Wednesday 30 December 2009

Writing and Gender

The Turks Head in Barnard Castle - a typical market town pub. People in the States/Europe will no doubt think it very odd looking!
Today I've read a post in the Washington Post (sent as a link by a writer friend) in which the words of wisdom are these: if you write, then write under your initials and write about men, as that gains much more kudos than writing about women and their interests. click
There is an article in the British press on a similar vein here, though it does not go so far as to advise pretending to be male. It does bemoan the fact that insightful books on women's interests are deemed trivial - the very name "chick lit" being a giveaway, whereas men, if they write about similar interests from a male point of view, are reviewed, discussed and toasted as literary successes.
So for 2010, perhaps we ladies should try hiding our identities behind our initials, and see if it makes a difference!

3 comments:

Anita Davison said...

I read these articles too, Jen and they annoyed me. Hasn't the publishing world registered that this year's Booker prizewinner was a woman who didn't hide her gender behind anonymous initials?

Linda Banche said...

Ah Jen and Anita, sexism and alive and well. I doubt it will be be eradicated in our lifetimes. All we can do is write the best books we can and speak out as you have.

Carolin said...

I will NOT hide behind initials! And the Nobel prize for literature was awarded to a woman, just like the Booker prize.

So there :-)

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