Welcome back to another Creator’s Roulette feature, friends! It has only been in recent years that I have started paying more attention to the kinds of books I read and the diversity in authors that I pick up. In today’s post, I have author Boshra Rasti sharing about the gendered genres and how both authors and readers can help make publishing a more diverse place. I enjoyed reading this guest post and I hope you learn something from it too! Let’s meet Boshra first:
Boshra Rasti was raised in British Columbia, Canada and works as an expatriate teacher in Qatar. She received a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership at Royal Roads University, which proved a fateful blow to her belief in anything hierarchical. However, it did spark her desire to flee from the real world and start writing about other ones. When she is not working to earn a living, she enjoys the escape that reading and writing lend her. She also enjoys physical running, even if it is of the sadistic variety in Qatar.
Gendered Genres
By Boshra Rasti
History of Authorship
Historically fiction has been a man’s world. It is fairly recently that women have gained eminence without having to resort to using male aliases’ or pen names to gain credit as an author. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, in the 1800’s is a fair example of the inequality between male and female writers, “Shelley did not have a male pseudonym like George Eliot. So publishers dealt with her ungenerously, kept on cutting her advances, and paying her less.” (Rosu, 2018). Similarly, history is often depicted as being written about men by men, thus becoming a self-fulfilling loop: as more people read and are inculcated with the dominant male voice, this becomes the popular culture narrative voice. The same holds for fiction; what more people are exposed to is what they will seek.
Change has been incremental. Still the most common female-authored genres include: children’s literature, poetry and romance. These go hand in hand with what society deems female traits: emotive qualities, such as love, happiness, fear and self-expression. These traits are not explicitly gendered, rather they stem from socialized gender norms, in a world where the male voice is the dominant one in popular culture and society.
What about Speculative Fiction?
Not surprisingly, Speculative Fiction has higher male authorship due in part to what society deems as classical male tr its: thought-based, analytical, rational, rather than emotive (Women in Speculative Fiction, n.d.). Historically, the heroes of Speculative Fiction are predominantly white and male. Male characters have played the main characters in Science Fiction. In classic Science Fiction novels such as Brave New World, 1984, The Coming Race, and War of the Worlds all star male main characters. These characters had to rationally piece together what the main crux of the conflict is to be able to bear and endure (at least until the end of the novel). These male main characters are similarly written white, male authors.
Female authors, by comparison, only comprise a fraction of Science Fiction writers to this day. Even if female authors are far outnumbered by male authors in Speculative Fiction, they often resort to using white males as their main characters. For example, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been referred to as the first pure Science Fiction novel written by a female (Barnett, 2018). Shelley resorts to starring a male character as both the protagonist and the antagoninst. One can only muse about whether her novel would have been successful had it been written about a female Frankenstein, birthed by a female scientist?
So why does gender in authorship matter?
Roxanne Bland, in another post on this blog argues: “The science fiction and fantasy genres have been used by writers as vehicles for social and political criticism since their inception.” By this she means writers write to exert influence; to comment on what they see in society as needing change. If the predominant voice is one that ignores the female voice and actually perpetuates the disenfranchisement of it, then we are in trouble as a society.
There is no inherent evil in men authoring books; it is when their reign is unquestioned, or worse yet, seen as a given that it becomes a reinforcement of the injustices in society. Moreover, if the inequality of female authorship in genres such as Speculative Fiction is a reflection of societies’ biases, prejudices and unquestioned normalities, it can be argued that it is harmful precedent that would benefit from reflection and questioning.
So who is now breaking the mold?
Which female authors are questioning gendered genres and in turn critiquing societies’ sometimes unconscious stereotypes and norms? Recently women such as Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, and Suzanne Collins have questioned the social narrative by not only authoring Science Fiction books, in term gaining great notoriety, but also have used strong, female characters wherewith they break the mold. In Margaret Atwoods, A Handmaid’s Tale, a world where women are subjugated to all manner of oppression is shown through Offred’s terrible ordeals living in a society where women are seen and not heard. Being seen and heard is part and parcel of validating the other. Isn’t it time that female author’s be seen and heard by mainstream publishing?
How has society benefited from female authors breaking the mold?
For one, these authors, such as those mentioned above, have written with such precise eloquence that the language in and of itself is beneficial for readers and book lovers. Secondly, these female authors have shown that women are equally able to write creatively, rationally and perceptively. However, the most important benefit is that readers, young and old, are able to perceive the fictional world through the eyes of a female protagonist; one that is as brave, as courageous, and as intelligent as a male counterpart.
What can readers do to break gendered genres?
Awareness is arguably the most important aspect to changing the tides of history. It is important for readers to know the history and struggles of minority writers who have struggled against the tides to gain influence in the sea of readership. Nobody can action there intentions to right historical wrongs if they aren’t aware of the glaring inequalities that are present in society and what society perpetuates. So, my suggestion to readers everywhere would be to give a chance to those who have historically been marginalized; be it female authors, or minorities who have been silenced or repressed. You may find that you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
What can fellow authors do to break gendered genres, no matter the author’s gender?
Authors and creatives everywhere can exert their influence to shine a light on authors who are marginalized, or of the minority. Authors have a strong say in tipping the balance towards a shared future, where creative merit, rather than repetitive norms are the determiner of authorship and audience. Discussing these issues in their author groups, book clubs, writing federations, can get the word out about giving voice to those whose voices may not be the mainstream.
As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.
What is one thing you do to become more aware of your social biases?
Tell us in the comments below!
Connect with Boshra on Twitter and Instagram or check out her website for updates.
Check out the homepage of my Creator’s Roulette series and all the articles creators have contributed there so far!
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