a million times a trillion more (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dolorosa_12) wrote2013-11-13 02:24 pm
dolorosa_12) wrote2013-11-13 02:24 pm
Links about representation, and a meme
I've got four links for you today.
First up, N. K. Jemisin talking about her experiences trying to publish a book in the face of industry racism:
But here’s something else I probably haven’t emphasized enough: I did have help. I’ve mentioned how crucial those early role models were in encouraging me to try for a pro career, and keeping me from quitting when things got ugly. But just as crucially, somewhere between my first and second attempts to break in as a novelist, the entire genre changed, just a little. Massive discussions about race and gender had begun to take place, spurred by early social media like Livejournal, and these were a clear signal to the SFF establishment that there was an audience out there for the kind of stuff I write. There always has been. More importantly, I did not have equal opportunity. In order to get my Nebula/WFA/Locus-nominated first novel published, I had to write a trilogy that got even more awards and nominations. I had to work around assumptions that a white writer writing white characters in a pseudo-medieval-European setting would not face, like Will anybody except “her people” read this book?
Malinda Lo talks about sexism (and racism, and homophobia) and self-promotion:
Leaning closer to me, the woman asked in a lowered voice, “Is this because you’re a lesbian?”
I was charmed by her question because I could tell she was gay, and she seemed to be whispering a secret to me through a keyhole. I smiled and said, “Yes. Yes, I’m a lesbian.”
She said, “Thank you so much for saying what you said at the panel. I never knew books like yours existed. I’m so glad you’re out.”
I told her, “You are the reason I came to this festival.”
And she was. No matter how disconcerting it is to be forced to come out over and over again, both in real life and online, no matter how frustrating it is to get homophobic messages or reviews, I have to remember that there are queer women out there sitting silent in the audience, or reading quietly online, who have never heard of my novels. Queer women who have never realized that they could read books about queer women who are allowed to fall in love and have happy, fulfilled lives.
Sarah Rees Brennan wrote a companion piece to Lo's article:
I have heard often that it’s wrong for lady creators to talk about sexism or how sexism negatively affects their lives, and that we’re making it up. I don’t know why this always shocks me so much: this is very familiar stuff at its core. “Those crazy wimmins, complaining about their lady treatment when they actually get treated SO well” is something ladies get a lot from anti-women’s-rights conservatives. I guess that’s why it’s surprising to hear it from other quarters, sometimes from other women, but at least it makes things very clear: people actually concerned about sexism do not go around saying that women should shut their dumb faces about it.
Nor, in a society set up to make sure women have poor opinions of themselves, is anyone taking on the system by characterising professional women as bragging and boasting. Those who use a rhetoric that insists “these women talking in any way positively about themselves or their work are too self-satisfied” are upholding the current system, where women are socialised not to have any confidence, and that is reinforced at every turn by people telling them that the tiny pieces of confidence they’ve managed to scrape together are far too much.
And, in a post both hilarious and misery-inducing, Foz Meadows wrote 'How Many Male SF/F Authors Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?'.
And now, on to the meme.
How old were you when you had your first kiss?
I was 15. It was with someone I liked, and it was mostly something I wanted, which I guess is all a first kiss should be.
If I handed you a concert ticket right now, who would you want to be the performer?
Either The Knife, Massive Attack or Daft Punk (but only during the Discovery era.
What color looks best on you?
Colours on the green/blue end of the spectrum. For the most part, the 'four seasons colour analysis' thing is rubbish (and...sort of ignores everyone who isn't white), but the colours that work for a 'summer' in that scheme tend to work on me.
Name three facts about your family.
1. I am the oldest of four sisters.
2. My family is almost all women. My mother has three sisters, my father has two sisters, I have three sisters and almost all my cousins are female. The first great-grandchild in the family is also a girl.
3. My parents never got married, just lived together for ages and had two kids. As a result, I have a kind of weird attitude towards marriage.
What's the best thing you can cook?
That would depend on the opinion of whoever's eating. I really love to cook, and can make a great roast chicken, an amazing dish with roasted vegetables, halloumi and couscous, and lots of dishes involving fish. Basically, I can follow any recipe for savoury food and produce something good the first time. I'm really bad at cooking sweet things, but that doesn't bother me much because I don't like cake or biscuits at all.
If you could pick the gender and appearance of your child, would you?
