Sexism and Success
I’m starting the weekend on a hugely positive note, personally.
The finances are still dire, so I’ve had to do some rescheduling and prioritising with the week ahead. A week ago, I was almost tearful when an offer of emergency fill-in work came up... but I lacked the confidence to think I would be able to do it, so I turned it down. Being such a Yes-woman, this was very unlike me.
But this week more work has come my way, and I have grabbed at it. It means I have unfortunately had to back out of the slam in Nuneaton on Saturday, but as organiser Mark Niel says, art for art’s sake; money for Gawd’s sake. Or it may have been 10CC? Do go though, if you can. It’s going to be mega.
Also, I’ve had to cancel my gig in Birmingham on Wednesday as I just can’t afford to make two trips out and not get paid. Career comedians will despair of me as I have chosen instead to go to the Virago offices on Tuesday for a book club discussion with Natasha Walter, author of Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism. Not only does this sound like it’s going to be a great evening, but it’s also a chance to get to see a bit of Virago. I’ve been reading their books for twenty-odd years, so it’s a brand I’m enthusiastic about. And you know what? Those chaps I do editing work for have never so much as invited me in for a cup of tea. I’m getting wine at Virago (free wine, free wine)!
It does grieve me that I’ve had to choose, though. The problem with comedy is that it is an expensive interest to start. To keep up, let alone improve, you need to be gigging regularly. This is fine if the finances remain fluid and you can see a chance of progression glimmering ahead, but I’m finding it very difficult to justify some of the current expense. It’s not impossible to ‘keep up’ on the cheap - I manage - but applying for gigs is a bit like applying for tickets to the Olympics... you have to apply for more than you can manage in the hope that you might get some... all the while not going for anything beyond your capabilities in case anyone starts thinking of you as a ‘chancer’.
There are thousands of new comedians out there... the amount of times I’ve asked for a gig, then despaired when I don’t get it... even more so when a ‘so I raped her’ punchline bloke gets it (really chaps, what is it that you are trying to do with sets like that?)!
The sexism in comedy is sometimes explicit - when a promoter won’t book two women on the same bill, for example - but maybe there’s also an issue of when a promoter is thinking of acts he knows for his bill and may consciously or unconsciously skip over the women’s names in that mental list. Who knows? It can’t really be substantiated... the only thing to do is to keep going. The more women stick at this, prove they are funny, then the ratio of men to women who are able to progress beyond the open-mic circuit will surely start edging closer to parity .
Plus, we can use initiatives like Funny’s Funny to help. The showcases will soon be over for this year, but they have started the ball rolling. A female-only competition is not in itself a solution to improving the lot of women in comedy, but the organisers have proved that a competition can be run well, and offer support, encouragement and networking opportunities to women - and you don’t have to pay to play, either. It does mean though, that they’ve consequently set themselves the challenge of thinking beyond their initial remit...
I was chatting to one of the organisers, Ashley Frieze, at the Birmingham showcase. Like me, he’s well into his SF. I was telling him that the invisibility of women was just as hot a topic in the world of SF at the moment as it is with comedy. He was on his way out, so couldn’t chat for long, but we agreed it was definitely an issue we should talk about again.
When I was a schoolgirl, considering a career as an engineer, but being persuaded to study languages instead by my parents, I certainly never thought that in 2011 I would still be seeing so many instances of women can’t/women aren’t bandied about as justifications for anything from playing snooker to writing certain types of books. Read a Guardian blog... any time any comedian is discussed there is a torrent of ‘x...is not funny’ after (why click on an article about someone you really don’t like?). But if that comedian is female, there is always some dick on there who argues that NO woman is funny. No one says, oh I hate Stewart Lee - male comedians just don’t do jokes, because that would be ridiculous... yet seemingly they have no qualms about dismissing an entire gender’s contribution to the art.
Perhaps the naysayers really only relish the kickback their negativity generates i.e. a large number of returned comments. However, it’s that they feel comfortable making these statements that bothers me - yes, there will be others who shout them down, but what lack of education, what cultural limitations must cripple those who denounce the achievements of women? The problem for us, though, is when you have that many people out there spouting this kind of crap, it normalises the prejudice, it snowballs.
Most of the time, the problem may not feel like one that touches us because humans are social creatures and we gravitate towards our own kind... people who like the stuff we do, and who think in similar ways. But tiptoe out of CiF to the Yahoo blogs and see what kind of demi-life lurks there! Scary!
We might be more culturally sheltered from the morons in sf than in comedy, but sf is still a cultural product and the guards remain in place for good reason.
However, I recently felt compelled to comment on a blog discussing sexism in sf when it focussed on the editorial choices made by a friend of mine. I can understand why the numbers didn’t add up for Kev McVeigh, and I know he’s trying to help, but I’m glad to see the conversation move forward. At least all the individuals involved broadly have the same goal: to improve the lot of women in SF, resulting in greater understanding and appreciation of the talents and achievements in wider circles of SF consumption.
I’m wondering what I can do with BSFA Awards that might help. I’d also like to start up a reading initiative with libraries if I can find people out there who would like to get on board with me - or wouldn’t mind me joining in with anything they are doing already. Any ideas? Get in touch!
I am also relaunching Visionary Tongue soon and if any women (or men) would like to contribute stories, poems or articles, or do reviews, please get in touch!
In other news, I have a guest blog on Annie Ko’s site about the Good Food Show.
Also, I am pleased to report that last night’s Edinburgh preview with Jo Neary was excellent, and my MCing also went down well... so I’ve been asked to MC next Thursday’s too. Yippee!
