Are there any women writers in the house?
A short & angry essay (not my usual fiction stuff, just ignore it if you don't want angry, non-fiction rants)
I know I said I’m on the verge of a burnout, but sometimes I have stuff to say… If I burn out, at least I'll go with a bang! Just kidding. Warning! Rant ahead.
If you could meet me in person, you would soon find out I am the most conservative human being you’ve ever met. That’s why it’s daunting and absurd that I have to advocate for women writers. Correction; there’s no such category as 'women writers’. Not because of the progressive activist trash, claiming “sex is a social construct”. (Or they would probably say “gender”, excusez-moi, gender still is a grammar term in my head). I believe in common sense and biology, men and women as biological beings do differ significantly and it matters, BUT. (A big BUT, pun intended!). When it comes to creative pursuits, such as writing, visual arts, composing music, etc., in this day and age it doesn’t matter what the creative artist has between their legs (pardon my profanity!). When I posted my writing online anonymously, sometimes I was mistaken for a man. That’s a good enough proof to me that a writer’s voice is unique, and it doesn’t really depend on their biological sex. A man can write sweet romantasy, and a woman can write hard military Sci-fi (one of my female writing buddies does, dude that stuff is hard-core and positively gritty). I wouldn’t be able to tell the writer’s sex reading their work, and quite frankly I wouldn’t give a fuck.
So, when an article on Substack gives advice for ‘women writers’ on how to succeed, I am left wondering - what are those?! What are ‘women writers’? Emphasizing the writer’s sex is strange, and in some cases even degrading. Well, at least in modern day West. Women writers had been discriminated a hundred years ago, but not now, not here. To emphasize that I, as a woman, would have it harder to succeed as a writer is degrading. It makes me feel as a lesser writer. And it’s not true. Oh, but you’ll say “yeah, but women give birth and take care of the babies, therefore….”
SO? I have written novel-length prose while nursing my child. I don’t see how I have it harder to find time to write than a working-class guy, who comes home tired and beaten, and has to find time and energy to write. So that isn’t an argument.
I am not a feminist, but I sure as hell feel like spitting fire when I read stuff that makes women look like lesser writers or ‘marginalized writers’ just because of their biological bodies, therefore they need special help. Hey, my brain works just fine, thank you! I don’t think it works any differently than a male writer’s brain. Thank God, I have the physical ability and the technical possibilities to write. So, what difference does my biological sex make? A writer is a writer. I don’t need special treatment or a trophy because of my sex. I need talent, hard work, persistency, time and a bit of luck to succeed. And that’s what any writer needs to make it. No, there are no ‘women writers’ in the house. Just writers.
Hear hear!! Say it again, louder for those in the back! 👏👏👏
"I am not a feminist, but I sure as hell feel like spitting fire when I read stuff that makes women look like lesser writers or ‘marginalized writers’ just because of their biological bodies, therefore they need special help."
Hear, hear! Feminism is all about reducing women to a marginalized victim class. It's the opposite of empowering.
That said, there is a reality for a lot of women who work outside the home, especially here in the US, where they have to come home from work and still be the primary caregivers and homemakers. Often that work is not shared equally, so the working class guy CAN come home and write, whereas his wife comes home and starts her other job. It can be especially challenging for those women to find the time and energy for any kind of creative pursuit.
I don't know what article you're referencing or what it said, I just wanted to address that point and acknowledge those women. But having done that, I would also point out that I wrote my first novel mostly at work on my lunch hour. Where there's a will, there's a way.