Tapping into another response her but adding on: there are a lot of bits of werewolf media that make little jokes about ‘the time of the month’ for werewolves. It’s an easy little joke to make. (Angua from the Terry Pratchett novels) But the other elements of werewolf tales are far less feminine. #notallwomen and all, but there isn’t a very prominent portrayal across all of fiction of women’s anger as savage or brutal the way there is with masculine anger. The most common portrayal of an angry man is shouting and open violence. The most common portrayal of an angry woman is the silent seethe or the shrill read-to-filth, rarely with open violence. The only sector I can think of that portrays women’s cycles as turning them into something to be feared is boomerhumor comedy about how wives and girlfriends become scary and irrational every month. There are older ladies who might have internalised that enough to identify with it but targeting them with that portrayal would be at odds with the demographic that seems most interested in supernatural fiction which trends young.

[off topic?]

Joe Abercrombie’s latest book, The Devils, has a female werewolf. A six foot Viking woman who was incredibly dangerous before she turned, she is now part of a team that does the Vatican’s dirty work.

Fun book.

So the movie Dog Soldiers is a favorite popcorn movie that has female werewolf in it. On a more serious note the book Moondance by Sumtow is an amazing novel that delves into so many different themes and folklore surrounding werewolves. It’s one of my favorite novels.

Being Human UK version has a female werewolf and a great show.

Also The Magicians has a female werewolf making a period blood reference in a later season but isn’t really much about werewolfs. Great show too.

I’d theorize it’d to not sound like theyre shitting on periods too much

There is a whole genre of werewolf porn literature and the audience is primarily female. Lindsey Ellis did a couple of videos about this a few years ago.

Nobody wants to make content for guys who wanna bang warewolves

I would say there’s the obvious industry sexism that limits it, but I do question if there’s a significant market for it? Werewolves are generally characterized as big, strong, hairy, violent, and bestial, and those tend to be characteristics a lot of women either don’t or don’t want to identify with. While there’s elements of werewolf mythos that some women might identify with, the common understanding of them as an archetype of everything that the social construction of femininity tells women they should be suppressing in themselves. While there’s certainly women out there that reject the common social construction and even actively defy it, I would suggest that that’s a rather niche market. That doesn’t excuse not publishing material for that market, lots of works do quite well playing to the niche, but I wonder if books like that would have any chance of making it into mainstream consciousness… at least without a fandom that becomes known for being a bit… rabid (I’m sorry, I had to).

wereman is man in old english

werewolf - manwolf

In comics, Alan Moore wrote Swamp Thing vol 2 #40 (1982)'s ‘The Curse’.

Originally the folk concept was heavily affiliated with violent sexual energy, occultism and dark ritualistic sadism. I guess male protagonists conform more readily to those gender stereotypes of the cyclically violent and uncontrollable rapist. During the few witch hunting incidents involving werewolf accusations, the accused were always male. They were also linked with profanation of tombs to devour the recently passed or cannibalism in general. It was also almost always portrayed as either permanent or even voluntary power. The involuntary property or its curse nature rarely universal. With the full moon transformation being almost entirely a Hollywood fabrication.

I think it is interesting to think about the weaving of gender into such symbolism, as the periodic monthly phenomenon is not universal. There’s an Armenian belief that it was a punishment to women, who had to eat children every night for seven years in wolf form. That one is very bleak, but more related to godly punishment of sin by having mothers destroy their locus of adoration, their own children and children in general.

Modern werewolves are related to late 19th century narratives, heavily inspired by Serbian vukodlaks. Dracula himself was kin to werewolves and could transform into one. With some interpreting the gothic tales as an expression of the contemporary anxieties and fears of the victorian era, specially the fears of the patriarchy towards anything they couldn’t control or understand. Anything that was besides the proper order and structure of religion and enlightenment.

Probably the ‘uncanny valley’ effect. It is too real and jarring. I also think making a story out of the concept will be very difficult to make entertaining. People want things they can relate to. Men won’t be able to relate to it and just find it jarring and women will just read having period = being a monster and won’t appreciate the implication…

If you think something good can be made of it you have to write something yourself :/

They’re all on ao3

You need to watch the TV show Wolf Like Me.

Alan Moore’s The Curse is in that direction.