Sidetracks - December 8, 2012

[helloladies]

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.

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➝ I really liked the article The Legacy of Katniss, or, Why We Should Stop 'Protecting' Manhood and Teach Boys to Embrace the Heroine.

Of course, with the influx of more books centered around female protagonists, you'll get people like A.E. Rought or the writers mentioned above whining and moping about the dearth of good male role models and male points of view. Poor A.E. Rought, forced — forced, I say! — to "actively avoid" books with female protagonists because, ugh, they are just everywhere. There is no escape.

I would really, really love to see our Gender Balance in YA Award Winners since 2000 project expanded by examining a year's worth of releases from six YA publishers, because then I would have something to point to when these people start in on the boy books argument. And that's what this article is responding to; the same tired argument dressed up in different language that argues that boys are being cheated out of their fair share of representation. I am doubly disappointed in Strange Chemistry's allowing this comment to stand at all, because they're a brand new imprint. Do they really want to align themselves with these people that dislike the perspective of women and girls so much they're willing to challenge the definition of words to denigrate characters that happen to be female? Hello, Strange Chemistry, are you just giving your authors a free pass to bend over and show their ass? What gives?

Maybe it's time to actively encourage boys to pick up and read about a heroine, and maybe absorb some understanding of the female experience. Reading is supposed to expand one's horizons. It's supposed to enable people to experience lives and cultures and people they would otherwise never get to — and maybe even discover that the people who live those lives aren't so very different.

Not that I've been making this argument for years or anything. Ugh. And of course, this link comes with a Don't Read the Comments™ caveat...

➝ Cover Posing for a Good Cause, in which Jim Hines proves himself to be super classy and awesome and willing to contort his body into shapes (which, some covers, seriously, that has to be hell on the back and the hips).

➝ I love this essay, To be a woman and speak your mind, especially this bit:

In the book blogging world and in the library world — both which are female-dominated realms — we're regularly told we need to be nice. That being critical is problematic. That speaking out and up about things that matter to you can "hurt feelings." What this means is that we're being told to submit to someone or something in power, whatever it is. That since both of these communities are about being helpful and sharing (they are), we should continue to keep them thriving by "being nice."

I remember once, right around the time I quit blogging at YA Fabulous, seeing an article widely linked around the YA community. People were great fans of it, but it had some horribly obvious heterosexist speech in it that I saw because of my own experiences, but it was too early yet for the wider community to be aware of it. I emailed this blogger (who is still beloved and celebrated and widely linked in the YA community) and said, "hey, this is problematic, could you rephrase it?" What followed was an exchange where I was told I wasn't being nice, that my criticism was a personal attack, and I should just keep quiet next time I had an opinion, because this blogger had "the support of the community" and "no one else had complained". That wasn't true, either -- another blogger had pointed out this behavior to me and was too afraid to say anything because of position of power the first blogger was in — popular, well-liked, respected. But this is a large reason I will no longer approach people I don't know privately, why I call people out on my blog, with no shame, and why I have stopped worrying about being "nice". Being nice doesn't work, dudes. People will easily slide out using that argument because there's nothing holding them accountable. "Be nicer!" is a gendered argument and you don't have to be a dude to use it. #facts

➝ hellotailor is hosting a read-a-long of Johnathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which has been on my to-read list for about an eon or so. It's on tumblr, and the goal is to check in with the other participants by using the project tag. It sounds fun!

➝ The Morris Award shortlist has been announced. Some of these are on the to-read list in my head, but I hadn't heard of After the Snow. Also, I am pretty sure this list all ladies. That's amazing. :D

➝ In gay agenda news, Mexico Supreme Court Strikes Down Marriage Ban and The Supreme Court will be hearing cases related to DOMA and Proposition 8. Exciting (but nerve-wracking) times ahead!

➝ Jezebel responds to a an article in the Wall Street Journal with Want to Be a Successful Writer? Be a Man. Nothing in their article or the WSJ article surprised me, but a comment left on the post firmly establishes why I think the ignorant and short-sighted demand in young adult circles for "more boy books" is damaging both to boys and girls:

One of my favourite fantasy writers is Martha Wells. She just puts so many incredibly clever spins on familiar tropes, and really has a knack for snappy dialogue and animated characters. I was chatting with one of my husband's new employees a while back who is also a big reader, and when I recommended Death of a Necromancer, he was like, "Oh, I heard of it, but it's a woman's book, right?" After some pressing and some backpedaling on his part, he said he tended to assume books written BY women were always FOR women and thus about things women were interested, though he couldn't really clarify as to what "things" we were supposed to be interested in. He also didn't really have an answer when I asked him if books written by men were then always FOR men.

Surprise! When you prop up sexist ideals, attitudes and behaviors, boys grow up to be men with, oh wow, sexist ideals and attitudes who engage in sexist behavior. Who could have known? Via marthawells

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➝ The news that "gender identity disorder" will be removed from the new edition of the DSM has been making the rounds, and at first glance this seems like something we should all go "yay!" about. However, Cheryl Morgan explains why there are some big "but"s and possible complications involved.

➝ Sociologist Michael Kimmel on "The Mythical War on Men".

➝ Cats! Cats! A whole island full of cats!. These pictures are gorgeous and they kind of made my day.

➝ Jessa Crispin interviews the awesome Elizabeth Hand about her new short story collection.

➝ New research about intersectionality shows that — surprise — it's a real thing. Hopefully this will bring us one step closer to people no longer dismissing it.

➝ This article on the diversity of the NYT Notable Book List kind of made me want to start a "Gender Ratio in End of the Year Best Books lists" data project. Just saying :P

➝ Awesome post is awesome: Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy. Let's Unpack That:

So what are the take home messages here?

