mfred likes the internet

» Which leads me to the part where I do start to feel a little bit of a gender betrayal— Leicht, wanting to both write a good novel and to be perceived as a good writer, changed her character to male and makes sure to emphasize how it’s not a romance?

You are reading her argument with a bias - she is not saying that because she wishes to be perceived as a good writer she is emphasizing that the novel is not romance. She is saying that she is (as of now) not a romance writer. In her words - “ I want to be a good SciFi/Fantasy writer. I don’t want to be a Romance writer. So, I can’t. Not yet.” … 

» Fuck you, too, then

Thats not very nice. Thats almost the same response of many a misogynist to perceived sci-fi betrayal. 

It would be nice if you reread the piece with a calmer mind. I understand that you might (vehemently) disagree with certain parts of it, but there is no reason to be boorish.

Thank you, lone commenter, for commenting! I’m rebuttal-ing via blog, because I have lot to say.

I’m sorry that you may have expected an urbane, witty and yet purely scientific review of Leicht’s post and I simply was not able to meet those expectations.

The thing is:  I am a human being, I am a romance and SF/F reader, I am a woman, I am queer, I wear glasses, I cut my toe the other day, it still hurts— I am clearly, totally, absolutely biased.  In fact, I started my whole commentary on Leicht’s post by saying I had feelings. OH NOES THE FEELINGS!

And Leicht also clearly says in her piece that she wants to be a good writer and then, also very clearly, links that to not writing romance.  Allow me to re-quote more of the quote I quoted that you told me to re-read:

So, when I decided I wanted to be a writer I set my goal as high as possible. I decided to be the best writer I could be. I wanted to be like Ray Bradbury when I grew up. So, I set to work to learn how.**** When I first started writing Of Blood and Honey the main character was an American female. The character that eventually evolved into Liam was her love interest. I had it in my head that I’d write something in the tradition of Emma Bull and Charles de Lint with some Fahrenheit 451 thrown in for good measure — only it wouldn’t be about censorship. It’d be about terrorism, revenge, and war. And then Romance entered the Urban Fantasy scene. It seemed like everyone forgot what Urban Fantasy was. Definitions got changed. The rules were altered. And I knew right then and there that I couldn’t write a female main character — with or without a tramp stamp — and get any degree of respect. It’s sad, isn’t it? But that’s the truth.  [emphasis mine]

And this sparked feelings in me!  Because I think Leicht is absolutely and terribly right: a romance-centered urban fantasy starring a female protagonist will be respected less!  Even the faintest hint of romance might be denigrated!  And Leicht, as a writer, with it!  

Here is what I think, as a reader, as a person, as the cut toe throbs, about that:

FUCK THAT NOISE.

Which is what I said.

Boorishly.  

The thing about misogyny and sexism and shit?  You don’t have be a man, or a misogynist, or even a bad person, to say or do things that expose the inequalities of gender in our society.  You can even be a female author, writing what looks like a decent book, struggling to be published & successful & meeting your own personal standards of what is good…  And still imply kinda shitty things about the quality of female-centered genres and female protagonists in comparison to yours!  

Lastly, commenter, I have absolutely no reason to be nice.  I do not, now, nor ever, have to be nice.  I can be as rude or as boorish or as snarky as I fucking want.

This is my blog.  This is my space.  I did not write on Leicht’s blog or even post a comment on A Dribble of Ink.  I am very considerate like that.  But I am not a nice woman.  I am not a nice queer. I am not a nice librarian.  My toe is not nice.  Nice women can fuck off.  

THIS is what a fucking feminist looks like.