Check out this blog post on Guardian.co.uk about the sexism faced by female fantasy authors. I have no doubt female writers encounter considerable sexism*, but I'm not sure I agree with such statements as "[a] subtle mechanism is operating here, clanking into gear to restore the dominant man-worshipping default mode while reserving a few token high-priestess places for the ladies", nor do I think such an inflammatory article will do anything but preach to the converted. (Seriously, she describes the Lord of the Rings books as the story of a "club of white men [fleeing] a big burning vagina". I'm fully prepared to complain about how boring these books are, but I'm just not sold on the "Big Bad as a Flaming Ladypart" concept.) *And female-oriented genres face even more sexism, but has this author ever written a passionate defence of romance novels? Has Harvard ever asked a romance novelist to deliver their commencement address? Where's the outcry about THAT?
[Via Read Roger]
Labels: Fantasy, Sexism, women writers
1 Comments:
The Harvard blogger mentioned in the post sounds like an idiot, but then the author of the Guardian post sounds like a doofus too. I think they're both trying to make a name for themselves by posting over the top comments about famous and beloved authors. It isn't the same as writing something great themselves, but it isn't the world's worst strategy, either!
2:01 PM
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