Gilmour on Turning Stomachs

[jimhines]

ETA: I should also link to this follow-up, wherein Gilmour responds to the criticism of his comments. I’ve done interviews before where my verbal comments were rephrased or edited in ways that distorted their meaning. On the other hand, the apology (which he says he normally wouldn’t give, but he’s got a book coming out) and his other comments …

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

I’m a natural sniper. I know how to hit the bowl when I take a piss, therefore I know how to take out an enemy soldier from three hundred yards. It’s the same thing.

BRB, lolling forever.

Ugh, Roth. Thankfully, the combination of libido killing medicine and being happily single are saving me from the inevitability of his vision of middle aged sexuality.

[deborahblakehps]

Headdesk.And also, men eating WHAT?????

[sylvanstargazer]

I want us to talk about masculinity more, because I think some people have very weird ideas of what it means. Like, really weird ideas. And then Very Serious Writers validate their bizarre ideas and are crowned "universal". When really, just, wait, WTF??!?

[icecreamempress]

Mr. Gilmour is Canadian-born and -bred* (though he prefers writers from the US and pats himself on the back for his "iconoclasm" in that respect, too). So "white, male, American comfort zone" should either read "Canadian" or "North American," yes?

*I'm not sure if any of his books have had a US edition, for that matter. Though he's obviously well-thought-of in Canadian literary circles, having received a Governor-General's Award and other prestigious prizes.

[icecreamempress]

My husband, who is 52, wants to assure you that middle-aged sexuality is nothing like Philip Roth novels.

I had a friend whose mum went to high school with Philip Roth, and they went to some school dances together as you do, then lost touch after graduation. Some years later, her mother called her up and said, "That boyfriend of yours, that Phil Roth, I thought he was a nice boy!" She said something non-committal, and her mother continued, "One of the ladies at mah-jongg told me he wrote a whole book" (here her voice hushed to a whisper) "about a man playing with himself! A whole book!"

"One of the ladies at mah-jongg told me he wrote a whole book" .....

[snapes_angel]

Certain friends of mine would refer to that as "mental masturbation". ;)

[dionysus1999]

At least he's sticking with what he knows.

[maladaptive]

So when these guys eat menstrual pads, they end up with intestinal blockages, yes? Because lots of plastic + extremely absorbent material = a surgeon cutting you open. No clue why you need this guy's class to figure that out. Own a cat or volunteer at the ER, you'll deal with "things that should not be ingested" from much more entertaining individuals.

ETA: entirely possible they're not disposables, but something tells me Gilmour doesn't know diddly about alternative menstrual products like cloth pads.

[polenth]

The ones available when I was a teen had no plastic and didn't really absorb much. Just paper and maybe some fluffy stuff (so they could be flushed down the toilet), so you could totally eat them. I wouldn't recommend eating them, but I suppose I'm not a manly man writing man books about manness, so I just don't understand the literary greatness of eating sanitary towels.

[snapes_angel]

"a manly man writing man books about manness"

Thanks for the grin. ;)

You know, this could almost be a Monty Python routine.

[dickgloucester]

a manly man writing man books about manness

*dies* *reads your phrase again* *giggles some more*

[handful_ofdust]

I must admit that Gilmour's sudden Internet fame/infamy is fairly hilarious to me, since I used to babysit his son. I'll point out that I actually have read most of his books since then, and enjoyed at least some of them, but I guess I know now that he's unlikely to return the favour.;)

[evewithanapple]

Given everything that's come out of this dude's mouth so far, I cannot IMAGINE that he'd approach your books with any kind of open mind anyway. I mean not only are you an icky girl writing icky girl books, you're writing about gay and Chinese people! (Not to mention I have a hard time picturing this guy reading fantasy/horror.)

[handful_ofdust]

Oh yeah, that's totally not his bag, any more than Margaret Atwood will ever overtly cop to writing SF. (Shrugs) C'est la vie. (OTOH, my shit sure can't be described as "good-for-you writing", so that's something!)