No, what a horrendous thing to ask! I think I would find it easier to be a mother to daughters, simply because I have much more experience being around girls of all ages (due to my aforementioned female-dominated family), but I also think that being a parent is a learning experience and I would start off just as much in the dark whether my child was a boy or a girl.
If you died right now, what song would you want to play at your funeral?
'Blinding' by Florence + the Machine (SONG OF MY HEART), 'Waltz Across Texas Tonight' by Emmylou Harris, and the cover version of 'Harvest Moon' by St Vincent and Justin Vernon. Have I thought about this too much? Probably. (For what it's worth, if I ever got married, I'd want these same three songs played at the wedding. I'm kind of...consistent.)
Favorite holiday dish?
I don't even know what this means. My family's holidays always involve eating out a lot, so I don't think I could narrow it down to one dish. The most memorable probably was this amazing lentil soup we ate in Venice on a family holiday in September, 1999. But the dish that probably screams 'HOLIDAY' the most for me is the fresh fish and chips that we used to get at Lake's Entrance in Victoria every summer we went there. Or cheese and tomato jaffles (which is Australian for toasted sandwiches) and mangoes, because that was what we ate every summer we went on holiday to the south coast.
Would you ever get into a long distance relationship?
I've been in a long-distance relationship twice. The first time it was fairly short-lived, but I had fun while it lasted. The second time, with Matthias, our relationship became temporarily long-distance when I moved to Heidelberg as a visiting academic for a year. It wasn't awful, and I certainly got to know Frankfurt-Hahn airport very well, but I wouldn't want to do it again.
Favorite kind of soup?
Gazpacho soup in the summer, and either Italian vegetable soup or chicken-noodle soup in the winter.
What's the most thoughtful present you've ever received?
I'd have to say the plane tickets my mum has bought me in the past few years (as combined Christmas and birthday presents) in order to fly back to Australia, simply because I'd never be able to afford them myself and thus would not have been back in five years.
Are you currently in love with someone?
Yes.
Would you ever become a vegan?
If there was an extremely compelling health reason, yes. But otherwise no. I could quite happily give up meat, but not cheese.
What's your favorite hot beverage?
Coffee. Real coffee.
For your birthday, what kind of cake do you ask for?
I haven't had a cake in years, although if I did ask for one, it would be something more like a trifle or tiramisù, because I like cakes with a less dry consistency.
Do you like going on airplanes?
Hate, hate, hate. I spend the whole time gripping Matthias' hand, or, if he's not there, wringing my hands and clinging onto my own arms. On longer flights, like the one to Australia from London, I eventually have to relax because it's impossible to maintain that kind of tension for 24 hours, but every time there's a bit of turbulence, I revert to the original panic.
Did you ever play an instrument? If so what?
I learnt the piano as a child and teenager, and also tried out the cello, clarinet and saxophone at annual music summer camps.
Who was your best friend when you were six years old?
A girl called Emma. Our friendship mostly consisted of pretending we were either dinosaurs, planets or possums. We're still vaguely in touch through Facebook.
What color was your childhood home?
I lived in at least four places before I was old enough to remember the colour, and the houses I lived in after that were, in order:
Cream
Yellowy cream
Pink (the flat my dad moved into after my parents separated)
Exposed brick with greyish blue-painted wooden bits.
Starbucks order?
I don't drink stuff from Starbucks.
Do you like where you're from?
I'm technically from New York because I was born there, but I have lived in Australia since I was two and my whole family is Australian, so I don't really think of myself as coming from New York. I've visited it a few times and it seems like a pretty cool city, but I don't want to live there myself.
I consider myself to be from Canberra because I lived there between the ages of three and eighteen (and also for a year when I was 22, but we don't talk about that), and I like a lot of things about the place. I think it was a great place to grow up if you were middle class - there were a lot of things to do and it was easy to get around, so I did fantastic after-school activities, went to lots of theatre performances, museums and art gallery exhibitions and was able to spend a lot of time outdoors. I like how multicultural it was, at least in the schools I went to (which were filled with the children of international students and diplomats), and I like how close it was to places like Sydney (a four-hour drive, which is close by Australian standards). I don't like how it was set up to cater to people with cars, and I don't like the attitude there which seems to be that working there is a temporary stage, a stepping stone on the way to Sydney, Melbourne or overseas. It creates this kind of transient feeling.
