I have another (longer) reply on a similar thread, so I thought I’d keep this one short on here. 
I know this is quite a grey area given the vast amount of differing opinions, so I don’t believe there’s any right or wrong answer. My short answer is yes though, writers can, do and will write experiences that they’ve never personally gone through themselves but there will always be apart of them that doesn’t truly understand and in some cases, never will.