My problem with the “we all gravitate to what interests us” argument is that there are two erroneous assumptions behind it: first, that our tastes, interests and aesthetic preferences are formed in a vacuum, rather than in a culture in which books written by men are constant waved at us from all directions and promoted as better, more “relevant” and more “universal” than books by women. Nobody is immune to this kind of cultural influence.
Secondly, it assumes that the world is a level playing field; that the fact that reviewers just read “what interests them” with no deliberation behind it has no wider impact, because while some will “naturally” be more interested in books by men (or white authors, or straight authors, etc.), others will be reading women, people of colour, lgbtq authors and it will all balance itself out. But we have seen again and again that this doesn’t happen – because we live in a world that favours books written by straight white guys, the majority of people’s “natural” interests will also be skewed in that direction.
It’s important to once again point out that Renay’s project is about reviewing, not reading. Writing a book review is a deliberate act, and while nobody is suggesting that you go out of your way to read and review books that *don’t* interest you, these numbers invite us all to consider that our actions have an impact in the representation and overall visibility of women writers.
I also think it’s important to remember that like James Tiptree Jr proved so many years ago, there’s no essential, qualitative difference between men’s writing and women’s writing. So whatever your interests are, there WILL be stories that match them written by women, and there WILL be women writers you could be reviewing too. We all just have to work a little harder to find them, because the world doesn’t wave their books in our faces in the same way it does books written by men. The whole point of this project is to show that as reviewers, we have the ability to make finding interesting books by women a little easier for the readers out there.
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Secondly, it assumes that the world is a level playing field; that the fact that reviewers just read “what interests them” with no deliberation behind it has no wider impact, because while some will “naturally” be more interested in books by men (or white authors, or straight authors, etc.), others will be reading women, people of colour, lgbtq authors and it will all balance itself out. But we have seen again and again that this doesn’t happen – because we live in a world that favours books written by straight white guys, the majority of people’s “natural” interests will also be skewed in that direction.
It’s important to once again point out that Renay’s project is about reviewing, not reading. Writing a book review is a deliberate act, and while nobody is suggesting that you go out of your way to read and review books that *don’t* interest you, these numbers invite us all to consider that our actions have an impact in the representation and overall visibility of women writers.
I also think it’s important to remember that like James Tiptree Jr proved so many years ago, there’s no essential, qualitative difference between men’s writing and women’s writing. So whatever your interests are, there WILL be stories that match them written by women, and there WILL be women writers you could be reviewing too. We all just have to work a little harder to find them, because the world doesn’t wave their books in our faces in the same way it does books written by men. The whole point of this project is to show that as reviewers, we have the ability to make finding interesting books by women a little easier for the readers out there.