I also consider myself to be from Sydney because I lived there for five years as a young adult. I like the food scene there, I like the beaches and the easy access to museums and art galleries and theatre, and the fact that it's got great natural beauty. I don't like the traffic, or the fact that no one seems able to fix its public transport problems, I don't like how renters are being squeezed out of the inner city, and I don't like the emphasis on appearances and social standing that seems to permeate certain sections of Sydney society.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Depends what age you're talking about. I can probably make a chronological list:
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (ages 7-8)
The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adele Geras (ages 8-9)
Of Nightingales That Weep by Katherine Paterson (ages 9-10)
Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein (age 10)
Galax-Arena by Gillian Rubinstein and Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden (ages 11-12)
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (and the other books in this trilogy as they were published) (ages 13-18).
What's the scariest dream you've ever had?
Okay, this is really messed up and violent, so skip it if you don't want to hear about such things. This dream occurred when I was about 16 or 17. In the dream, my family was having a Montague and Capulet-esque feud with another family, and at some point, the other family violently murdered everyone in my family except me, one of my cousins, and my grandfather. In revenge, I went on a rampage in a bus on which the other family was travelling, killing them all with a machine gun as my cousin and grandfather looked on. I left the youngest children alive, telling them 'I'm leaving you alive so that you'll grow up with someone to hate.' I woke up screaming and crying. It was absolutely chilling, and I've never forgotten it. I've had dreams where worse stuff was done to me, but it's the fact that I was the one doing such things that really terrified me.
Would you rather carve pumpkins or wrap presents?
Neither. I'd rather actually celebrate the particular events.
Favorite kind of candy?
Chocolate.
Would you rather be cold or hot?
Cold. Luckily, I'm always freezing, with icy hands and feet, no matter what the weather.
Do you listen to what's on the radio?
No, but I'm generally vaguely aware of whatever music is popular at the moment.
Do you like when it rains?
I love it. Especially when I'm all snuggled up inside and listening to it.
What's a movie you cried while watching?
Oh God, what movie didn't I cry in? I think the last one that really made me hysterical was Brave, because it reminded me of my own relationship with my mother, so the ending made me cry with joy. More recently, I cried when watching the Daria series finale, 'Is It College Yet?'.
Do you think you're important?
To people who love me, yes. In the grand scheme of things, no.
First up, N. K. Jemisin talking about her experiences trying to publish a book in the face of industry racism:
But here’s something else I probably haven’t emphasized enough: I did have help. I’ve mentioned how crucial those early role models were in encouraging me to try for a pro career, and keeping me from quitting when things got ugly. But just as crucially, somewhere between my first and second attempts to break in as a novelist, the entire genre changed, just a little. Massive discussions about race and gender had begun to take place, spurred by early social media like Livejournal, and these were a clear signal to the SFF establishment that there was an audience out there for the kind of stuff I write. There always has been. More importantly, I did not have equal opportunity. In order to get my Nebula/WFA/Locus-nominated first novel published, I had to write a trilogy that got even more awards and nominations. I had to work around assumptions that a white writer writing white characters in a pseudo-medieval-European setting would not face, like Will anybody except “her people” read this book?
Malinda Lo talks about sexism (and racism, and homophobia) and self-promotion:
Leaning closer to me, the woman asked in a lowered voice, “Is this because you’re a lesbian?”
I was charmed by her question because I could tell she was gay, and she seemed to be whispering a secret to me through a keyhole. I smiled and said, “Yes. Yes, I’m a lesbian.”
She said, “Thank you so much for saying what you said at the panel. I never knew books like yours existed. I’m so glad you’re out.”
I told her, “You are the reason I came to this festival.”
And she was. No matter how disconcerting it is to be forced to come out over and over again, both in real life and online, no matter how frustrating it is to get homophobic messages or reviews, I have to remember that there are queer women out there sitting silent in the audience, or reading quietly online, who have never heard of my novels. Queer women who have never realized that they could read books about queer women who are allowed to fall in love and have happy, fulfilled lives.
Sarah Rees Brennan wrote a companion piece to Lo's article:
I have heard often that it’s wrong for lady creators to talk about sexism or how sexism negatively affects their lives, and that we’re making it up. I don’t know why this always shocks me so much: this is very familiar stuff at its core. “Those crazy wimmins, complaining about their lady treatment when they actually get treated SO well” is something ladies get a lot from anti-women’s-rights conservatives. I guess that’s why it’s surprising to hear it from other quarters, sometimes from other women, but at least it makes things very clear: people actually concerned about sexism do not go around saying that women should shut their dumb faces about it.
