{"id":8289,"date":"2013-06-19T15:23:35","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T19:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starshipnivan.com\/blog\/?p=8289"},"modified":"2013-06-19T15:23:35","modified_gmt":"2013-06-19T19:23:35","slug":"genders-giving-sci-fi-and-fantasy-the-cooties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/?p=8289","title":{"rendered":"Gender\u2019s Giving Sci-Fi and Fantasy the COOTIES!"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kay Holt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Athena’s note:<\/strong> This entry first appeared<\/a> at Science in My Fiction (SiMF)<\/em>. Like its author, it wears many hats. Kay Holt<\/a> is the co-founder and editor of Crossed Genres<\/em><\/a> and the founder of SiMF<\/a><\/em>; neither venue needs lengthy introductions.\u00a0 She was also my co-editor for The First Half of the Sky<\/em><\/a> (a collaboration I intend to renew whenever the opportunity arises), so the article is part of the ongoing series in which I showcase the contributors to the anthology.\u00a0 It’s also one more reaction to recent SFWA events that I, among many others, discussed in my previous entry<\/a> — and equally so to the persistent stone-age level of gender discussions<\/a> in self-labeled progressive\/visionary communities.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Kay<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was a kid, dresses weren\u2019t the problem. I was. Of all the sticks and stones lobbed in my direction, \u2018tomboy\u2019 was one of the kindest. I didn\u2019t help my circumstances by refusing to wear pink or pigtails or shoes that went \u2018click\u2019 on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t just a no-frills kind of girl. On school picture day, I rocked a pair of \u00a0boys\u2019 Transformers sandals. There was more to me than met the eye. True, I was born with certain genitals and I wore my hair very, very long until I was an adult. But no matter how hard people tried \u2013 and sometimes they tried with fists and guns \u2013 nobody was able to convince me that my crotch defined my self.<\/p>\n

Girl or boy, gender was an imposition as far as I was concerned. I took to it like I took to a beating: With my guard up and my head down. That is, until I grew up enough to \u2018fight like a man\u2019. After that, I started hearing a lot of, \u201cBabe, you have to let the boys win.\u201d Why? \u201cBecause if you don\u2019t, some guy\u2019s gonna kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those were the stakes. Be a proper girly-girl. Accept your role. Take it. Or else.<\/p>\n

Pardon me while I carry on answering that threat of violence with a rude gesture of my own.<\/p>\n

Ordinary people say a lot of daft things:<\/p>\n