Kirstyn McDermott confesses to being a bad feminist… which brings home how very hard women can be on themselves! Sometimes allowing yourself to be imperfect is in itself a feminist achievement. On the other hand, it never hurts to reassess, and try harder. As long as you take care of yourself before you start helping others with their oxygen masks…
Foz Meadows expresses frustration at how heavily books (especially those aimed at teens these days) appear to be gendered, when they really don’t need to be. So does Seanan McGuire. This is a thing. I’ve had a similar conversation with about six different people in the last fortnight, including my seven-year-old! She likes to read books that aren’t girl books or boy books but KID BOOKS. It’s a pink glitter jungle out there.
Tehani Wessely provides some gender stats on the Aurealis Awards.
Mari Ness raises her eyebrows at a list of great YA girl characters from books that aren’t necessarily YA…
Mary Robinette Kowal is an astoundingly good sport about the fact that her new novel Glamour in Glass (sequel to the awesome Shades of Milk and Honey) is being published without its first sentence. I would be on the floor in pieces. She has devised a clever bookmark, a sticker, a plan for writing it into your book at formal signings, and a cool quiz. I scored 9/10!
Charles Tan has written a post about The Hunger Games which addresses, among other things, something that has been driving me batty, the tendency for people who haven’t read the books or seen the movie to dismiss it as ‘being’ Battle Royale and therefore… I don’t know. Not a real thing, somehow? Now that I have finally been educated about some of the key differences (like um, FEMALE PROTAGONIST MUCH) and similarities, I feel slightly better, though I have no doubt that that particular thing will continue to irritate me exactly as much.
Elizabeth Bear talks about how to support female SFF writers.
Sean the Blogonaut talks about implicit racism in the Game of Thrones TV series, and how “slight” but telling changes between the text and the screen can make a pretty massive difference.
Many of us are well aware of the issues in the ebook “price fixing”, agency model discussion, but if you’re still trying to get a handle on it all, this is a nice and simple look at why it’s not as simple as Amazon want you to think – and why perception of the value of a book is at the heart of the matter.
Ashley Judd is a feminist hero. How rare is it to hear commentary about the vile media (and public) response to actresses and their bodies from women inside the industry? Other than Tina Fey, that is. As I discovered when discussing this on Galactic Suburbia, there’s also a lesson here in dealing with media. I felt quite confronted by the idea that Judd normally read nothing that was said about her, including interviews she herself had given, and thought it made her helpless to not be able to check/control her publicity. But, of course, you CAN’T control what people say about you on the internet, can you? Food for thought.
This is my favourite critical response to the Hugo shortlist so far – I was reading it, enjoying the feminist perspective and thoughtful analysis, and then got to the bit at the end where the writer starts squeeing madly about being delighted at Galactic Suburbia’s nomination. Which made me squee too! So nice that people are happy for us. (hey, these aren’t the Completely Unbiased Friday Links)
A costume case study on Upstairs Downstairs, which is becoming my new show. I don’t love it more than Downton… yet, but as an old school fan it makes me happy in many ways. Plus, 1936 London! Hats and tiaras! And there’s a monkey!
Great article from the Mary Sue about how women can actually wear full armour that doesn’t display her belly button, and how armour works on real people, big or small, male or female. An essential bookmark for writers!
EDIT: Almost forgot this one! Terri talks awards, and why nominating/voting means you care about them.
And to finish, found on Shakesville, a lovely music video that doesn’t just celebrate African history and culture, but also has such a gorgeous depiction of fatherhood: