“Every child is born, not only to specific parents, within a specific language and climate and political situation, but into a pre-existing matrix of opinions about children.” (M. Atwood Negotiating With the Dead). Everyone is brought up either in a matriarchal environment or a patriarchal environment (unless you are very lucky and it is balanced). Whether we like it or not, our upbringing affects us personally and therefore it affects us as a writer. Writing is always personal, no matter the style or the content so how can your gender-affected environment not affect your writing?
Similar to John Cheever, I have grown up in a matriarchal environment, where the only person fully involved in my upbringing was my mother; men barely played a part in my growing up. Of course, this has affected my writing in a big way. My understanding of relationships, men and family has always been different from those around me, and shows in my character portrayal in my writing. It doesn’t matter how hard I try, my writing will always give me away. There will always be that one character that relates to one of the grown men in my life; the character that reveals the prejudice that I learned at an early age. I am aware of this as a writer, and I do try to test myself and try a piece from a male point of view, give them a voice not only in my stories, but in my mind. Yes, gender does play a part in my writing, but I try to make sure it is a positive one!
It would also be interesting to consider influences that are not necessarily physically present in our lives but that have an impact upon us via the media, society and popular culture. For some children their first experience of certain types of relationships/role models will come from what they see on television/films/games etc rather than from their own home etc which throws up interesting issues again.
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