One of the cross-dressing lights of the New Equalitarians created a helpful list of the most censorious liberal fascists in the SFWA. With one or two exceptions, it’s a useful list of nobodies and mediocrities whose books you now know you can safely continue to ignore.
It’s a bit amusing to read through it and realize there are precisely two authors on it whose work can reasonably be compared to that of the two men who are being so widely castigated… and I’m not a fan of either Resnick or Malzberg. I merely support their right to write opinion pieces and freely express their opinions in them, regardless of how offensive these delicate, fainting flowers may find those opinions to be. Of course, in the present SFWA, such support for free speech renders me a radical extremist, nearly as dangerous as the deeply offensive cover of Issue 200.
- Foz Meadows: Old Men Yelling at Clouds.
“I could make a drinking game about this article: take a shot every
time the author deliberately highlights the femaleness of the women he
mentions, the better to explain how these ladies never said I was sexist…” - Peter Brett: Why I’m Renewing my SFWA Membership.
“ I won’t get into the details of their remarks here, save to say that
having read them for myself, I agree they were unprofessional,
inappropriate, and not representative of the SF industry as a whole.” - Amal El-Mohtar: Responses to Sexism in SFWA’s Bulletin.
“VP, Regional Directors, hosts of volunteers in @sfwa, all working
hard, are made invisible by the effort it took Resnick/Malzberg to
wank.” - Kameron Hurley: Dear SFWA Writers: Let’s Chat About Censorship and Bullying.
“Nobody has to agree with you anymore. Nobody is afraid of you anymore.
I know this may come as a massive shock to folks used to a position of
power, insulated by groups of people who are happy to stroke their egos
and soothe their souls.” - E. Catherine Tobler: Dear SFWA.
“In all the complaints that were voiced, there was never a call for
censorship. There was never a call for suppression. There was a call for
respect.” - Jess Haines: SFWA, Sexism, Misogyny, and a Call For Change. “Mr. Resnick, Mr. Malzberg, I am not an anonymous voice. I am telling you now: what you wrote was not okay.”
- Katherine Kerr: “Since when is good taste censorship?“
- Jamie Wyman: An Open Letter to John Scalzi.
“It’s not okay. And the reactions–these men saying that they are being
bullied or censored because they are being called out as sexist
bigots–is not okay.” - Natalie Luhrs: Linkspam, 5/31/13 Edition.
“NOPE, NO SEXISM HERE. Also, a lady totally told them it was okay to
write this stuff and as everyone knows, one lady speaks for all ladies.” - Chris Gerwel: The SFWA Bulletin, Censorship, Anonymity, and Representation. “I have a huge problem with Resnick/Malzberg’s attitude. I consider it regressive, out-dated, and condescending.”
- SL Huang: More on SFWA and the Bulletin.
“The people you really should be angry with are Resnick, Malzberg, and
whatever editor(s) let their article through. They’re the people who
let down SFWA. They’re the people who made your public face into sexist
douchebaggery.” - Trisha Lynn: How Jean Rabe screwed the pooch for the SFWA Bulletin and how the SFWA can make things better going forward.
“I’m going to instead talk about how the entire mess could have been
avoided in the first place. And to do that, I have to throw Bulletin
writer/editor Jean Rabe under a bus.” - Samantha Henderson: Re: SFWA Bulletin #202. “I am not sure if I’m done with SFWA, which is more than its Bulletin and members with 1960s sensibilities.”
- Michael Capobianco: “As a further indication that the R/M dialog doesn’t represent #SFWA, Barry Malzberg isn’t even a member.”
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Oh, Bulletin.
“In their latest Bulletin rant, Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg insist,
among other things, that they appeared on an issue with a Warrior Woman
on the cover. They lie … They appeared in an issue with Sexy Cheesecake
Lady. If they can’t tell the difference, maybe that explains a LOT.” - Catherine Lundoff: “Ongoing egregious sexism in the Bulletin, which is @sfwa’s official membership magazine.”
- Dean Gilbert: “Finally found out what the SFWA controversy is. Wow. Will not be buying any Resnick or Maltzburg books again for sure.”
- Patrick Hume: “As
far as Resnick and Malzberg go, well, I imagine it must be very
frightening being dinosaurs. Misogynistic, irrelevant dinosaurs.” - Alisa Krasnostein: “What
I see is several issues that have caused offense, incl a ridiculous
cover, and no stand from the SFWA in light of complaints.“ - Jenny Thurman: “Why,
@sfwa, do you need a task force to determine if your own members should
be given professional respect within your own publication?“ - Ross E. Lockhart: To SFWA or not to SFWA? That is the question.
“Recently, when it comes to respecting female authors and editors, SFWA
has chosen a counterproductive path, giving a platform in the official
SFWA Bulletin to a handful of male authors who have decided to wear
their sexism outrageously…” - Ursula Vernon: SFWA — Housebreaking a Puppy or Abusive Relationship?
