Written By A Woman

Photographed by: Taylor Kuszyk, Clare Connell

WRITTEN WOMEN

BY A

BY SARA HARKINS

“You have bewitched me, body and soul,” says Mr. Darcy, the iconic romance lead in “Pride and Prejudice” written by Jane Austen. The world of romance has enchanted us all, and most of our fantasies stem from our favorite characters, many of them male. But, behind every great man is a woman — literally.

The Mr. Darcy’s of the fictional world all possess similar qualities: respectful, passionate, devoted and kind — in other words, they’re “written by a woman.” With over 158.5 million views combined on TikTok, #writtenbyawoman and #writtenbyaman have taken pop culture by storm. Whereas “written by a man” is leveraged to showcase the often lazy ways that men create women, to be “written by a woman” is the highest form of praise. Essentially, it’s the dream man a woman wants, who is often written by a woman, for other women.

While men write women sleeping in full-faced makeup and lingerie, or seductively dancing in the kitchen, women write men holding open doors and unabashedly stanning women.

Finding great women written by men is not impossible, but it’s harder than it should be in mainstream media. Written by a woman, characters include dreamy male leads in great happily ever afters, but they also filter in the harsher realities of romances, like Laurie and Jo in “Little Women.”

Lisa Sternleib, professor of ENGL490, “Women Writers and Their Worlds,” at Penn State notes that many women writers are often drawn to writing about romance, but demonstrate how the domestic is not just a fulfillment of wishes, but something more complicated and difficult — maybe showcasing something that doesn’t work anymore. “The work I’m interested in is about marriage and about how it’s a lot more painful and difficult than anyone would lead you to believe.”

Romances include heartbreaks, intellect and tough emotions — they thrive off both the flaws and dreamy qualities of characters. “I wouldn’t limit what women write to anything,” says Sternlieb. “Today there are lots of serious women writers out there and they are writing about anything they damn please” — whether that be happily ever afters or relationships that don’t work out. Even though love is a universal topic, to the media and often to men, romances — especially for women — are reduced to “chick lit” and “chick flicks.” “In our culture, anything that is associated with females is always going to be considered inferior,” says Sternleib. “Football is something we take seriously, but romance novels are something we don’t take seriously.”

But great romances have catapulted women into power. Not only did Jane Austen create one of the greatest love stories of all time, but she also practically invented the novel as we know it today. Female romance writers made space for women.

Now, TikTok has its own community, bringing in a new wave of romance readers. Anna Steffey, author of the “Falling Series” has built her own following on social media, and regularly digests content in the BookTok community. “The romance genre has always been seen as more feminine, therefore I enjoy seeing women and men embracing romance as a form of entertainment and not just casting it away just because the majority of the female population enjoys it,” says Steffey.

Not only did it start the trend, but BookTok manifested “written by a woman” into the real world. Now, the phrase isn’t just used to describe fictional men: think Harry Styles, Timothee Chalamet and Ben Barnes serving to demonstrate that such men may meet those ideals beyond imagination.

“Sometimes there is a fine line between fantasy and reality — especially in romance — and consumers do not know where the line is drawn which can be concerning when interacting in real life,” says Steffey. While the people we meet may never fully be like the characters in our books, maybe that’s a good thing. We may never have an accurate reflection in fiction that works for all, and “written by a woman” certainly embraces what could happen when love, desire and intimacy can blossom without the boundaries of real life.

Critics are right when they argue these ideals are fantasies. But, that’s what makes them worthwhile.