Shut Up, Ladies

[sarahtales]

Originally published at Sarah Rees Brennan. You can comment here or there.

It made me so sad to see, in an article about Jane Austen, that even though Jane Austen remains super popular there has been a decline in respect for her as a serious artist. Because it’s ‘chick lit’… as if any genre is Automatically Bad. And as if anything a woman created

Comments

[miraba]

I wish I had gifs to post in response. Flawless.

[sarahtales]

;)

[jinxed_wood]

If this was tumblr, I'd ♥ this whole post!

[sarahtales]

It was tumblr originally but I felt I wished to Preserve it. I love tumblr but its words are writ in water...

When people check back on my website to see why they definitely should not give me awards, I may be sorry. ;)

[sartorias]

Boy ain't it the truth.

[sarahtales]

Benedict Cumbersnoot, Author, will enjoy his review in the NYT. ;)

[kittydesade]

Now you have me thinking about the TV writers we mention on our blog. (I have a blog with a friend. We blog about Grimm and Haven and very briefly about Once Upon A Time.)

Off the top of my head, I can think of three writers we've mentioned multiple times: Akela Cooper, Jane Espenson, Charles Ardai. Generally with praise, because we try to call people out by name only when there's stuff we like, and only call out the stuff itself we don't like. So, we try not to tell anyone specific "OMG SHUT UP" But now I'm wondering what our numbers are on women and men whose writing we've discussed. Hurm.

[sarahtales]

I love Once Upon A Time, she says unhelpfully. ;) And Jane Espenson!

[kittydesade]

Jane Espenson is awesome. I think I actually do love, on balance, everything she's done that I've seen. Or at least, liked it more than my usual feelings. (Unpopular opinion time: I fell out of love with Once Upon A Time because of Reasons towards the end of the first season.)

[sarahtales]

I think the second season is miles better than the first, but each to their own, of course: I can like OUAT and you can like Grimm and we both get something we like. ;)

[rai_ryu]

And I’m not saying that dude authors, or any dudes, or any ladies buying into the ‘Shut up, woman’s name, shut up!’ thing are being mean, either. I’m saying, there’s a pattern we’ve all, to some extent, unconsciously adopted. I’m saying that when we think ‘SHUT UP’ about a lady we should examine that impulse.

This is perfect. So many times when bringing up this phenomenon, the only response is "How could you accuse me of being sexist?! Just cause I don't like something!"
But it exactly that we have to examine why we dislike certain things, especially if our dislike goes along with a societal pattern. There's nothing wrong with having to examine, or examining and coming to the conclusion that we still don't like the work, but it's just the resistance from so many people when they're told they should do so that is strange.

[sarahtales]

The really fierce insistence is kind of a tipoff there's something wrong there, I think, like the constant assertions that Dorothy L Sayers WAS NOT an Inkling. Methinks the world doth protest too much about ladies.

[full_metal_ox]

The really fierce insistence is kind of a tipoff there's something wrong there, I think, like the constant assertions that Dorothy L Sayers WAS NOT an Inkling.

Your observation parallels another that comes to mind, and I hope I won't give offense by taking the liberty of paraphrasing you:

But lots of people want to be very clear that Saint Mary Magdalene may have been Jesus’s friend, but she wasn’t one of the Apostles. She didn’t attend meetings! Okay maybe one but it didn’t count! They were all, all dudes. (Okay. Maybe so. But chill yourselves, why is this so hotly contested? … Oh wait I know why.)

[sarahtales]

*speechless delight*