<<I'm sorry myself. I should have been clearer. The
biological differences are apparent (though often
subsequently modified.)>>
Modified how?
Ontopically, the big change and the big headache for the male
writer happened not in the wild sixties but in the seventies,
when Shere Hite and other researchers (but the Danes had done
it long before, and the civilizations of India and China much
earlier) showed that women like it, too, that their pleasure
organs have nothing to do with reproduction, etc.
Many male writers scrambled to refashion the sex thing, which
until then was heavily chivalric and helped sell a lot of
books (publishers are reluctant to change something that
sells). However, it's hard to write of something you've no
experience of, something that's changing while you write. You
can see the hesitations and the mistakes in Robert Parker's
books, for example. To his credit, he did deal with the
subject, even if he often failed or annoyed his
readers.
Today, a male author who pretends that "coming together" is a
standard thing in a couple, or that because the guy has fun
the woman has it too, would be laughed out of court. Many
male writers still write like that, though, and I know for a
fact that many women don't like to read such gross
fibs.
I know of several people who were amazed by Constantine's
treatment of sex. Not only does he take it for granted that
older people like to fuck, but Balzic finds out that his wife
has been living on Betty Dodson's advice for 20 years. KCC
puts Balzic in a terrible position, but it's a real position,
real life. I am sure that by doing so he lost some male
readers but he may have gained some female readers.
Regards, and thanks for bringing up an interesting subject.
The treatment of the sexes in hardboiled literature could
keep us busy for years. This is one area where Chandler and
Hammett did *not* write the book.
Regards,
MrT
=====
"The difference between the right word and the almost right
word is the difference between lightning and the lightning
bug." Mark Twain
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