“Fought and Eisenhauer’s research reminds us that it’s not just how the princesses are portrayed. It’s also important to consider the kinds of worlds these princesses inhabit, who rules these worlds, who has the power — and even who gets to open their mouths. In a large number of cases, the princesses are outspoken by men in their own movies.”

This is largely because, as the article points out, when it comes time to add a minor character with a couple of lines, the default is to make that character male.

Originally shared by Laura Gibbs

You could subtitle my Myth-Folklore class “There’s More to the World than Disney.” Every semester there are quite a few students who connect with the readings for class exactly insofar as they know them from Disney movies (and that includes non-princess movies like Robin Hood and King Arthur and Alice in Wonderland… but the princesses dominate).

quote That’s fine, but are these movies really so great for little girls to watch? When you start to look at this stuff, you have to question that a little bit.

A little bit? Uh…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/25/researchers-have-discovered-a-major-problem-with-the-little-mermaid-and-other-disney-movies/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_most

“At heart, I’m writing my stories: the stories I wanted to read as a child, the adventures in space where I don’t have to feel excluded; the fantasies where you can be small and dark-haired and Asian and still be a hero.”

I’m overrepresented in SFF, myself, but I don’t want to keep reading the same story over and over again, either. I want stories that help me understand what it’s like to be someone different from me.

Originally shared by Dave Higgins

Tolkien as European imperialism isn’t news; however, maybe it’s time it was history.

“There is a common attack on art that thinks it is a defense. It is the argument that art has no impact on our lives, that art is not dangerous, and therefore all art is beyond reproach, and we have no grounds to object to any of it, and any objection is censorship.”

I’ve encountered that view (specifically about SF, from someone who I suspect was some sort of puppy – it was a random encounter on another person’s G+ comment thread, so I can’t be sure). I disagree with it profoundly. Who we represent in media, and how we represent them, matters, because it both reflects and shapes how we, as a society, think about our fellow humans. That’s what I mean when I say that fiction is political.

(via MrsA Wiggins)

Originally shared by Chloe CD

[…]I was trying to articulate that there is a canonical body of literature in which women’s stories are taken away from them, in which all we get are men’s stories. And that these are sometimes not only books that don’t describe the world from a woman’s point of view, but inculcate denigration and degradation of women as cool things to do.

http://lithub.com/men-explain-lolita-to-me

As someone who is currently interrogating pop culture for a podcast and a blog when she can manage to write, I am having all the feels about this essay. 

Representation is hard.

Originally shared by Mary Fan

10 bizarre ways reading/writing while underrepresented messes with your head

A funny thing happens when you’re from an underrepresented group. Several funny things, actually. Things that dig their way into your skull whether you like it or not. Of course, I can only speak for myself (as an Asian American… specifically, a Chinese A…

Via Sarah Rios, a great example from around the time of my birth of how creators were starting to think about the importance of diversity and representation in media.

Originally shared by Will Shetterly

“I have built a working miniature replica of the patriarchy in my mind. I would like very much to bust it up or burn it down. But I am afraid I don’t know how. Though I do have some ideas.”

Originally shared by Josh Roby

Amazon is actively seeking submissions for movie and series scripts (drama, comedy, children’s). 

Steampunk that is actually well-written, with young female characters who are capable and competent. If that appeals to you, run, do not walk, and get this book.

Originally shared by Steve Turnbull

Minimum self promotion … my steampunk action-adventure book Harry Takes Off featuring Harriet and Khuwelsa Edgbaston is free until Wednesday (and the second book is on 99c).

It’s set in East Africa, 1896. At this time Britain and Germany were the big colonial powers in Africa, while Harriet (Harry) is white, her adopted sister Khuwelsa (Sellie) is African.

This may be steampunk action-adventure but I don’t minimise the bad behaviour of either empire, or the racism. The books are “accurate” as far as the historical setting is concerned (only in quotes because my timeline does diverge from reality because it’s steampunk – but people’s attitudes don’t).

The reason “Harry” gets her name in the title (and will do up until book 5) is that the stories are partly inspired by the “Biggles” books by Capt W. E. Johns. And Biggles gets his name into almost all 100 titles in that series.

Finally, in case you think Sellie being the engineer is putting her at the back of the story (so to speak), here’s what one reviewer said “I especially liked the way Khuwelsa as the engineer for their ornithopter is essential to their eventual triumph—not because she is black or female, but because of her demonstrated engineering skill!”

Harry and Sellie are equal partners.

Anyway if you’re interested in taking a look http://bit.ly/pegasus-01-gp

Putting this in my Diversity and Representation collection for reasons which will be clear if you read the article.

The writer is right. Publishing rejections are, at least in part, a mark of inefficiency in the system. If we were coming up with the publishing industry from scratch today, I suspect that what we’d have is one or more “marketplaces” where authors put up samples of their work and publishers or publications bid on them, rather than the other way around.

Originally shared by Lisa “LJ” Cohen

This is a very powerful indictment of the publishing industry. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/11/why-the-literary-world-shouldnt-romanticize-rejection/414229/

A good summary of the pitfalls of stereotyping “crazy” characters.