Sexism & Feminism in Geekery 13

Sorry for the long delay!  That's how these posts always begin.  I think I'm going to quit pretending I'm going to post on Fridays.  My brain just doesn't fuction enough after a long week of work.  I've got some oldies in this edition of Sexism and Feminism in Geekery but they're good articles I've been saving just for you.

Jezebel Recommends Feminist Fantasy

With all the Susan in Narnia talk yesterday I got thinking about my favorite fantasy books when I was growing up, the things that made me feel ok to be a girl/young woman, the books that prized diversity and normalized being not a cis, white, hetero dude. So I've made a list, and I'd love to hear your suggestions, too!

The Jezebel list is pretty awesome.  It includes Tamora Pierce (bow down to the feminist fantasy queen), Diane Wynne Jones and my favorite underrated fantasy writer Garth Nix. Read more here.

Steven Moffat Quotes: Fake or Real? A fun infuriating game!

“There’s this issue you’re not allowed to discuss: that women are needy. Men can go for longer, more happily, without women. That’s the truth. We don’t, as little boys, play at being married—we try to avoid it for as long as possible. Meanwhile women are out there hunting for husbands.”

The article takes actual Moffat quotes and quotes from a "Moffat Says" parody tumblr and compares them.  The above quote is an example.  What do you think readers, real or parody? Read more here.

Why we need more Mary Sues!

We need more Mary Sues. We need more unapologetically powerful female characters, on a wish-fulfilment level of awesome. We need them to be gods and superheroes and billionaire playboy philanthropists and science experiments gone wrong and normal kids bitten by spiders who now save the world. Why should female characters have to be realistic, while male characters have all the fun? 

This article has been floating on the internet since September but I only recently found it.  Pity because it's a good article and I wish I'd read it sooner.  Read more here.

WHAT? Boys will read about GIRLS?

Note, I didn’t write my book that way in service to some supposed “feminist agenda”. In fact, when I wrote my first draft of Knife back in 1993 I had a quite negative impression of what feminism meant and would have been reluctant to call myself “feminist” at all.* But what I believed back then, and still believe now, is that women are interesting, diverse, multifaceted human beings whose stories are worth telling.

R.J. Anderson talks about how her book where girls rarely talk about boys and how it attracted both boys and girl readers.  Read more here.

There's nothing like a good Twitter discussion

You need to read the responses and conversation following this tweet.  Interesting stuff.  Read more here.