Most of the links that have caught my attention this week are follow ups in some way from the big issues of last week. For instance: Why I Stood With Wendy, and Julia Gillard: the most productive Prime Minister.
I’m very glad that I was wrong in my guess that Gillard’s legacy as PM would be torn down and rendered invisible after the second Labor spill (she was the Prime Minister but…) but am I the only one annoyed at how QUICKLY everyone has turned around and started providing real evidence at how badly she was treated and how good she was at her job the second she’s no longer in power?
Closer to home, the Hobart Mercury ran an editorial condemning the way that women in politics and leadership roles (and our Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings in particular, with reference also to Julia Gillard) are often slammed for not also being mothers.
Bitch Magazine provides a brief history of Lois Lane in comics.
I Know I Got My Shovel, Where’s Yours? Tricia Sullivan addresses a bunch of the recent gender & harassment in SF issues, with particular reference to Rod Rees and his charming ‘women can’t write female characters as well as men and when I say men I mean ME’ post.
Radish Reviews looks at Harassment and the Back Channel – why warning your female friends isn’t the only system we should be employing to combat harassment at conventions.
Ursula Vernon (who by the way is the creator of Hugo-winning graphic novel series Digger and is currently running a Kickstarter for an omnibus edition) on Con Sexual Harassment – Being an Ally is Freaky As Hell.
David Moles on why it’s not actually too hard for certain people to learn better behaviour, and suggesting otherwise is insulting and enabling. Won’t Someone Think of the Insensitives?
His comment about NOT using casual references to those with Aspergers or Autism in your apologism for harassment is a very important one and leads nicely to this excellent post by Kari Spelling (worth bookmarking for every time this comes up ever) about how people who are genuinely diagnosed with Aspergers and Autism do not on the whole tend to harass people – and indeed work hard to be considerate of others. I’ve seen some other posts on this recently (appear to have lost some links, please send some my way if you have them) but I think Kari is very justifiably angry about how terms like Aspergers and Autism (and even that well known chestnut ‘clueless men’) have, like the concept of ‘safe space’ been misappropriated and used to try to silence women when they protest about appalling behaviour.
It’s also, you know, incredibly insulting to adults and children who have a genuine diagnosis.
This leads to Jared Axelrod’s excellent post about what we mean when we talk about harassment – and what it means to be the person who responds to that harassment, thereby ‘ruining the party’.
A very positive contribution: the Make Me a Sammich blog (brilliant title) on taking the hashtag #SFFragette further and making constructive change to the culture by Moving SFF into the 21st Century. I can also recommend their Facebook page, which has been providing some great links to interesting posts.
SL Huang has provided a useful timeline of the “SFWA controversies” of the year, which might help those trying to keep track. I wasn’t able to log in over there to make a comment but as an SFWA board member I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that, while Elise Mattheson’s excellent and informative post is very much part of the ongoing conversation to do with sexism, racism and dealing with harassment in the SF industry, it is not actually a matter involving SFWA itself as the other items in the timeline all are.
Meanwhile, Mary Robinette Kowal sums up some of the issues based on her past experience on the SFWA Board.
Okay, phew. Some lighter material: Erika of Verity! on why Nyssa was such an important Doctor Who companion for her, and was awesome. Spoilers: because science!
A Song of Ice and Attire, still one of my favourite blogs right now, talks about the extraordinary art of the embroidery featured in the show, and the artist behind it. Anyone want to join me in a campaign for Michele Caragher for ‘Best Professional Artist’ in the Hugo next year?
Kate Elliott talks about Women in Epic Fantasy.