“…let me just say that it’s sad when you finally get to interact with
some of the Big Names of science fiction and they turn out to be old men
yelling at clouds.” - A. J. Fitzwater: “I don’t want to join a union that majority men in power think women have no place amongst them. So sad to have a dream destroyed.”
- Ann Kopchik: “I really have no words about the whole #sfwa thing. Except that I’m tired of needing a dick to be respected.”
- Rick Novy: “Those
who don’t get the uproar over the SFWA bulletin article, read it
replacing words meaning ‘female’ with words meaning ‘black.’“ - Jenn Reese: “SFWA is the most backwards-looking organization I belong to. We can write the future, but we can’t even live in the present.“
- Damien Walter: “The issues with the bulletin are not acceptable, but don’t change my sense of the SFWA as a whole as very hardworking and useful.”
- Kay Holt: “Not
saying SFWA is bad. Just that we shouldn’t put up with embedded
misogyny just because we otherwise benefit from an organization.” - Kyle Weems: “Shame on you @sfwa. That’s hideous, backwards, and strangely atavistic for an org that writes about the future.”
- Patrick Nielsen Hayden: “An
underreported aspect of being around for a long time: the horror of
watching your once-admired elders turn into blithering nincompoops.” - Ann Aguirre: “I’m
sad SFWA published antiquated dogma, then a defense of it. I’m tired of
being made to feel like I’m so cute for thinking I can write SF.” - Rachael Acks: Dear Barry Malzberg and Mike Resnick: F*** You.
“If I hadn’t already had a lot of positive experiences with the older
male membership of the organization, I would honestly be really
wondering about that as well, since the attitude Malzberg and Resnick
display with such pride belongs in an era that thankfully ended before I
was born.” - Mary Robinette Kowal: My Very Complicated Reaction to Issue 202 of the Bulletin.
“I’m furious, because they can undo all of the good that SFWA does. And
like it or not, people are right to be angry. The column is deeply
offensive.” - Kate Milford: Kerfluffle Watch, SFWA Edition: Call Your Detractors Liberal Fascists, Lose the Argument.
“…I had learned this much: the authors consider that either those who
objected to the cover and dialogue in Issue 200 are at best stupid and
at worst censorious.” - Alma Alexander: The Issue 202 Controversy.
“This might involve biting the bullet, calling one tradition’s tenure
in the Bulletin a day, and dropping the Malzberg/Resnick conversations …
It might even be time to start letting the WOMEN have a turn at having a
Conversation.” - Lilith Saintcrow: I Hope Gandhi is Right. “…this sort of shit makes me so. damn. tired.”
- Tracy Cembor: Genre Drama. “Writers should be respected as partners in the process, and writers should treat one another as professionals and equals.”
- Ferrett Steinmetz: Achievement Unlocked: Women’s Rights Advocate.
“You’ve got more work to do. You’ve got to see that calling them
‘lady editors’ is actually diminishing them, that women in chainmail
bikinis may be a long tradition but so are grinning Negro lawn jockeys…” - Steven Saus: What to Do About Sexism In Our Official Publications. “This is a matter of being professional and treating all sf/f authors professionally.”
- Benjamin Rosenbaum: Dear Barry & Mike. “Please cut it out. You’re better than that. Act like the men you want to be.”
- Kelly McCullough: “For
the record, the sexist dippery in the recent SFWA bulletin makes this
male author & SFWA member very unhappy. Not OK Resnick &
Malzberg.“ - K. Tempest Bradford: Demanding the Best.
“What needs to happen is that the all of people who belong to and run
SFWA need to demand the best of their community. Demand that sexism no
longer be treated lightly, that it be called out and put down and not
tolerated.” - Shiloh Walker: I’m no Barbie.
“Being a woman very often means you’re going to be insulted, ignored,
condescended, treated as insignificant, devalued, viewed as an object,
and the list goes on and on and on…we get so blind to the shit that
comes our way at times. Maybe the problem is that we carried on with
quiet dignity for too long.” - Harry Connolly: SFWA Bulletin and Sexism in the Genre.
“Speech has consequences. Speech sways the opinion of others, and
maybe–just maybe–that might have an effect on your life. Resnick has
that power; he’s going to have to get used to the idea that others have
it, too.” - Juliette Wade: This Feminist’s Thoughts on SFWA and Cultural Change.
“…they were performing a culture that is sorely out of date, and I’m
sure they realize that because they are defending their right to do so.
Fine (though the context was inappropriate, and I’ll address that
below), but they deserve the heat they are getting in response to those
ideas.” - Stina Leicht: Feminist Monday.
