Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: determined

Editing While Female

I found this thoughtful post about "Editing While Female."

And I think ...


The major gigs I lost or walked away from were ALL because I stood up for something. Just because my balls aren't attached to my current body doesn't mean I haven't got them. But it does mean people object to me having them. Consequently I have:

* Walked away from an anthology because the publisher decided they didn't want me to have any input into the selection.

* Walked away from two different online projects for the exact same combination of my standards were higher than they wanted and they stopped paying me for work already done.

* Had to take one major magazine to court because they wouldn't pay me for what they already published.

* Had a job not renewed because of my standards.

I am talented. I am credentialed. I am fast. I am reliable. This is, evidently, not what is wanted by a significant number of people working in the publishing industry. Yes, I've had some gigs that did not fail out like this for which I am deeply grateful, but there sure is a pattern here.

Give in and do lower quality work than I'm capable of, or put up with people screwing up my job in ways that make me look bad, or do the work and get nothing for it?

You know what, I'm not that fuckin' hungry.

A man asks for a raise, or a promotion, or more authority -- he usually gets it. A woman, or someone easily mistaken for a woman, usually gets fired.

But hey, I got some good poetry out of it, like "Sir Rosalind Rides." I can still look myself in the mirror. And I really, really love crowdfunding because my audience is made of awesome.
Tags: activism, economics, editing, gender studies, personal, writing
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  • 11 comments
ng_moonmoth

The cost of discouraging competence and agency

ng_moonmoth

May 30 2014, 06:26:25 UTC 7 years ago

I'd total up all the bad behavior chronicled in this post and charge it to the hidden cost of laziness. Too many people seem too lazy to deal with people as individuals, and would much rather deal with them as stereotypes. If they don't have a stereotype that fits someone's behavior, they would just as soon get rid of them and find someone who jumps the way they expect when they push the buttons.

It's probably always going to be unreasonable to expect more than the occasional few who are not lazy to look beyond the stereotype. This suggests to me that it may be fruitful to try to create some stereotypes for those who wish to use them that don't automatically lump most competent folks into the categories of "trouble" or "too much work". That's going to take time, and be rather difficult -- but progress is likely to be sporadic without such effort.