Stereotyped Bodies

[Paul Whybrow]

Although I tend to give the bare minimum of detail when describing a character's physical appearance, I found this article thought-provoking:

The Physical Traits that Define Men and Women in Literature

 

[Catherine Le Bars]

Interesting. I'm particularly confounded by the prominence of 'thumbs' in the male descriptions

 

[KateESal]

I mention thumbs a number of times in the memoir I'm writing, but I don't think it skews according to gender. At one point a male character gives a "thumbs up", but in a few instances female characters are using their thumbs to hitchhike. I'm rather fond of mentioning thumbs, actually.

I agree about lazy descriptive writing (although, the fairy description in the Rothfuss novel was of a character who was supposed to embody stereotypical desirable (to men) female characteristics). I tend to go for eyes, smiles and hair (and height) for male and female characters. In my children's novels, I have male and female MC:, she's taller and tougher, while he's smaller and quieter. I deliberately wanted to subvert some of the typical m/f stereotypes and I also deliberately gave both characters androgynous names. As an author, I like deliberately messing with stereotypes where possible, not so much to challenge the reader, but because I think characters are more interesting and engaging if they don't conform to type.