1. History is more interesting than most people think. Despite everything I have said, it also has quite a lot of women in it. Read some history. Read some more. Check out the social historians, because they're the ones who tend to pay more attention to what everyone in a society are doing, not just the aristocratic men who think they're in charge.

2. Treating female characters as people will make your fantasy more interesting. Not just to female readers. To readers who are people. And, let's face it, most readers are.

Yes, of course there's misogyny in history, but like everything else history is not a monolith, and there's no reason why fiction shouldn't acknowledge that.

➝ I haven't put time aside to watch Anita Sarkeesian's TED talk yet, but I'm leaving the link here because I'm sure many of you will be interested.

➝ This interview with musician Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, is fascinating. I came across her when my partner showed me the music video for Oblivion, which he did because he thought I'd be interested in what it was doing with gender. Here's what Boucher says about it:

"Oblivion" embodies that kind of archetype, going into this masculine world that is associated with sexual assault, but presented as something really welcoming and nice. The song's sort of about being — I was assaulted and I had a really hard time engaging in any types of relationship with men, because I was just so terrified of men for a while.

Is it important for you to discuss what "Oblivion" is about?
It would be intense if it were an overwhelming part of my image. I can't censor myself; it's really important for me to say how I feel. I needed to put out this song. I needed to make this song. I took one of the most shattering experiences of my life and turned it into something I can build a career on and that allows me to travel the world. I play it live every night. The whole process has been positive — engaging with that subject matter and making it into something.

She then goes on to discuss her feminism (I love how unapologetic about it she is) and what being a woman in the music industry has been like. Like Joanna Newsom, she has absolutely no patience for any of the "childlike magical elf" shenanigans people throw at her.

➝ And I'll leave you with Neil Gaiman's advice to aspiring artists. I want to show it to all my friends who get discouraged about blogging, because it's relevant in their case too.

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➝ 'I Think I am in Friend Love with You.' Ladies, this comic explains how I feel about y'all! (via morninggray)

➝ This week the LA Review of Books published an article which ran its mouth about the many different things that are wrong with unpaid online reviewers. We gathered together some of the reactions at our feministponies Storify account. The last time we used the Storify account, Ana was replying to another article in the LA Review. Do we sense a pattern here?

➝ The article's author says that 'If you've ever attempted to read a review on Amazon or on someone's personal blog, you know it's identical to seeking relationship advice on the wall of a public restroom.' Cass and other bloggers replied to this charge by starting the Graffiti Reviews tumblr, where people can submit pictures of reviews written on toilet walls. This was the absolute best thing to come out of the whole link-baiting kerfuffle.

➝ Jenny wrote a post about gift giving which deserves to be universally beloved.

➝ An interesting infographic about the wage gap between genders in the USA.

➝ Which reminds me to tell everyone with access to watch the 'Why Poverty' series that BBC Four is currently showing. The films are balanced, well crafted, sometimes inspirational but always very real. Maybe most importantly they are subtle. The filmmakers aren't afraid to let the material speak for itself and often allow the audience to make connections on their own. However the films are also instructional and easily accessible for people with little to no understanding of how economies work (me, ugh must do better at maths). I've learnt a lot about the causes of poverty and the differences between poverty in various countries. All the episodes are still available on catch up and there are ways to watch even if you don't have access to BBC programs, so go and check them out. I especially recommend 'Stealing Africa', 'Park Avenue' and 'Solar Mamas'.

➝ This musical statistics image collection shows song lyrics turned into graphs. Nerd :P (via amynta)

➝ I desperately want one of these recycled art pieces. They look like something the Tattoo would have made if 'Kraken' took place in Wales. (via hellotailor)

➝ I'm not sure which library this is, but they've installed a a giant advent calendar which has a book behind every door. What a great idea! (via mattbritland)

➝ Finishing with black and white pics of the Inception cast with puppies :D Life is rough, we all need this sometimes. Predictably the Leonardo DiCaprio pic is my favourite. (via bookshop)

Comments

[nymeth]

Thanks for linking to Elizabeth Vail's piece, Renay - I'd missed it and it's excellent. I discovered her blog sort of recently and I've been enjoying it a ton. And yeah, I really really hope someone will do a study about ALL the YA soon, because we need that data badly.

I almost linked to the friend-love comic myself, but then I worried it would be creepy. This little anecdote probably tells you everything there is to know about me ;)

[bookgazing]

I worried it would be creepy but then I did it, sort of for all of us and I'm glad I did because it turns out you were thinking about it too :D

[(Anonymous)]

Seizing on just one thing, thanks for linking to that post about history! It always annoys me when people think history is all about men, so all male casts are all fine. To take my favorite period, medieval England, women actually had a surprising amount of power in certain situations, but because everything since has been tarred by the brush of Victorian historians (who clearly focused on men even though their own monarch was a woman), this only emerges from the primary sources. Nothing annoys me like people assuming the medieval era was full of buxom barmaids and docile wives and no other kind of woman.

As always, wonderful collection of links. :)

Meghan @ MedievalBookworm.com

[bookgazing]

I think 'women did nothing' throughout history is one of those entrenched ideas that should be on the wikipedia list of popular misconceptions. And that makes it really hard for creators to challenge because people do them out for 'being unrealistic' when really it's just that the person doing the calling out has been taught a really partial version of history. I remember Ana and Renay had this convo about the way internet culture is portrayed and how it can maybe only be drawn in a particular way until people understand it better, because people are going to be jarred by any other depiction (jump in if I'm paraphrasing wrong ladies) and call it out. I think historical depictions have similar problems.

[bookgazing]

Yay Renay you should read Jonathan Strange. It's really fun and winds around through lots of stories. I bet it'd be a great book club title - lost to discuss.