Nor, in a society set up to make sure women have poor opinions of themselves, is anyone taking on the system by characterising professional women as bragging and boasting. Those who use a rhetoric that insists “these women talking in any way positively about themselves or their work are too self-satisfied” are upholding the current system, where women are socialised not to have any confidence, and that is reinforced at every turn by people telling them that the tiny pieces of confidence they’ve managed to scrape together are far too much.
And, in a post both hilarious and misery-inducing, Foz Meadows wrote 'How Many Male SF/F Authors Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?'.
And now, on to the meme.
How old were you when you had your first kiss?
I was 15. It was with someone I liked, and it was mostly something I wanted, which I guess is all a first kiss should be.
If I handed you a concert ticket right now, who would you want to be the performer?
Either The Knife, Massive Attack or Daft Punk (but only during the Discovery era.
What color looks best on you?
Colours on the green/blue end of the spectrum. For the most part, the 'four seasons colour analysis' thing is rubbish (and...sort of ignores everyone who isn't white), but the colours that work for a 'summer' in that scheme tend to work on me.
Name three facts about your family.
1. I am the oldest of four sisters.
2. My family is almost all women. My mother has three sisters, my father has two sisters, I have three sisters and almost all my cousins are female. The first great-grandchild in the family is also a girl.
3. My parents never got married, just lived together for ages and had two kids. As a result, I have a kind of weird attitude towards marriage.
What's the best thing you can cook?
That would depend on the opinion of whoever's eating. I really love to cook, and can make a great roast chicken, an amazing dish with roasted vegetables, halloumi and couscous, and lots of dishes involving fish. Basically, I can follow any recipe for savoury food and produce something good the first time. I'm really bad at cooking sweet things, but that doesn't bother me much because I don't like cake or biscuits at all.
If you could pick the gender and appearance of your child, would you?
No, what a horrendous thing to ask! I think I would find it easier to be a mother to daughters, simply because I have much more experience being around girls of all ages (due to my aforementioned female-dominated family), but I also think that being a parent is a learning experience and I would start off just as much in the dark whether my child was a boy or a girl.
If you died right now, what song would you want to play at your funeral?
'Blinding' by Florence + the Machine (SONG OF MY HEART), 'Waltz Across Texas Tonight' by Emmylou Harris, and the cover version of 'Harvest Moon' by St Vincent and Justin Vernon. Have I thought about this too much? Probably. (For what it's worth, if I ever got married, I'd want these same three songs played at the wedding. I'm kind of...consistent.)
Favorite holiday dish?
I don't even know what this means. My family's holidays always involve eating out a lot, so I don't think I could narrow it down to one dish. The most memorable probably was this amazing lentil soup we ate in Venice on a family holiday in September, 1999. But the dish that probably screams 'HOLIDAY' the most for me is the fresh fish and chips that we used to get at Lake's Entrance in Victoria every summer we went there. Or cheese and tomato jaffles (which is Australian for toasted sandwiches) and mangoes, because that was what we ate every summer we went on holiday to the south coast.
Would you ever get into a long distance relationship?
I've been in a long-distance relationship twice. The first time it was fairly short-lived, but I had fun while it lasted. The second time, with Matthias, our relationship became temporarily long-distance when I moved to Heidelberg as a visiting academic for a year. It wasn't awful, and I certainly got to know Frankfurt-Hahn airport very well, but I wouldn't want to do it again.
Favorite kind of soup?
Gazpacho soup in the summer, and either Italian vegetable soup or chicken-noodle soup in the winter.
What's the most thoughtful present you've ever received?
I'd have to say the plane tickets my mum has bought me in the past few years (as combined Christmas and birthday presents) in order to fly back to Australia, simply because I'd never be able to afford them myself and thus would not have been back in five years.
Are you currently in love with someone?
Yes.
Would you ever become a vegan?
If there was an extremely compelling health reason, yes. But otherwise no. I could quite happily give up meat, but not cheese.
What's your favorite hot beverage?
Coffee. Real coffee.
For your birthday, what kind of cake do you ask for?
I haven't had a cake in years, although if I did ask for one, it would be something more like a trifle or tiramisù, because I like cakes with a less dry consistency.
