Sexism in SF - that Big Finish competition

[matgb]

Hmm. The BBC and Big Finish have announced the winner of their short story competition and bibliophile1887 observes that the list is overwhelmingly male. snapesbabe entered and shares the concern (interesting comments discussion in both posts). This put me in mind of a discussion last week at nihilistic_kid's over recent submissions to his magazine: there is a long history of women

Comments

[tinuvielberen]

You've got a little typo -

the list is overwhelmingly MALE.

And I've been thinking about this summore. Male SF editors pick stories that appeal to them, which are more likely to be written by other men. Hence the anthologies they publish appeal more to male readers. So it's a self-perpetuating cycle.

I seem to recall reading somewhere (how's that for reliable data!) that, in general, women buy WAY more books than men. So SF is ignoring a vast, untapped market.

[matgb]

Fixed, thanks, proofread that twice and still missed it.

I think you're right in many respects; literary SF is seen as a 'male' market and thuspitches at male readers, despite evidence from elsewhere (TV show fandom for a start) that shows women like SF just as much. It's very hard to quantify though, and I've seen more than a few dinosaur authors railing against "PC publishers who only pick girly SF" and similar.

Your data about disparity in purchasing is right, I've seen it many times. But, conversely, is that not possibly evidence that there isn't enough stuff aimed at men in different markets?

Loads of chick-lit romances, but fewer Nick Hornby style aimed at blokes books...

Meh, gotta go.

[tinuvielberen]

I don't buy romance novels either. But I do like to see heroes with foibles, strong yet vulnerable. I like to see strong women, too; interesting female characters who think about something other than a man. I like complicated, sciency plots but also strong characterisation. I'm not too keen on violence or gore; I prefer more psychological horror.

You can write an excellent SF story with these characteristics which will appeal to BOTH women and men.

[mdmnmdllr]

Mat, if you DO include fantasy as part of an "'all encompassing' classification" for SF, then I think it has to be understood that there is and has been over the last several decades at the very least an extremely large influx of female-authored material. And that's in addition to some very time-honored names, as well, such as Norton or Kurtz

[tyrell]

Woo! Swainston's put the solstice and quarter-days in her books (and latest blog entry). Awesomeness.