“This whole thing has been building up for three issues which is why
there’s so much noise being made over it … And sadly, this controversy
is just the tip of the misogyny iceberg.” - Amy McLane. Attack of the Liberal Fascists.
“It is bad enough to read old men rating the hotness levels of various
writers and editors and then getting indignant about being called out on
it. It is gross, but you can almost sort of see how those two have
gotten to the point of thinking that they’ve earned the right to be
gross…” - Andrea Phillips: Barbie’s Quiet Dignity and Progress. “And that’s just one more drop in what seems like a never-ending stream of sexism.”
- Selma Wolfe: Choose to be Better.
“The men that endlessly defend their own sexism could choose not to
defend it. They could choose to focus on women’s opinions, rather than
their appearances.” - T. M. Thomas. SFWA in the News.
“And it’s why I think, perhaps deluded and defensive and not malicious
at first, why the dinosaurs of the SFWA need to offer immediate
apologies and stop trying to make themselves the victims of the piece.” - Lindsey Bieda. “‘Hey,
this thing you are doing is shitty’ is not censorship and free speech
does not mean freedom from consequences or criticism.“ - Jeaniene Frost: SFWA – Not Today.
“I’m glad Scalzi agrees these are legitimate concerns that affect all
SFWA members/associates and isn’t falling for the ‘but it’s just whining
from a few liberal fascists!’ defense, but I also heave a weary sigh of
agreement with author Jenny Truman’s Tweet: ‘Why, @sfwa, do you need a
task force to determine if your own members should be given professional
respect within your own publication?’” - Matt Yaeger: Space Sexism.
“If you can’t defend yourself without wrapping it up in an irrelevant
conclusion that people who disagree with you must be censorship Nazis
(hows that for loaded terms?) then you’ve already lost your position.” - Karina Cooper: Damned If You Do(n’t).
“We live in a world where men are judged by the quality and quantity of
their bodies of work, and women are judged by their bodies; where men
are called writers, authors, artists and creatives, and women are called
lady writers and authoresses and ‘beauty pageant beautiful’.” - Lauren Roy: Being Part of the Solution.
“It can make newbies feel quite unwelcome when you see that someone out
there — someones who are big names! — think you’re not a writer but a lady writer, as though my gender puts an asterisk beside anything I do.” - Barbara Barnett: Not that the Intrawebs Need Another Post on the SFWA Kerfuffle.
“…the publication of a professional organization should not serve as a
megaphone for speech that disrespects a large portion of the
organization’s membership.” - Alisa Krasnostein: Observations from the SFWA Bulletin Fiasco – Part 1. “But here’s what really gets me annoyed. How does freedom of speech, the concept, mean that it only applies to you?”
- J. N. Duncan: “Dear
SFWA, it’s not your job to be sexism-free (you can’t), but you do have
obligation to pursue awareness and act on it with due-diligence.“ - Alan Baxter: SFWA, Sexism in SFF and Missing the Point.
“…members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America wrote a
piece in the official publication, the SFWA Bulletin, that is
astounding in its prehistoric approach to gender and dealing with
justifiable complaints.” - Jane Little (Dear Author): SFF Old Guard.
“…the official bulletin of the Science Fiction Writer’s Association for
the last three months has kind of been an embarrassment to SFWA, at
least to those of us looking from the outside in.” - Ilona Andrews: “I’ve looked at their Bulletin talks and they are out of touch.”
- Ann Laurel Kopchik: My Letter to SFWA.
“But the continuing problems with blatant sexism in an official
publication of SFWA makes me wonder if I’ll be treated as an equal when I
do meet the requirements to join SFWA.” - Shaun Duke: SFWA, Sexism, and Progress.
“ Sexism is … bullshit. We should call it out when we see it, no
matter our genders. And we should definitely make sure it no longer
uses the voice of the various professional organizations in our field…” - Thomas Pluck: Everyday Sexism and Giant Space-Dicks.
“…if science fiction writers can imagine unheard-of future
civilizations, they can unshackle their brains from the ’60s when they
were cocks of the walk, and start treating women as equals…” - M. E. Garber: Are We Still Here? Really?
“What woman wants to become part of an organization that objectifies
her, and belittles both her and her ability to work and achieve?”
Bonus points for whomever can figure out how many of these
self-appointed censors have published novels with more “offensive”
covers than the Red Sonja illustration on the Bulletin cover that has
inspired such an epic collective hissy fit.
It’s been interesting to see that Laura Resnick, who is usually very quick to leap in and loudly condemn anyone suspected of insufficient enthusiasm for equalitarianism, has been silent concerning the public witchburning of her father. It’s also intriguing to see how these liberal fascists claim labeling two old men “sexist
bigots” and openly calling for an end to their column is acceptable, but
identifying them as “censorious” is, and here I quote the SFWA
moderator, “abusive behavior”.