Sidetracks - Episode XIV

[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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➝ Theory Thursdays at Read React Review are always so interesting and informative; the latest one is on transgender terms and concepts and it's full of useful resources.

➝ From Beyond the Measure of Men at The Rumpus:

The time for outrage over things we already know is over. The call and response of this debate has grown tightly choreographed and tedious. A woman dares to acknowledge the gender problem. Some people say, "Yes, you're right," but do nothing to change the status quo. Some people say, "I'm not part of the problem," and offer up some tired example as to why this is all no big deal, why this is all being blown out of proportion. Some people offer up submission queue ratios and other excuses as if that absolves responsibility. Some people say, "Give me more proof," or, "I want more numbers," or, "Things are so much better," or, "You are wrong." Some people say, "Stop complaining." Some people say, "Enough talking about the problem. Let's talk about solutions." Another woman dares to acknowledge this gender problem. Rinse. Repeat.

The solutions are obvious. Stop making excuses. Stop saying women run publishing. Seriously. Stop justifying the lack of parity in prominent publications that have the resources to address gender inequity. Stop parroting the weak notion that you're simply publishing the best writing, regardless. There is ample evidence of the excellence of women writers. You aren't compromising anything by attempting to achieve gender parity. Publish more women writers. If women aren't submitting to your publication or press, ask yourself why, deal with the answers even if those answers make you uncomfortable, and then reach out to women writers. If women don't respond to your solicitations, go find other women. Keep doing that, issue after issue after issue. Read more widely. Create more inclusive measures of excellence. Ensure that books by men and women are being reviewed in equal numbers. Ensure gender parity in the critics reviewing those books. Nominate more deserving women for the important awards. Deal with your resentment. Deal with your biases. Vigorously resist the urge to dismiss the gender problem. Make the effort and make the effort and make the effort until you no longer need to, until we don't need to keep having this conversation.

Change requires intent and effort. It really is that simple.

➝ The blog Letters of Note makes me so happy. I find correspondence fascinating — I spent a year cataloguing a deceased writer's personal letters, and I often think this was the most interesting job I'll ever have (and yes, I realise that saying this when I'm still in my 20's is completely ridiculous, but sometimes it feels that way).

➝ The story of the friendship between Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain was an interesting read, though it made me sad that both Holtby and Brittain felt the need to make the 1930's equivalent to "no homo" comments. I understand the historical context and am not tut-tutting them when I saw this (though as always, "context" does not equal "free pass" — there were, after all, non-homophobic people around then); I just... the article got me thinking that all these decades later, we still haven't figured out a way to acknowledge how very real and important non-romantic bonds are in our lives without constantly defining them in relation to romance.

➝ Sort of related: Visi(bi)lity: Bisexuality as Rebellion: Sexualizing Women's Friendships.

➝ Faking It: the ‘Fake Nerd Girl' and Sexism in Geek Culture. When I posted about my MA dissertation recently, I mentioned the idea that "geeky" boys are generally perceived as embodying a subordinate type of masculinity. When discussing my post with a friend later, I realised with horror that I had come across as saying that there is no sexism in geek culture, that geek boys are more progressive when it comes to gender roles, and that therefore girls in geek circles are doing just fine. I want to clarify that I definitely don't think this the case, and this link illustrates some of the reasons why.

➝ Liz Burns on Boys, Girls, Books:

I love, love, love many of the ideas the library staff created and implemented. Listen to the videos at their website and how the grouped and labeled similar books to make them easier to find. Brilliant, inventive, ideas.

I just wish that it was done in a way that did not exclude girls from an opportunity for ownership and empowerment; and did not do it in a way that says, "this is a boys area but girls are welcome, also." Because, personally, I find that not welcoming or equal. Labelling books as either "boy" or "girl" does a disservice to boys, girls, and books and limits rather than enhances reading opportunities.

➝ "He Won't Read Books About Girls":

So often at the store, we hear parents say about a great book, "Oh, he won't read that. It's about a girl." Really? By accepting and perpetuating, pandering to, this mindset, we are basically saying — to ourselves, each other, the boys, and most damagingly, to girls — that it's okay not to have in interest in the experiences of HALF THE HUMAN RACE. I mean, it's not even possible not to be interested in what half of the world does and says and thinks. And we wonder why there's an empathy problem in our culture....