The finances are still dire, so I’ve had to do some rescheduling and prioritising with the week ahead. A week ago, I was almost tearful when an offer of emergency fill-in work came up... but I lacked the confidence to think I would be able to do it, so I turned it down. Being such a Yes-woman, this was very unlike me.
But this week more work has come my way, and I have grabbed at it. It means I have unfortunately had to back out of the slam in Nuneaton on Saturday, but as organiser Mark Niel says, art for art’s sake; money for Gawd’s sake. Or it may have been 10CC? Do go though, if you can. It’s going to be mega.
Also, I’ve had to cancel my gig in Birmingham on Wednesday as I just can’t afford to make two trips out and not get paid. Career comedians will despair of me as I have chosen instead to go to the Virago offices on Tuesday for a book club discussion with Natasha Walter, author of Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism. Not only does this sound like it’s going to be a great evening, but it’s also a chance to get to see a bit of Virago. I’ve been reading their books for twenty-odd years, so it’s a brand I’m enthusiastic about. And you know what? Those chaps I do editing work for have never so much as invited me in for a cup of tea. I’m getting wine at Virago (free wine, free wine)!
It does grieve me that I’ve had to choose, though. The problem with comedy is that it is an expensive interest to start. To keep up, let alone improve, you need to be gigging regularly. This is fine if the finances remain fluid and you can see a chance of progression glimmering ahead, but I’m finding it very difficult to justify some of the current expense. It’s not impossible to ‘keep up’ on the cheap - I manage - but applying for gigs is a bit like applying for tickets to the Olympics... you have to apply for more than you can manage in the hope that you might get some... all the while not going for anything beyond your capabilities in case anyone starts thinking of you as a ‘chancer’.
There are thousands of new comedians out there... the amount of times I’ve asked for a gig, then despaired when I don’t get it... even more so when a ‘so I raped her’ punchline bloke gets it (really chaps, what is it that you are trying to do with sets like that?)!
The sexism in comedy is sometimes explicit - when a promoter won’t book two women on the same bill, for example - but maybe there’s also an issue of when a promoter is thinking of acts he knows for his bill and may consciously or unconsciously skip over the women’s names in that mental list. Who knows? It can’t really be substantiated... the only thing to do is to keep going. The more women stick at this, prove they are funny, then the ratio of men to women who are able to progress beyond the open-mic circuit will surely start edging closer to parity .
Plus, we can use initiatives like Funny’s Funny to help. The showcases will soon be over for this year, but they have started the ball rolling. A female-only competition is not in itself a solution to improving the lot of women in comedy, but the organisers have proved that a competition can be run well, and offer support, encouragement and networking opportunities to women - and you don’t have to pay to play, either. It does mean though, that they’ve consequently set themselves the challenge of thinking beyond their initial remit...
I was chatting to one of the organisers, Ashley Frieze, at the Birmingham showcase. Like me, he’s well into his SF. I was telling him that the invisibility of women was just as hot a topic in the world of SF at the moment as it is with comedy. He was on his way out, so couldn’t chat for long, but we agreed it was definitely an issue we should talk about again.
When I was a schoolgirl, considering a career as an engineer, but being persuaded to study languages instead by my parents, I certainly never thought that in 2011 I would still be seeing so many instances of women can’t/women aren’t bandied about as justifications for anything from playing snooker to writing certain types of books. Read a Guardian blog... any time any comedian is discussed there is a torrent of ‘x...is not funny’ after (why click on an article about someone you really don’t like?). But if that comedian is female, there is always some dick on there who argues that NO woman is funny. No one says, oh I hate Stewart Lee - male comedians just don’t do jokes, because that would be ridiculous... yet seemingly they have no qualms about dismissing an entire gender’s contribution to the art.
Perhaps the naysayers really only relish the kickback their negativity generates i.e. a large number of returned comments. However, it’s that they feel comfortable making these statements that bothers me - yes, there will be others who shout them down, but what lack of education, what cultural limitations must cripple those who denounce the achievements of women? The problem for us, though, is when you have that many people out there spouting this kind of crap, it normalises the prejudice, it snowballs.
Most of the time, the problem may not feel like one that touches us because humans are social creatures and we gravitate towards our own kind... people who like the stuff we do, and who think in similar ways. But tiptoe out of CiF to the Yahoo blogs and see what kind of demi-life lurks there! Scary!
We might be more culturally sheltered from the morons in sf than in comedy, but sf is still a cultural product and the guards remain in place for good reason.
However, I recently felt compelled to comment on a blog discussing sexism in sf when it focussed on the editorial choices made by a friend of mine. I can understand why the numbers didn’t add up for Kev McVeigh, and I know he’s trying to help, but I’m glad to see the conversation move forward. At least all the individuals involved broadly have the same goal: to improve the lot of women in SF, resulting in greater understanding and appreciation of the talents and achievements in wider circles of SF consumption.
I’m wondering what I can do with BSFA Awards that might help. I’d also like to start up a reading initiative with libraries if I can find people out there who would like to get on board with me - or wouldn’t mind me joining in with anything they are doing already. Any ideas? Get in touch!
I am also relaunching Visionary Tongue soon and if any women (or men) would like to contribute stories, poems or articles, or do reviews, please get in touch!
In other news, I have a guest blog on Annie Ko’s site about the Good Food Show.
Also, I am pleased to report that last night’s Edinburgh preview with Jo Neary was excellent, and my MCing also went down well... so I’ve been asked to MC next Thursday’s too. Yippee!