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Annie wrote: > Anyways, to cut myself off before I write anymore, what is your take on > modern writers and femininity, and can men write like a women. Will each > gender forever write for their own sex? And what poets or poems have a true > feminine quality to it? Hi Annie I'm currently about half way through "A Woman's Voice", by Jenny Digby, Uni of Qld Press, 1996 ISBN 0 7022 2732 3 Its a series of interviews with various Australian women poets and much of what you are raising here is discussed. I've found it very stimulating. Its been my observation, comparing art by men and art by women, that there is a male and a female aesthetic that must in some way be related to physical difference and means of perception, thought etc. (exactly how is the thesis I have yet to write) Very generally speaking, males prefer blues/greys/neutrals and square gridded forms; females pinks, oranges, violets and rounded forms. You can test this at your local art gallery. It shows up well in abstract art. Compare Frankethaler and O'Keefe with their male counterparts for eg. The better artists are the ones who go beyond this difference, and the women who apply a male aesthetic to their work are the ones who gain better recognition. I've also noted that the prevaling aesthetic is a masculine one, for obvious reasons. With some complications wrt the gay component of our tastemakers. I first picked up on this at art school when I noticed that words such as pretty, decorative, delicate etc were used as derogatory terms, and have been researching on it since. Josephine