothere

#10 “Let Them Puppies Free!”

Image credits: ThorinSmokenshield

#11 Women Have Useless Faces (A Happy Death By Camus)

Image credits: 2460_one

Unless it’s total fiction you’re writing about, fact-checking is important. Certain claims made by authors can raise disputes, or have consequences bigger than being cited in a certain subreddit. The author Lisa Bickmore pointed out that when a writer wants to use factual material, it’s also crucial they find good, quality information. Not only that, it’s vital to present it in a way that’s understandable to the reader.

#12 (Tw: Physical Violence) [nana By Zola] Zola's Nana, Or How To Stop Worrying And Learn To Love Physical Abuse

Image credits: Adloud

#13 How To Kiss A Girl…sure

Image credits: 4reddityo

#14 That Natural Womanly Instinct To Love Cooking (Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? By Philip K Dick)

Image credits: cacti-pie

Despite being important to the integrity of the piece, facts can be too much for some readers. Unless it’s a manual—in which case, you know what you’re getting yourself into as a reader—having to deal with an abundance of detailed information can get tiresome or even boring for the regular bookworm.

#15 There Are Many Different Types Of Arm Folds, I'm Glad Robert Cleared That Up For Me

Image credits: SwaggyP997

#16 I’m Sorry, What?!? The Body Keeps The Score By Bessel Van Der Kolk

Image credits: Glum-Lavishness-4485

#17 Hell's Angels By Hunter S Thompson. Men In The 1960s Just Understood Women, You Know?

Image credits: jbeldham

In order to prevent the prospect of tiring out the reader, writers often turn to a more detailed, exciting way of writing. That in itself is not a bad idea at all; however, it’s important not to go overboard with such embellishments.

Some of the examples on this list, for instance, describe certain characters in a detailed way, which is simply incorrect. That’s when facts can turn against the writer, and make them the butt of the joke at times.

#18 The Amount Misogyny In This One Was A Bit Shocking. The Lake Of The Dead By André Bjerke

Image credits: crucified_cat

#19 Liana Finck, Women In Literature, 2022

Image credits: beroemd

#20 I Feel Christopher Pike’s Spellbound Could Fit

Image credits: ravioliriveroli

Other examples in the “Men Write Women” collection portray women in a way that is not factually correct, nor amusing. They are often based on stereotypes, which can be offensive to some female representatives, or emphasize certain “truths” that not a lot of them would agree to, such as the “magnificent uselessness of a woman’s face”, for instance.

#21 Lake Of The Dead By André Bjerke

Image credits: BreadstickBitch9868

#22 Ah Yes, The Kind Of Giggles That Spill From Your Breasts. Of Course The Girl Is “Just Turned 16” As Well. (Hospital By Han Song)

Image credits: Doing_Ok_Tomorrow

#23 The Immortalists By Chloe Benjamin. A Genuinely Good Book With The Worst First Paragraph!

Image credits: womanadrift

Certain views towards women in these snippets are not only displeasing but outdated as well. They often sound like something from the 19th century—the time when gender bias was so strong, some women authors chose to write under male pseudonyms. (George Eliot, who was actually Mary Ann Evans, or George Sand, a.k.a. Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, just to name a couple.)

#24 "A Fine Porch Door"... From The Stand By Stephen King

Image credits: guitarguy12341

#25 Breast Roll By "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" By Ned Vizzini

Image credits: maramara18

#26 "But Whatever" (The Night Shift, Alex Finlay)

Image credits: absolute_boy

#27 Go Home Everyone About To Post Stephen King. Alizee Yeezy Has Trumped All Of You

Image credits: PrincessTutubella

#28 Lots To Unpack Here [the Road Back By Erich Maria Remarque]

Image credits: LegerDomain

#29 Coast To Coast Murders, James Patterson

Image credits: arrow1500

#30 Because This Is What A Female Psychologist Would Think When Dealing With A Paranoid Schizophrenic Violent Patient. Domain, Steve Alten

Image credits: lazuethepirate

#31 The River Between By Ngugi Wa Thiong'o

Image credits: honeypebble

#32 Nod By Adrian Barnes

Image credits: aliensleftmehere

#33 My Friend Sent This To Me: It Starts Out Awful And Only Gets Worse. [zadie Smith, White Teeth]

Image credits: Facetious_ly

#34 From The Pictorial 1952

Image credits: ArtemisHime

#35 Nietzsche Going At It (Beyond Good And Evil)

Image credits: CzLawMayer

#36 “Cell” By Stephen King. You’re In A Zombie Apocalypse But You’re Worried About…what?

