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It’s a bit of a strange day so far! Late yesterday morning, I was inspired to rant about Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy, Let’s Unpack That instead of what I should have been doing (laundry sorting and packaging Deepings Dolls to post out for Christmas orders). I started to suspect I had something special when the Twitter RT’s went crazy, plus a bunch of traffic from Tumblr thanks to Gwenda Bond, and over 300 people had looked at the post in the first couple of hours. Kate Elliott and Charles Tan both encouraged me to pitch to one of the larger SF Fantasy blogging sites to see if they wanted to mirror the post, to give it more exposure.
And, um. So now it’s less than 24 hours since I wrote the thing, over 1200 people have looked at it on my blog alone, and now Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy, Let’s Unpack That is up on Tor.com receiving who knows how many more readers, and acquiring a great collection of thoughtful and sincere comments. Publishing, how did I not notice how much FASTER you are these days?
But enough about me, let’s talk about Hawkeye’s butt. I spend a bit of time on Tumblr, but it’s still usually The Mary Sue who alerts me to the biggest events and memes happening over there. This week, it’s The Hawkeye Initiative, based on the essential premise that women are drawn more stupidly than men in comics, in the name of “sexiness.” And as soon as you redraw particular poses so that a man is doing them, the WTFery of all this becomes obvious. Basically it’s the same thing that Jim C Hines is doing with his poses (currently for charity, which is awesome), but without the necessity for a chiropractor.
I love genderbending art, especially when it’s used to make a political point – and genderbending art is at its heart political. Sometimes a picture can make an idea (which should be a no-brainer) more intense and acceptable than any length of essay. And of course, it’s subversive protest by comics fans, another thing that I love. (Even the discomfort that some men are feeling on this use of Hawkeye to illustrate the ongoing discomfort of female comics readers is addressed through art) The comments about the effect of the Initiative on the Tumblr are also interesting to read through.
Speaking of butts, check out The Feminist But, a Kickstarter comic addressing the idea of what ‘spinster’ means today, courtesy of Bitch Magazine.
Bitch has also been running a series of posts on ‘daddy issues’ in pop culture, all of which are worth reading. I can’t resist linking to the one about Murphy Brown and the attitude to single mothers, though. MUST ALWAYS REBLOG MURPHY BROWN.
It’s nearly the end of 2012 and time to look back on the AWW challenge (Australian Women Writers – a challenge for readers and reviewers) – check out the poll if you can, especially if you’re male. Sean the Blogonaut also gives his personal response to the challenge, encouraging more men to take part next year.
Tor looks at a recent Twitter meme about sexism and discrimination in the game design industry: #1reasonwhy
My honey put me on to this webcomic The Oatmeal, which apparently everyone knew about but me? The comic I linked to is specifically about the life of a freelance creative person, which rang far too many bells for me. Painfully identifiable, but very cleverly done!
I’ve been following the i09 ‘Fan Fiction Friday’ with mixed feelings and great interest, and noted today that they have announced they are pulling the column. I can see why. The posts were hilarious and very well expressed – I couldn’t take my eyes off them! But I did have running in my head the question of how it would actually feel as a writer to have your work taken apart so brutally in a public forum. There’s also the point that media exposure is generally seen as a stressful thing for fanfic writers even if it’s positive – I remember the discussion when an mpreg was shortlisted for the Tiptree. Good on i09 for making the tough call, and I hope the writer of the column has other opportunities with them, because he made me laugh my head off even as I squirmed.
And in closing, Fourth Doctor Tea! How can you not want a cup of that? I was a little sad when my hunt for the other Doctors came up empty, though. I fancy a mug of Pertwee right now, and not just because it would probably be spiked with brandy.