Gynofantastique

I recently came across Broad Universe, which has as its mission statement the goal of equal representation and pay of women in fantasy, horror, and science fiction. It's a cool site with great articles, and I intend to be a part of it, but I'm not completely convinced about the urgency.

Women certainly aren't under represented as readers- in fact on the whole I'm pretty sure we tend to read more and buy more of the books. The almost exclusively female romance market makes up about 40% of all fiction books sold. And any metric that shows how women are excluded from genre fiction feels like a kind of tautological privilege of the areas of the genres that are male dominated. Sure, The Hunger Games might be one of the best selling dystopic sci fi series on the shelves, but that's Young Adult, not hard or military science fiction. Big virile man authors like Martin and Erikson are dominating epic fantasy, so obviously we don't need to acknowledge the fantastic work women like Kelly Link, Kij Johnson, Catherynne Valente, or Vylar Kaftan are doing in slipstream and postmodern fantasy. Regardless how one may feel about all the sexy vampires and sorceresses of urban fantasy, Stephen King is probably the only horror author who beats them out in sales.

And even within the boys' treehouse genres, you've got ladies like Ursula LeGuinn, Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, Poppy Z. Brite, Robin Hobb, Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, Robin McKinley, Storm Constantine, James Tiptree Jr. and Andre Norton off the top of my head.

Sometimes it feels like the question people are actually asking is “Hey, why aren't women writing Heinlein?”

Well, because we're not Heinlein, obviously. Only Heinlein was, and he was a product of his gender and his time, as we are. Women do have a thing or two to bring to the table as far as telling stories about the battle hardened group of space marines dropping onto an alien planet with guns blazing, the orphan farmboy who finds a magic sword and saves a kingdom, or the serial killer on a spree of rape and murder. We have some things to add about what it means to be a man, because it's both different and the same as what it means to be a person. But I suspect we have a lot more to add about what it means to be women. It doesn't preclude space marines and gunslingers and magic swords; rather, it includes things that may have been overlooked when folk were putting those things in the center of the stage: menarche and child birth, rape as more than a galvanizing force for the avenging hero, clever princesses and subversive witches, what it feels like to be objectified and denied agency and to overcome that, and romance. Romance from insipid and silly to heart-breakingly complex.

Not that men haven't said, and continue now to say, great things on those topics too. I don't think anything's off the table. Rather, I think we all benefit from the conversation blossoming in all directions.

I don't feel like women aren't getting a fair shake right now. Everywhere you look, ladies are taking home hugos, nebulas, book contracts, and movie deals. J. K. Rowling and other lady authors have initialized their names and James Tiptree Jr. took on a male handle completely, but Tim Pratt and other men have also written under initials, and men who write romance routinely do so under femal pseudonyms. We do come from a legacy of male domination in all literature, perhaps especially so in the speculative fiction genres, and I know there are a few pockets of boy folk hanging “no girls allowed” signs (demanding all science fiction be Heinlein, and all fantasy be Howard), but in all my interactions that feels to me like it's an attavistic minority. If anything, it feels like there's a really healthy cross-pollination, where men and women will cite each other as important, formative influences. I do think it's important for all of us to take a moment and make sure we're giving each other a fair shake, and not to assume what we like or what we already know is the only valid way to do things.

And I feel like right now, we're doing really, really well at it.

It's possible my optimism about this stems from the fact that I am a native of "a more enlightened time". Both of my parents were feminists. No one in my childhood told me my options were limited by my chromosomes. My father's favorite writer is Annie Dillard and his favorite musician is Joni Mitchell, and he taught me square roots several years ahead of the school schedule because he felt I had a talent for math. I never had to swim upstream. I don't remember all the hurt and pain commensurate to being raised to believe I was worth less.

It's probably impossible to have a completely objective view of the gender and accomplishment landscape, but from where I stand and look, it's a beautiful time.