Image credits: VividEntrepreneur949

#37 Poet Fundamentally Misunderstands Women

Image credits: CarefulSmile1855

#38 Second Reference To Her Oversized Bazungas In As Many Paragraphs - Paternus By Dyrk Ashton

Image credits: DrVenkman85

#39 Arthur C Clarke - Rendezvous With Rama (1973). What Norton Says Here Is Really Stupid, But It Seems Like Clarke Knows This

Image credits: syntaxGarden

#40 Women As Baby Producers... (Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut)

Image credits: VoldeThor

#41 Chuck Palahnuik- The Invention Of Sound

Image credits: tuckedintanktops

#42 I Hate It When I Am Unfemininely Crisp And Therefore Less Attractive Than I Could Be To My Male Coworkers. (Brain Wave, Poul Anderson)

Image credits: theaveragemaryjanie

#43 Many Thanks To Kobo Abe For Explaining The Female Condition In His Classic Novel ‘The Woman In The Dunes’

Image credits: snuff_film

#44 The High Auction By Misba (Literally The 2nd Page)

Image credits: kwibu

#45 “Her Breasts Quivered With Excitement” Really??? (Sales Pitch By Philip K. Dick)

Image credits: maddiroo

#46 This Makes Me Prefer Men Writing About Women's Breasts (Bellevue Square By Michael Redhill)

Image credits: snufflespoop

#47 Asked A Text Ai (Link In Comments) To Write A Women Written By A Man

Image credits: WingsOfFireGeek

#48 Oh The Humanity! From House Of Leaves, By Mark Danielewski

Image credits: quartz_koala

#49 Absolute Fanasty (American Gods - Neil Gaiman)

Image credits: District_Dan

#50 "All Women Are Deeply Ashamed Of Their Periods." - Ross Anderson (Book Is Security Engineering, 2010)

Image credits: fey_belle

#51 I Love This Series And I Am A Fan Of King, But ??? [the Waste Lands (Book III Of The Dark Tower Series), Stephen King]

Image credits: iamrosey

#52 From "Carolina Moonset" By Matt Goldman. Where Did The Firehose Come From?

Image credits: globepuzzle

#53 The Waste Lands (Dark Tower III) By Stephen King

Image credits: AratheDyith

#54 We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (Total Recall) - Philip K. Dick. Aka: Sometimes Even Your Favourite Authors Fail

Image credits: babalishka

#55 From Sartre's Nausea

Image credits: Liall-Hristendorff

#56 "Dogfight" By William Gibson And Michael Swanwick

Image credits: SickleStars

#57 One Mention Of “Undulating Breasts” In A Book Is One Too Many [satan: His Psychotherapy And Cure By The Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.s.p.s. By Jeremy Leven]

Image credits: aragorn-son-of

#58 Stephen King - The Shining

Image credits: taisynn

#59 I Know This Is More Men Designing Women, But The Costume For The First Female Version Of Spider-Man Is… Something

Image credits: Aden-Wrked

#60 It’s Not Like I Expect Much From Certain Erotic Genres, But This Was Such Classic R/Menwritingwomen It Made Me Laugh. Mahoushi Teria To Tiken Na Iraisho By Mtd

Image credits: ShreddieKirin

#61 ‘Twitching By Numbers’ By Garry Bagnell, A Memoir Of His Anecdotes About Birdwatching, Published In This Very Year 2022. Insert Joke About Tits Here, But Seriously This Is Why Women Still Feel So Unwelcome In The Birding Community

Image credits: ginger_lucy

#62 Describing A Woman That Looks Good For “Breeding”, And Another Woman That Looks Like A Pastry, In The Same Paragraph - “Darkfall” By Dean Koontz

Image credits: tresdelache

#63 “They Are Overwhelmed With Thinking And Doing…”

Image credits: EastPersonality6

#64 What's That Going By? Just A Pair Of Legs. [the Bat By Jo Nesbø]

