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Is SF and Fantasy Really dominated by Male Writers...or Are the Awards Dominated by Male Writers?
In an interview, Tanya Huff beautifully blows this constant comment out of the water. I have to agree with her. I don't make a big deal out of it, but probably 80% of the writers I currently look forward to and read are women genre writers. (Part of that 20% includes Steve Miller, of Lee & Miller.)
"Science fiction is thought to be generally male dominated, so why do you think this is?
Is it? I grew up in the 1970's reading Andre Norton and Anne McCaffery and Marion Zimmer Bradley and Zena Henderson and Joanna Russ and Ursula K. LeGuin. Then I read C J Cherryh and Vonda McIntyre and Diane Duane and Barbara Hambly and Pat Murphy and Janet Kagan. Then I read Elizabeth Moon and Julie Czernada and Melissa Scott and Lois McMaster Bujold. And those are just the science fiction writers I read, the fantasy list is a lot longer. So if there's a perception that science fiction is male dominated, it's not one I share. My short story editors have been both male and female but my novels have only ever had female editors. My publisher is female.
Are SF awards male dominated? They certainly seem to be. Maybe it's because the core group who nominate and vote are men but I have no idea why that is when clearly so many women are both working in and enjoying the genre."
"Science fiction is thought to be generally male dominated, so why do you think this is?
Is it? I grew up in the 1970's reading Andre Norton and Anne McCaffery and Marion Zimmer Bradley and Zena Henderson and Joanna Russ and Ursula K. LeGuin. Then I read C J Cherryh and Vonda McIntyre and Diane Duane and Barbara Hambly and Pat Murphy and Janet Kagan. Then I read Elizabeth Moon and Julie Czernada and Melissa Scott and Lois McMaster Bujold. And those are just the science fiction writers I read, the fantasy list is a lot longer. So if there's a perception that science fiction is male dominated, it's not one I share. My short story editors have been both male and female but my novels have only ever had female editors. My publisher is female.
Are SF awards male dominated? They certainly seem to be. Maybe it's because the core group who nominate and vote are men but I have no idea why that is when clearly so many women are both working in and enjoying the genre."
