Sidetracks - February 10, 2014

[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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➝ Just a casual reminder that Euclase is eligible for Best Fanartist for the Hugo Award, and that she would be a great choice:

The majority of media consumers today are women, and not just women, but gay women, queer women, transsexual women, disabled women, women of color, older women and teenage girls. But very rarely are any of these consumers of television, movies, comics, cartoons, or video games allowed to openly express their passion and adoration for their favorite characters, heroes, heroines, or villains in a way that is comparable to men. A woman’s crush or hunky object of affection is considered silliness while a man’s painting of a female nude may be considered fine art. I seek to tip this double standard on its head.

Julie Dillon reblogged this and added these tags in response to Euclase: "#so important #men can make careers out of essentially fan art #women are written off as being silly or stupid of frivolous for making fan works"

SHOTS FIRED.

➝ forestofglory compiled a list of 2013 short fiction recommendations for the Hugos (SCORE! THANK YOU!). I am totally seconding the inclusion "The Waiting Stars" by Aliette de Bodard because it looks like this author is going to continue putting out things in a specific universe that arrive ready to break my heart. IT'S FINE, IT'S JUST RAINING ON MY FACE. THAT'S ALL.

➝ In response to variations on the theme of "not many women write epic fantasy", Courtney Schafer looked at her shelves and made a list of the women writers of fantasy she owned. Tons of other folks followed suit, and it looks like all the derailing jerkfaces are being voted down to make me okay with linking to reddit this time. :D

➝ I love Pitch Perfect because Anna Kendrick's sassy mouth. Now there's going to be a sequel. The only news that would be better is if they announced a sequel to The Heat.

➝ Teresa Frohock wrote a piece about writing dark fiction as a woman; the post and the comments raise some questions about how to write in these genres as women. I've given some thought to this after Sarah asked for my thoughts on women using gender neutral pseudonyms.

A few years ago, I might have done the initial thing. I was really sensitive to the idea that by writing under and owning my gender I would face huge losses: in marketing, in readership, and in coverage of my work. For a long time I believed initials were detrimental to woman carving out spaces in SF fandom. But all that's changed.

I've been talking about gender parity, sexism, and related topics in SF fandom for two years now, and friends, let me tell you, it's fucking exhausting. Things seem like they're improving and then you get punched in the face with the realization that oh, actually, we're going to be having this conversation on a loop until the sun burns out and we're all toast. Two steps forward and eight flying leaps backward, as I like to say. It's intensely frustrating, and once upon a time I believed the only way to combat that was to be as present as possible.

But after realizing there are women having these conversations now who had them twenty years ago with a different cast of characters, holy shit, let me tell you how fast I changed my tune. I finally decided that every woman who decided to publish had to decide for herself what part of this task she wanted to take on. As we've been discussing the last few weeks, it's hard out there for an author already just with writing and marketing and selling work. If taking a pseud that's gender neutral, so a woman can avoid that conversation, is the difference between their work existing and not existing, I hope they take the pseud and write like the wind. The great thing about feminism to me and why I finally embraced it was because it advocates choice for every individual woman based on her own circumstances, goals and dreams. Maybe a woman wants to take on the world and own her gender identity while writing: great! We always need more women like this because the ones already on the front line get tired, and also they need a break and some mental energy to write us more books. Maybe a woman wants to take on a pseud and then use it to rattle the bars of people's assumptions; great! That's valuable, too, because there's nothing like watching a misogynist figure out their favorite series is by a lady. Maybe a woman just wants to mask herself and write stories and share them and not engage because those conversation drain her creativity: also great! The important part is that we get a chance to hear the voices of women writers. Gender neutral name or otherwise the delivery method doesn't matter. What matters is that she arrives.

➝ Hello, Tailor recently watched the Dungeons & Dragons movie which is so terrible and yet so great. My childhood!

➝ It's no secret I loved Tomb Raider to pieces. I am equally excited for the graphic novel which will be written by Gail Simone, who've I heard nothing but good things about. The Mary Sue has a preview available.

➝ Mckenna Pope’s Tedyouth Talk On Gender Neutral Toys was the greatest video on activism I've watched in weeks. SHE'S SO EXCITED AND PASSIONATE. ;____;

➝ John Scalzi is one of my favorite writers, and this is a reason why.

➝ Here is a review by someone who really didn't like Ancillary Justice. I completely disagree, of course, but that's fine: no one book is for every reader.

But in a world that viciously genders things from the baby aisle all the way to body wash for adults and uses the binary as a weapon to keep people in line, where women don't even take up half the space in most mainstream narratives, I think any story challenging a binary (even if it falls short) and places gender parity as a central topic is worthwhile, even if it might not be good. The best books start conversations, even if they're "bad" books (and that's totally subjective thing, anyway). But I really wish we could stop being like "SF is dead/stagnant/bankrupt of ideas" when we run across a novel people love (so it gets talked about and ~wins accolades~) that we don't get the same way they do. When we take people's excitement at finally seeing a topic they care about written about in a way that excites them and decide that this novel is the last straw, the final proof that SF just isn't cutting it anymore? Please. No one story proves such a thesis (least of all Ancillary Justice. In my circles (predominantly women, surprise surprise) it's created swathes of interesting meta and has driven tons of interest in SF, which is what the best SF does. This is a completely reductive approach to assessing the genre's health, anyway. I'd kind of like it to go away, but since that's a pipe dream, maybe at the least it could get a little more nuanced?

