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