There's a chain of restaurants called Twin Peaks, and their major
advertising point seems to be their waitresses, who have to fit
within a very narrow ranges of measurements, including weight and
bust size. (my wife confirmed that the first time we ate there,
asking our server) We've been there twice now, and both times I was
surprised by how good the food is.
The décor got us talking, as most things do. What, we wondered,
would a a restaurant focused on the opposite demographic look like?
If someone wants to lure in the average Jane Q. Public, what do they
use as bait? A catchy name, to start off with. Maybe 'Brawn.'
That's short, easy to remember, and lets you know what you're in for.
How about the servers? Men, of course, but where Hooters and Twin
Peaks each have standard uniforms, Claudia and I thought a little
variety would be in order. After all, when you're castle-building,
you may as well go in for the deluxe model with all the frills.
We came up with some good candidates, like a lumberjack (a direct
steal from the ladies around us at the time), a stereotypical brawny
Scott in a kilt, your classic Hollywood barbarian, and a sampling of
the different types of gladiators that the ancient Romans used to
organize for fights in the local arena. So far, so good.
We were pretty clear on what our target market was, your average
straight woman and your average gay man, and part of my interest in
the conversation was getting a better idea of how to write stories
that have appeal across the gender lines. I've had good reactions
from women to my stories, but understanding exactly why person XX
liked story GB is something I need to be better at. Um, did you just
mutter, 'Control freak?' Where on earth did you get that idea?
But halfway through a dish of queso, I started having some doubts.
The generic concept is so obvious, why hadn't someone come up with it
before? A quick Google search for 'Male version' popped up with
'Male version of Hooters' as the second option. There's lots of
discussion on the topic, loads of jokes, and even a Youtube video of
a skit done by a comedy troupe. But no websites for open businesses.
Further discussion followed. I offered the observation that men seem
to be more visually oriented, and hence the constant sight of lovely
ladies is more incentive to come spend their money than the reverse
would be for women. I was told that my observation is outdated, and
a bit of minor research done later suggests that this idea has been
called into question recently. Then the conversation moved into an
uncomfortable area, and places like that are where most of my stories
come from.
Maybe both men and women are equally connected to the input from our
eyes. But there's connection, and then there's comfort. Imagine:
it's late at night, on a deserted street in a non-residential
neighborhood, when a man and a woman pass each other on the sidewalk.
Just as they're side by side, one gives the other a smile that says,
'I'm really enjoying looking at you.' If the man smiles at the
woman, is this the opening scene for a romantic comedy about love at
first sight, or for a very dark thriller about infatuation and
madness? How about if the woman smiles at the man?
Of course you can't tell. Each setting could go either way. But if
you know this book or movie was written by some high-school dropout
who's never taken a writing class in his life, which would you
expect? More to the point, if you're the man in our scenario, would
you give that look if you knew the woman was armed? Ladies, if you
were in that real-life situation, would you want to be armed?
Classic models about desire and gender are being reexamined, but a
very ugly truth has been more or less constant since we started
hanging out in groups to fight off the lions and other meat-eaters.
Men are more likely to be a threat to women than vice-versa, usually
that threat is linked with our sex drives, and those facts are
more well-known among women than men. I've got my own thoughts
on the first two and believe me when I say that sooner or later
you'll see them in print. But that third one, in my opinion, is the
most relevant. If you can't see how that's relevant to our
hypothetical restaurant, ponder this. Would it be on the mind of the
very last customer of the day? The woman who's alone in a building
with twenty well-built men who have had to smile and be nice for the
last eight or more hours?
Now take all that, and apply it to whatever you want to do. Think
about it when you're writing a story for an anthology with a female
target audience, or a screenplay for a cable channel that focuses on
women's issues, or if you just want to make your female characters
seem like they're not just guys who put on make-up at the beginning
of the day.
Also, I do want to specify one thing. This is a blog post, and as
such it's a focused discussion on a particular topic. My full
feelings on subjects like this are very involved, and constantly
evolving. As this topic is more sensitive than a nitroglycerin
milkshake, please don't assume I've given you a complete opinion.
Still writing.
