Monday, November 14, 2005
Meghan has started another discussion of gender inequity in the genre. It reminded me of a discussion I had at Wiscon last spring. Jenn asked if I had experienced any sexism as a co-editor for the Rabid Transit series. It hasn't been a lot but there have been a few times when the other editors were mentioned and I was forgotten. She said Heather had experienced some of that as co-editor of Flytrap. I don't know if Gwenda's had the same experience with Say... It's hard to tell how much of it is because my co-editors have a lot more stories published than I do, but I do think sexism has been part of it. It's even happened at Wiscon which is a little haven of feminism in a wider world of sexism. I've been groped at a SF conference before but I think the editor stuff bothered me more. The groping was just one boorish man.
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I've definitely noticed that sometimes you get missed when people talk about the Ratbastards. I was hoping it was because people feel uncomfortable calling you a bastard, because you're the best.
I usually get left off when people talk about Say..., but that's sort of my own fault. I don't think I was officially an "editor" until issue two and Christopher and I kind of trade off slush reading/picking on issues informally. So the fact that I get mentioned at all is interesting. I'll also note that once I started sending people acceptances and rejections, those people always address their stuff thereafter to me and not Christopher.
Not that my other co-rats are bastards either! I'll take being Sam Shepard. I'd agree that a large part of recognition is how visible people are. I had a conversation at the 2004 Wiscon with a couple of new writers who came up to me at the beginning of our party. One was wondering why my name didn't come up when people were talking about the chapbooks even though my name is with the other editors. The other said he didn't know I was involved until he picked up the chapbook and saw my name listed. I didn't know what to tell them. They speculated that a lot of it was sexism. I didn't really think about it until my conversation with Jenn.
sorry 'bout groping you that time.
-barth
Barth only groped you cause he saw me grope Alan, and he thought it was okay to start groping. You know, he gets carried away sometimes. So I'll take the blame on this one.
Oh and just for the record, Alan said it was okay to grope him, so there was no harrassment going on there. In fact, anyone can feel free to grope Alan. He doesn't mind. Really.
Heya - regarding Say ..., for the latest issue, the guidelines said to send stories to Christopher's attention, so even though I know Gwenda is co-editor, I can't remember if I addressed the letter to both of you or just to him.
Regarding SH, I have a tendency use whoever rejected me last as shorthand for all three of you. (Especially if I get a couple of rejections by the same editor in a row.)
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