Image credits: Optimet

#65 Interesting… (Feed, M.t Anderson)

Image credits: _One_In_Lemillion_

#66 Men Writing… String Orchestra Instruments? (Setup And Repair Of The Double Bass For Optimum Sound By Chuck Traeger)

Image credits: WarmBean22

#67 This Is How I Plan To Introduce Myself From Now On

Image credits: bababanana20123

#68 [six Feet Under Par By Brent Norwalk/The Good Place By Micheal Schur] Found This Gem On The Wiki

Image credits: La_knavo4

#69 To Contrast The Other Post About Nausicaa, Here's Hayao Miyazaki Discussing His Thoughts About Her Chest

Image credits: Rodbe

#70 Catch And Cradle By Katia Rose. Written By A Woman, But I Still Thought This Line Would Find A Place Here

Image credits: Broadbi

#71 [heretics Of Dune By Frank Herbert] I Wonder How One Would Master The Three Hundred Steps Of Orgasmic Amplification

Image credits: aoi4eg

#72 From “A Cornucopia Of Dunderheads” By John Kennedy Toole, Jr

Image credits: PhantomDMR

#73 Because Daughters Flirt With Their Fathers From Birth (Last Orders By Graham Swift)

Image credits: sweetladymary

#74 Is This Really The Best Description He Could Come Up With? (The Crimson Petal And The White By Michael Farber)

Image credits: meegsbear

#75 Considering How Many Girls Fall In Love With Horses At Age 6-8, This Creeps Me Out Bigly (The Diana Chronicles By Tina Brown)

Image credits: wingthing666

#76 For The Lactose Intolerant Reader

Image credits: zaccharybird

#77 Coma By Robin Cook

Image credits: CrypticC62

#78 Boobs Ahoy! The Heart Of Man-Jin Kalman Stefansson

Image credits: Mapi_Birthday

#79 She’s Exhausted After Work, But Because She Senses Hubby Wants Sex, She Does Too. The Consultant By Bentley Little

Image credits: RangerWinter9719

#80 From The Rising Tide By Sam Lloyd. Anyone Got That Seal Skin Routine?

Image credits: coralie_ann

#81 From The Duel, A Short Story By Kaiko Takeshi

Image credits: lockemerigold

#82 The Croaning By Laird Barron. Ps: Anthropologists Dont Cry

Image credits: aschwann

#83 Thomas Jefferson To William Fleming, March 20, 1764, "11. O’clock At Night," Papers, 1:16

Image credits: HumbleCamel9022

#84 Prodigious Jugs [dreamcatcher By Stephen King]

Image credits: pinballwitch420

#85 Apparently The Protagonist Got All Of Her Talent From Her Dad, But Her Mother Gave Her Was 'Pluck' And "Tangerine Breast," From Tom Robbins' Skinny Legs And All

Image credits: Prosymnos

#86 Sister Talks About Her Brother’s Physique For Way Too Many Sentences, Arthur C Clarke In Songs Of Distant Earth

Image credits: snarkylinguist

#87 “Something Wicked This Way Comes” By Ray Bradbury. This Is A Lot Less Sinister Than Some Other Posts Here But Still! I Guess Only Men Get Existential Dread At 3 Am

Image credits: lespirite

#88 Male Author Who Doesn't Understand Women Assumes Men Are Just Incapable Of Understanding Women [fulgrim, Graham Mcneill]

Image credits: May_nerdd

#89 Her Breasts Did What? The Cloud Sculptor Of Coral -D, By J.g.ballard

Image credits: healta

#90 Investigator Arrives At The Crime Scene Where A Woman Has Been Murdered And Begins To Imagine Her With Her Killer [i Am Pilgrim By Terry Hayes]

Image credits: Cats_of_Freya

#91 The Shape Of Water - Andrea Camilleri

Image credits: Cevinkrayon

#92 I Wonder If The Author Ever Actually Talked To A Woman

Image credits: Eviajenkins

#93 Will Haunt You By Brian Kirk. It Will Haunt You ?

Image credits: gufflyr

#94 Dear Juliet: Letters From The Lovestruck And Lovelorn To Shakespeare's Juliet In Verona - Giulio Tamassia

Image credits: iHateCatelynTully

#95 Possession By A. S. Byatt - Watch Out, The Mean Feminists Boo Women With Nice Hair!