➝ And I'll leave you with a fun link: Women in Science: In honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) is pleased to present a sampling of images documenting women scientists and engineers from around the world, most of whom were pioneers in their respective fields, or were the first women to receive advanced graduate degrees in their discipline.

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➝ Okay, I really loved the The West Wing and The Social Network was a really well-done piece of film with the skeevy layer of White Dudebros and How Many Stereotypes Can We Fit Into One Asian Character?...yeah. But Aaron Sorkin's writing! It's snappy! It's got life! I wish he were a more aware person so I could really get behind his new show, The Changed Man. *sigh*

➝ Podcast interview with Margo Lanagan. Possibly relevant to Ana's interest!

➝ Let Me Tell You About the Birds and the Bees: Gender and the Fallout Over Christopher Priest is a great post from Cat Valente about how the Christoper Priest situation would look if Christopher Priest had been any women. At all. My favorite part:

I'm frustrated. I'm tired of the disparity of voices, of who gets written off and who gets their blog posts discussed in The Guardian being dismally predictable. I'm tired of still having the "when men say it it's awesome and when women say it it's bitchy" conversation that was supposed to be sorted in 1985. Not because I have a whole bunch of horrible shit about awards that I'd like to say. I don't. But I have to tell you that I don't, so that you'll think I'm a nice girl, so that I don't come off as threatening, so that you'll listen to what I say and not just write me off as an angry feminist…what? Bitch. Because feminist bitches are not to be listened to, don't you know. They are not to be considered, not the way Priest was considered, even by people who disagreed, even by people who thought he went too far and too personal and too much.

➝ Oh goodness. This link. I don't know. I'm not a parent or an educator, but if any child I have known in my life expressed an opinion like this I would sit down with them and go, "look, child, we are about to have a conversation about gender esstentialism and cultural and social conditioning. Get your dictionary and some cookies, we're going to be here awhile." I would emphatically not post the opinion on the Internet and them complain about critiques (hi; welcome to the Internet, you must be new here). It brings to mind Saundra Mitchell's post on this topic (still great, sadly still relevant). Funny how we have this discussion over and over and over again and now we're dragging kids into it to bolster our arguments (because that's equal to scientific data). You'd think we'd get tired of going in circles and never moving forward by trying to address the actual issue but instead keep enabling boys to continue these positions, validate them and cap it off by having them write posts begging publishers to continue treating boys as if they're inherently different because there's just not enough books for boys. Social conditioning and The Patriarchy: 1 - Reasoned logic, discussion and education: 0. Is this a Don't Read the Comments™ situation? I can't tell. >.>

➝ Stories Are Genderless, where my raging crush on Foz Meadows grows ten sizes in one post. I kept trying to find a part to quote but couldn't; this post is everything Ana, Jodie and I talk about whenever there's yet another blog post or article demanding more boy books. aksd;lasda;sldk starry eyes everywhere! Ana, Jodie, please come fangirl this with me in comments so we can be incoherent together.

The fact that these changes have paralleled the decline of teenage males' interest in reading isn't a coincidence. However, this is not, as certain people would have it, because women have feminised literature with our magical vaginabooks and therefore made reading inherently unpalatable to the masculine half of the population. No: it's because everything in our culture tells men and boys to avoid any interest, activity or community dominated by women - and when article after article insists that boys are reading less than girls; when the pop cultural discourse shies away from portraying boys as readers, or closely associates male reading with male unpopularity and outcastness; when the humanities is widely touted as being the feminine alternative to the masculine sciences; when finally, after centuries of exclusion, girls are actually getting a break at something, the consequence is that boys are keeping away in droves.

➝ A song that's been in my head for the last few days that will provide an upbeat ending: Tightrope by Janelle Monáe.

The Further Adventures of Lady Business!

This week, Ana shares her collection of bookish postcards, reviews Marie Stopes and the Sexual Revolution by June Rose and How Beautiul the Ordinary, edited by Michael Cart. She also posts some fun photos of her gorgeous spring weather.

Jodie posts about her trip to the National Portrait Gallery and reviews My Mortal Enemy by Willa Carther.

Renay posts about an upcoming fandom project and taking over the role of Volunteers & Recruiting Chair for The Organization for Transformative Works.

Comments

[renay]

I really should get on the ball reading bell hooks. You cite her all the time! Of course, I will read it and as per usual be unable to actually apply what she says to real world feminism as is my terrible cross to bear (ha ha ha, cross referencing rears its head) but at least I would have access to all these ideas!