Not a new discovery one should say, what with some women sf writers even winning Hugo Awards these days, but apparantly shocking enough for online sf magazine Helix, run by professional not very loveable curmudgeon William Sanders to bring out an entire issue full of wimmin writers and then complain bitterly when the rest of the world shrugs its shoulders:
There’s been a lot of talk in the SF community – some of it rather intemperate, as always happens in such cases – about “gender bias” in the genre or in certain magazines, about the largely estrogen-challenged Hugo list, etc. You’d think that there would be a favorable reaction when a magazine comes out with an all-women’s issue. Realistically, I don’t expect it’s going to happen, to any great extent – that’s how it goes, people yell and scream about something and then when somebody does something about it they don’t have a word to say – but somebody ought to say SOMETHING.
And somebody damn well ought to be reaching for that Paypal button. If they’re serious about their feminism, well, here’s a chance to put their money where their phosphors are. I’m going to be pretty damn disgusted if the donations don’t go up this quarter.
Now I’ve only followed Sander’s editorial career from a distance, but I cannot remember him striking any great blows for feminism or gender equality before, more the opposite. This is just a cheap stunt which won’t strike a great blow against gender bias and has nothing to do with feminism. Female science fiction writers are neither rare nor obscure, haven’t been for fifty years, so any sf magazine worth its salt doesn’t need to do “special” issues, but has a mix of male and female writers as a matter of course. So don’t break an arm patting yourself on the back, Sanders.
Thanks James!