"The world can be divided into the people who like to look under the rock and the people who don't."
Standard disclaimer: I'm not comparing myself to the author / producer / showrunner Gillian Flynn. In fact, I haven't read any of her novels, although we did stream "Gone Girl".
She gave a recent interview in the "Times" which got me thinking about the criticism my protagonist, Winter Jennings, receives in SOL. And the way men react to Flynn's characters … well, it resonated. Specifically about defying expectations of what a woman should be. Should do. Shouldn't do.
One of her characters, Amy Elliot Dunne, frames her husband for murder, fakes a rape, murders an ex-boyfriend, and steals her husband's frozen sperm to impregnate herself.
Winter Jennings is a pussycat compared to Dunne, but some SOL readers are outraged that Winter bends the law (exempli gratia: creeping a suspect's home), is married to a lesbian while having an affair with a man, has opinions on subjects like politics and guns, has a flirty, sexy relationship with her son.
Okay, that last one is borderline.
Now, I'm certainly not feedback-complaining. This is, after all, a male site, populated by male readers and writers. And I'm here happily and freely.
However … I do have a couple of thoughtful words for a couple of you misogynist fuckwads!
Paige