➝ I found A Conversation with Kelly Sue DeConnick via lifeofkj, and I absolutely loved this quote:

I was asked in an interview once: You're writing another book with a female lead? Aren’t you afraid you’re going to be pigeonholed? And I thought, I write a team superhero book, an uplifting solo hero book, I write a horror-western, and I write a ghost story. What am I gonna be pigeonholed as?

Has a man in the history of men ever been asked if he was going to be pigeonholed because he wrote two consecutive books with male leads? Half of the population is women. I lose my temper here. And it's certainly not at you. It’s just this pervasive notion that "white male" is the default. And you have to justify any variation from it.

(Everyone read Captain Marvel. DO IT.)

➝ A Modest Proposal for Hugo Reform lays out some suggestions for Hugo category revisions. The strongest feeling I have about the categories is that semiprozine boggles me and can't we just make it simple already? I continue to think clarifying the guidelines and aiming for simplicity might be better than adding/removing categories at this point. Although I still really like the idea of a YA Hugo in theory. Sigh.

➝ Oh Dear: SFWA Bulletin Petition ....so this happened. o.O

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➝ Phoebe North had a baby daughter recently. Congrats, Phoebe! :D She announced the arrival with a post about babies, books and Ursula Le Guin "Baby! Or: the crossing of the return threshold"

➝ Festivids videos are live! My favourites so far are kind of predictable: "Freedom at 21", a vid for "The White Queen"; "White Chalk" a vid for "Winter's Bone" and "Black Flowers" a vid for "Call the Midwife". I also really enjoyed a vid for "The Americans" called "Who Are You, Defenders of the Universe" and a Pacific Rim vid "King And Lionheart".

➝ "Emma Approved" is back :D

➝ "The Frozen Girl: Visual Cues and Evil Femininity. More "Frozen" commentary — YES!

➝ This Emergency Puppy is particularly adorable.

➝ A list of diverse editors came across my Twitter feed just in time for me to use it in my investigations for Hugo nominations.

➝ I can't remember if one of us already linked to this (Renay?) but "The Conversation We Never Have" makes a smart addition to the current 'I work hard', 'I didn't choose privilege' post that is going around. Yes, I absolutely believe you work hard, authors who are sending that post around; I have read your blogs and your appear superhuman. And no, you shouldn't be hung over with guilt about privilege handed out at birth/economic privilege achieved through many years of working (awareness is quite separate from guilt). At the same time, I imagine all those people who are working just as hard, and who aren't making it, drinking off a bottle of vodka after reading that post. I've seen someone do that, the result was not pretty.

I don't know how we have both the necessary conversation about the hard work of those who make it and the unfair nature of the system in general without erasing one group but I don't feel like the internet is there yet. Maybe that's it, talk about the system rather than the people? Should we bust out one of Ana's favourite quotes here?

➝ Kameron Hurley posted "The Body Project, A Prelude (or your body is a battlefield)" at the end of last year. It's a pretty depressing, realistic look at how society merrily punishes you for making choices. At the same time, it's a voice saying "Hey, that bind you find yourself in, I'm in a related situation".

➝ And because it wouldn't be my section without some Olympic chat during the Winter Olympics here's A rough guide to Olympic figure skating. I know nothing about ice skating, except that I like to watch it, but I know someone who does — thought you might find this interesting, Amy.

Comments

[bookgazing]

The gender aspect of AJ adds nothing to the novel? Well my review is going to look really stupid then because I just spent three paragraphs talking about how it adds things when taken in the context of our world... I think it's a book that works with our world, rather than a book which always explores its fictional world but not sure when the fictional world rather than political commentary of our own world became the more important aspect of SF? In fact, I've seen people crit SF (and of course fantasy) for not being engaged enough with the real world.

*caveat - agree every book isn't for everybody*

[renay]

Your review is going to look great and I want it. Please let me have it ASAP. I don't want it to take 200 years. >.>

[renay]

Gentle reminder that my body is ready for this review. >.>

[(Anonymous)]

Renay,

Thanks for understanding, but especially for this statement:

"I finally decided that every woman who decided to publish had to decide for herself what part of this task she wanted to take on. As we've been discussing the last few weeks, it's hard out there for an author already just with writing and marketing and selling work. If taking a pseud that's gender neutral, so a woman can avoid that conversation, is the difference between their work existing and not existing, I hope they take the pseud and write like the wind."

That is so much appreciated.

T

[renay]

WRITE LIKE THE WIND, T. Write like the wind. ♥

[forestofglory]

Since there are a couple of Hugo related links, I'm going to self promote and mention that I wrote a post of 2013 short fiction recommendations. There is a lot of awesome short fiction being published these days, but short fiction categories still aren't getting tons of nominations. So if you are nominating this year, and want to consider short fiction, I hope my post gives you a place to start.

[renay]

gdi I KNEW I forgot to add something. aksdlksdjlksjd It's even LISTED IN MY FOLDER.

I will add it. ♥

[forestofglory]

Thank you.

[renay]

I've been sending it to everyone I know who needs help with short stories, so hopefully it will give them a nice place to start! :D

[forestofglory]

Oh wow. I'm so pleased to know that.

[myfriendamy]

aw I enjoyed the post on figure skating, though I disagree that it's the most gif-able sport...I think baseball is equally as gif-able and interesting and bizarre and weird! :)

[renay]

Talk to me when they wear SEQUINS onto the field. :P