Do you like going on airplanes?
Hate, hate, hate. I spend the whole time gripping Matthias' hand, or, if he's not there, wringing my hands and clinging onto my own arms. On longer flights, like the one to Australia from London, I eventually have to relax because it's impossible to maintain that kind of tension for 24 hours, but every time there's a bit of turbulence, I revert to the original panic.
Did you ever play an instrument? If so what?
I learnt the piano as a child and teenager, and also tried out the cello, clarinet and saxophone at annual music summer camps.
Who was your best friend when you were six years old?
A girl called Emma. Our friendship mostly consisted of pretending we were either dinosaurs, planets or possums. We're still vaguely in touch through Facebook.
What color was your childhood home?
I lived in at least four places before I was old enough to remember the colour, and the houses I lived in after that were, in order:
Cream
Yellowy cream
Pink (the flat my dad moved into after my parents separated)
Exposed brick with greyish blue-painted wooden bits.
Starbucks order?
I don't drink stuff from Starbucks.
Do you like where you're from?
I'm technically from New York because I was born there, but I have lived in Australia since I was two and my whole family is Australian, so I don't really think of myself as coming from New York. I've visited it a few times and it seems like a pretty cool city, but I don't want to live there myself.
I consider myself to be from Canberra because I lived there between the ages of three and eighteen (and also for a year when I was 22, but we don't talk about that), and I like a lot of things about the place. I think it was a great place to grow up if you were middle class - there were a lot of things to do and it was easy to get around, so I did fantastic after-school activities, went to lots of theatre performances, museums and art gallery exhibitions and was able to spend a lot of time outdoors. I like how multicultural it was, at least in the schools I went to (which were filled with the children of international students and diplomats), and I like how close it was to places like Sydney (a four-hour drive, which is close by Australian standards). I don't like how it was set up to cater to people with cars, and I don't like the attitude there which seems to be that working there is a temporary stage, a stepping stone on the way to Sydney, Melbourne or overseas. It creates this kind of transient feeling.
I also consider myself to be from Sydney because I lived there for five years as a young adult. I like the food scene there, I like the beaches and the easy access to museums and art galleries and theatre, and the fact that it's got great natural beauty. I don't like the traffic, or the fact that no one seems able to fix its public transport problems, I don't like how renters are being squeezed out of the inner city, and I don't like the emphasis on appearances and social standing that seems to permeate certain sections of Sydney society.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Depends what age you're talking about. I can probably make a chronological list:
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (ages 7-8)
The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adele Geras (ages 8-9)
Of Nightingales That Weep by Katherine Paterson (ages 9-10)
Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein (age 10)
Galax-Arena by Gillian Rubinstein and Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden (ages 11-12)
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (and the other books in this trilogy as they were published) (ages 13-18).
What's the scariest dream you've ever had?
Okay, this is really messed up and violent, so skip it if you don't want to hear about such things. This dream occurred when I was about 16 or 17. In the dream, my family was having a Montague and Capulet-esque feud with another family, and at some point, the other family violently murdered everyone in my family except me, one of my cousins, and my grandfather. In revenge, I went on a rampage in a bus on which the other family was travelling, killing them all with a machine gun as my cousin and grandfather looked on. I left the youngest children alive, telling them 'I'm leaving you alive so that you'll grow up with someone to hate.' I woke up screaming and crying. It was absolutely chilling, and I've never forgotten it. I've had dreams where worse stuff was done to me, but it's the fact that I was the one doing such things that really terrified me.
Would you rather carve pumpkins or wrap presents?
Neither. I'd rather actually celebrate the particular events.
Favorite kind of candy?
Chocolate.
Would you rather be cold or hot?
Cold. Luckily, I'm always freezing, with icy hands and feet, no matter what the weather.
Do you listen to what's on the radio?
No, but I'm generally vaguely aware of whatever music is popular at the moment.
Do you like when it rains?
I love it. Especially when I'm all snuggled up inside and listening to it.
What's a movie you cried while watching?
Oh God, what movie didn't I cry in? I think the last one that really made me hysterical was Brave, because it reminded me of my own relationship with my mother, so the ending made me cry with joy. More recently, I cried when watching the Daria series finale, 'Is It College Yet?'.
Do you think you're important?
To people who love me, yes. In the grand scheme of things, no.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject