On "First Person Female" by Jim Harrison

It is hard to specifically take an opinion on this article considering I have not read any of the author's novels about women, so I can't say yea or nay to his accuracy:) That being said, I don't think there is anything wrong with male or female characters creating characters of the opposite sex or different ethnicity's portraying other ethnicity's or cultures.

When reading anything that is well written you don't usually even think about the sex or ethnicity of the author because the characters are realistic or the sex/race is unimportant to the story. Although sometimes characters are not portrayed realistically, most of the time that is done on purpose. For instance in the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell, the male characters are ridiculous. This is done on purpose, it is a feminist play and the playwright is trying to make a point through the overemphasized silliness of the characters.

Is a piece of writing authentic if characters are created by people of the opposite sex? No, not a hundred percent, but it can be accurate or close to the mark. No matter what you do a man is not a woman and a white person is not an Indian and vice versa, but that does not mean that experiences with them, observations, study, or living like another won't give you a good insight into how they act and feel. Authors must not be presumptuous though and constantly aware of the balance of their characters.