I was fascinated by this article about a trans woman’s history with the art of blacksmithing – how she originally used it as a kind of ‘free masculinity points card’ to make herself seem like a less “girly/queer” teen male, but then after her transition found that it worked against her because the idea of a woman blacksmith was perceived as socially radical. Despite history. BECAUSE HISTORY, PEOPLE!
Seriously, there is a reason we don’t crowd-source history (except on Wikipedia, sigh). People always think the olden times were more gender essentialist than they actually were. And I say this having spent a year at college in a blacksmithing club with my three best (female) friends.
Octavia Butler’s book Dawn is being developed for TV – the interview with the producer covers issues to do with diversity and how badly it has often been handled in film & TV. His attitude sounds very promising, with quotes like “I think that perception in Hollywood that we have to enter from a white male perspective has been proven wrong, especially recently.”
Another vaguely promising Hollywood interview comes from Paul Weitz, writer-director of new Lily Tomlin vehicle Grandma about how he realised he was only telling stories about dudes, and is now all about telling stories about interesting women. Mostly if it means he gets to work with Lily Tomlin, who is amazing. Grandma, which is Tomlin’s first lead role in a film since 1988, is about a cranky bohemian lesbian grandmother on a road trip with her granddaughter to help her raise money for an abortion.
Amanda Palmer wrote a really important open letter/essay about how crowdfunding her art has been questioned differently now that she’s pregnant (because somehow paying an artist for their work becomes morally questionable when there’s a possibility they might spend some of the money on nappies, what the fuck) and confesses how confidence sapping it is to be combining motherhood with being an artist, and how terrifying it can be. It’s a raw, painfully honest piece and worth reading because so many women do end up in an identity crisis of sorts once they become a vessel for a new baby, and in an artistic career (where believing in yourself is an essential part of the business model) it can be devastating.
G. Willow Wilson followed up Palmer’s essay with her own anger and frustration at the ongoing myth that women can’t be creative during pregnancy or the early years of their child’s life, citing her own personal experience in a series of tweets: the work she achieved during her pregnancy and while nursing her newborn, and how she felt she had to hide it from the industry in which she worked.
Aliette De Bodard has set up a reviewing site for works by women, people of colour and other marginalised writers who might not be getting as many reviews as they should elsewhere. It’s called Those Who Run With the Wolves which is awesome. Recent reviews cover work by Andrea Hairston, Naomi Novik, Kate Elliott, Ekaterina Sedia and Marina Dyachenko.
Tricia Sullivan (whose blog is powered by bloody-mindedness, excellent title!) has written a heartfelt, resonant post about why women walk away from science fiction, and why they might be hesitant to come back. Her own experience as a writer feeling invisible in her own industry is really powerful stuff.
I’m kind of done with post-Hugo commentary now, but had to give a shout out to Lizbee’s No Award Storify from the night. I love you, No Award.
New Tropes vs Women!