Image credits: ohioana

#96 Almost Black By Vijay Chokalingam?

Image credits: rvnlx789

#97 Good Eve, Fair Females! After Reading That Sesquipedalianism Is Arousing, I Ask That You Please Form An Orderly Queue Instead Of Throwing Yourselves At Me. Perchance. (*a Dark Matter* By Peter Straub)

Image credits: actibus_consequatur

#98 Philip K. Dick Posthumously Published Work Gather Yourselves Together

Image credits: onzie9

#99 Absolute Power By David Baldacci

Image credits: pastychan24

#100 [mating Males An Evolutionary Perspective On Mammalian Reproduction By Tim Glover] From What He Has Heard From Many Ladies

Image credits: gamerlololdude

#101 The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin

Image credits: Dull_Title_3902

#102 All Of This About Someone Else’s Wife ? (The Sympathizer By Viet Thanh Nguyen)

Image credits: gugam99

#103 Always About The Breasts. Home By Harlan Coben

Image credits: simmertoreduce

#104 A Necessary Detail (Peach Blossom Paradise By Ge Fei)

Image credits: apollo_____

#105 [the Warlock In Spite Of Himself -- Christopher Stasheff] The 28 Year Old Mc's "Dream" Girl. Her Age Is Unclear But She's Been Described As Child-Like More Than Once. Eesh

Image credits: dazzling_penguin

#106 Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' - Half Way Through And I'm Not Sure It'll Pass The Bechdel Test

Image credits: chickles88

#107 "Sturdy Nipples" In The Erstwhile By B. Catling

Image credits: cosmicmangobear

#108 The Ice Twins By S. K. Tremayne. Did Not Realize The Author Was A Man Until I Made It To The End Of The First Page

Image credits: CatchYouInTheRye

#109 I Burst Out Laughing At "Inching Breastward" [the Boatman's Daughter By Andy Davidson]

Image credits: lady___eve

#110 "Childlike" -James Herbert, The Survivor. ??

Image credits: EnthusiasmFuture

#111 Men Emojiing Women

Image credits: aknomnoms

#112 Wow Sounds Pretty Accurate (Naked By David Sedaris)

Image credits: chimirhye

#113 Ok I've Been Really Enjoying Finally Reading Initial D But What The F**k Is This

Image credits: Orion--

#114 This Man Need His Book Publishing Rights Taken Away

Image credits: CalicoKaleDragon

#115 Just As I Suspected- No Woman Came Up With “Lovely Lady Lumps”

Image credits: PhoneJazz

#116 I Think She Could've Grabbed The Fallen Soldier's Camo Or Vest. Cold Wouldn't Bother Her, But Bullets Would, Regardless How Durable She Is. [project Hyperion, Jeremy Robinson]

Image credits: Cryogisdead

#117 This Is The Main Character Mitchell Talking About His Nine Year Old Daughter. I'm Concerned. (Me And Mrs. Jones By Linda Cajio)

Image credits: AdelaideTheBunn

#118 Totally Normal Assumption To Make... [gauss: Titan Of Science By G. Waldo Dunnington]

Image credits: NewYorkMetsalhead

#119 Too Horny To Think About The Aftermath Of 9/11 (Iain Banks - Dead Air)

Image credits: bowlerhatbear

#120 I Don't Think That's Quite What "Glowing" Means... From "Little Bee" By Chris Cleave

Image credits: Taylorenokson

#121 *sigh* She Even Repeats It (Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair)

Image credits: RohansEarings

#122 [angels & Demons By Dan Brown] He Almost Got Through The Whole Descriptor Paragraph Without Mentioning Breasts

Image credits: NocaedKralc

#123 Killing Commendatore By Murakami Again… 12yos Do Not Ask Older Men About This…

Image credits: Careless-Detective79

#124 If Any Of You Women Are Having Trouble Measuring Your Womanly Feelings

Image credits: cantspellrestaraunt

#125 Exerpt From Champion Of Luck By Charles Kirkman: A Harem Comedy Based On Japanese Mythology, Anime, And Videogames

Image credits: GrapefruitFew3802

#126 Sightseeing By Rattawut Lapcharoensap

Image credits: Uselesscrabb