Some more linkage!
Women and science fiction:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/03/off-the-map-women-in-science-a.html
If you think that SF and F are free of this bias, think again. The cover of our own SFWA Bulletin (the 2013 Spring issue that just arrived) only lists articles by male authors. Meanwhile inside the magazine, there are no less than forty-three cover images of novels by male authors as opposed to five by female authors. (One of those five was clipped in such a way as the name of the author was removed from the image.) In the Fall of 2012 issue, the numbers were male: twenty, female: twelve--and that was in an issue that highlighted female SFF authors. Reviewers of the women-centered anthology The Other Half of the Sky praise the "female protagonists ... just as incredible and compelling as their male counterparts." How long will we have to go on proving this point?
These stats are of particular interest for those of us in research science, where objectivity is the coin of our realm; and in science fiction, which claims to reach beyond “mundane” assumptions. Overcoming gender bias, and assumptions in other dimensions, can only lead to more creative science and fiction.
XX Chromosome and Hollywood:
Great back and forth convo about the presence of women in "summer movies"
http://www.vulture.com/2013/07/are-summer-movies-getting-any-better-for-women.html
Kyle: I wish the Bechdel Test demanded an update, but when so many movies still can’t pass it - when the very notion of having two female characters talk to each other seems beyond the reach of a summer blockbuster - the test doesn’t seem like it’s in need of much fine-tuning.
...
Jen: Still, the reason I thought we might need a Bechdel Test update is that sometimes, movies can pass or fail on pretty flimsy grounds. For example, The Canyons can pass because in between gratuitous nude scenes, Lindsay Lohan talks to another woman about her lack of interest in the movie business. Meanwhile, Before Midnight may fail the test because Julie Delpy discusses the complexity of long-term commitment with a group of both sexes ... and that's one of the most feminist movies of the summer! I don't think talking about a man is necessarily the problem in most of these films. Being solely defined by a relationship to a man, perhaps. Being the sole female, usually. Having a narrowly written, ill-defined stereotype of a character, definitely...
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/03/off-the-map-women-in-science-a.html
If you think that SF and F are free of this bias, think again. The cover of our own SFWA Bulletin (the 2013 Spring issue that just arrived) only lists articles by male authors. Meanwhile inside the magazine, there are no less than forty-three cover images of novels by male authors as opposed to five by female authors. (One of those five was clipped in such a way as the name of the author was removed from the image.) In the Fall of 2012 issue, the numbers were male: twenty, female: twelve--and that was in an issue that highlighted female SFF authors. Reviewers of the women-centered anthology The Other Half of the Sky praise the "female protagonists ... just as incredible and compelling as their male counterparts." How long will we have to go on proving this point?
These stats are of particular interest for those of us in research science, where objectivity is the coin of our realm; and in science fiction, which claims to reach beyond “mundane” assumptions. Overcoming gender bias, and assumptions in other dimensions, can only lead to more creative science and fiction.
XX Chromosome and Hollywood:
Great back and forth convo about the presence of women in "summer movies"
http://www.vulture.com/2013/07/are-summer-movies-getting-any-better-for-women.html
Kyle: I wish the Bechdel Test demanded an update, but when so many movies still can’t pass it - when the very notion of having two female characters talk to each other seems beyond the reach of a summer blockbuster - the test doesn’t seem like it’s in need of much fine-tuning.
...
Jen: Still, the reason I thought we might need a Bechdel Test update is that sometimes, movies can pass or fail on pretty flimsy grounds. For example, The Canyons can pass because in between gratuitous nude scenes, Lindsay Lohan talks to another woman about her lack of interest in the movie business. Meanwhile, Before Midnight may fail the test because Julie Delpy discusses the complexity of long-term commitment with a group of both sexes ... and that's one of the most feminist movies of the summer! I don't think talking about a man is necessarily the problem in most of these films. Being solely defined by a relationship to a man, perhaps. Being the sole female, usually. Having a narrowly written, ill-defined stereotype of a character, definitely...