This should not come as a shock to anyone, really. But author Bev Vincent — male author Bev Vincent — was just told by an editor that “she” couldn’t write convincing male characters.
Two years ago Vincent was asked to write for an anthology. He did so, a very personal story closely drawn from his life, and his editor went over it with him and produced a finished draft they both liked. The contract was signed. Then, just weeks before the anthology was supposed to go to press, it was handed to another editor who sent it back with lots of criticism… of this female writer.
The editor says: “The story seems far too personal, introspective and emotional for a man . . . It is hard to imagine a fellow from a place like [the setting] uttering the following line.” The editor then provides three sentences from my story as examples. He or she continues, “And I can’t think of many guys from [setting] who call home every Sunday afternoon to talk to their family” [Emphasis his or hers]. Another brilliant insight: “Most men don’t think deeply about the dewy greenness of nature.” The ultimate conclusion: “She [sic] needs to write more convincing [sic] from a man’s perspective.”
Don’t know why the work was passed to a second editor, although I’d suspect office politics. But I’ll bet had it been submitted under “Hank ‘Beefy’ McMann” those crits would never have been made.
Go read his story, and how it ended, and try to act surprised. I can’t.
What happened, probably, was the editor saw the name “Bev”, assumed female, then saw “female” things in the writing.