Internet Holidays Are Highly Recommended

At the risk of giving away my age, I grew up without the Internet. It didn't come along in my life until around the age of 16. It was very blue from I remember. Seriously, it really was. MSN and local messaging services freaked me out - once I was sitting in the computer room at college doing something when suddenly a little box appeared in the corner of the screen saying, "your cute, what's your name?" - so I never used those, except for rare occasions. Hotmail and Yahoo search were the main sites I remember, and I seem to recall reading lots of things that looked like entries in encyclopedias. Hell, they probably were exactly that. I never bought anything online, and I never had a My Space page, though I knew people who did.

I was not that fussed about the Internet or what it had to offer. Now though I not only work for one of the biggest online companies in the world, but I also have profiles on almost every single social media platform going, accounts with tonnes of online shops and a Twitter feed that I can't stop checking a few times a day at least. In essence, I am as much an Internet junkie as plenty of others. And this weekend I was pretty much cut off from all of it, because I was away and my phone throws a fit whenever I try to do anything with it beyond text or call someone. And you know what? It was wonderful. 

Realising My Reading Habits are Unusual

My reading habits are not the norm. Not because I read fiction about hedgehogs in space (though I totally would if that was a thing) but because the majority of the books I have read in my life are by women writers. After reading a great piece about the lack of women writer's represented in bookshops, not to mention in literature generally, I realised I am not typical in my reading choices.

When I first took those tentative steps into the realm of Fantasy and Science Fiction I was blessed to have a mum who loved these genres too. And who also had an unusual habit of picking stories by women. She did this for the same reason I now do; they tend to write about women main characters. It's not that I will discriminate against male writers. In fact I'm currently reading my fourth book in a row written by a man. And in all those cases the main protagonists have, in the main, been male. Again this isn't a problem but I begin to feel a bit under represented if I carry this on too long. Tellingly the next book I've chosen to read is written by Tanith Lee and is based around a female main character.

Mum's collection has definitely had an influence; growing up it never crossed my mind that women writing Science Fiction or Fantasy was unusual, or even something that would present any hurdles. I know better now. In any bookshop, in any genre (apart from Romance) it's a tough task to try to find new books written by women. Seriously, go count them the next time you're in a bookshop or online. It's thoroughly depressing. And yet women appear to make up the majority of readers. So what's going on?

Personally I see a great many women writers on my Twitter feed, but then again I would wouldn't I? It's classic subjective bias. In the industry itself we have women editors saying they'd love to sign up more women writers but find they just don't get the same amount of submissions as they do from men. We also have existing women writers (particularly in the Science Fiction & Fantasy genre) stating they've experienced discrimination because of their gender. I'd add that it's no coincidence that "Joanne Rowling" went with the moniker of "J. K. Rowling" when she came to having her fantasy series published that features a little boy as the main character. Because industry logic seems to be that boys won't read a book if it has a women's name on it and boys/men are the target market (despite not reading as many books as girls/women). Hell, it's no coincidence that I go by my initials rather than my name on the interweb - I get less hassles that way. I also want to use it as my writer name, but mainly due to liking the opportunity to use my otherwise forgotten initials and liking my privacy, rather than because I think it will help sales. Though I do admit, it crossed my mind.

A lot of this boils down to issues far larger than just the literary sphere. In Europe and the USA we still have deeply entrenched gender roles going on, along with the usual stereotypes this brings. If anything, I think we're becoming more obsessed with gender division, not less, if the current trend in gender segregation of toys is anything to go by. What it all means though is it marks women who write Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, or any genre other than Romance, as unusual (and the resultant curse of always being called a "woman writer" *shudder*) and it marks boys who read as "soft" or "wimps" *deeper shudder*. All thoroughly depressing but what can we do about it? Here's my plan:

1. Ignore it utterly and write the best stories I can in whatever genre I like.
2. Encourage everyone to read. Every. One.
3. Never be put off from doing something just because it's deemed "unusual".
4. Call out anyone who says otherwise, as long as it's safe and productive to do so.

It's not that we should read books because they're written by a woman, or not read them because they were written by a man, but we should, at the very least, notice if we tend to swerve one way or another and think about why. In fact, most choices we make in life could do with us stopping to notice if there is some bias in what we're doing that we weren't even aware of. But, for me, the most important thing is to keep being as unusual as possible.

This Is Not The Post I Was Going To Write - The Lara Saga

I just got back from Sweden, after a one night stay to visit Swedish colleagues there. I have a number of cool pictures from Gothenburg - which I will upload at a later date - and was very impressed (again) with how clean the city is, as well as the great weather that I really hadn't planned for.

I caught up on what I had missed in the last couple of days and spotted a post on Kotaku, titled "You'll 'Want to Protect' The New, Less Curvy Lara Croft". It's an interview with Crystal Dynamics' Executive Producer Ron Rosenberg, in which he seems to be saying that players can't see themselves as Lara Croft, that they will instead want to protect her, and a suggestion that she is broken, and "turned into a cornered animal" when faced with, what seems to be, an attempted rape. After reading some of the comments on there and blog posts about it I was slightly less seething (knowing I wasn't alone in having a problem with it), but left with a feeling of nausea; is this really how one of my favourite female game protagonists is going to be treated? Are game developers/writers so unimaginative that the only way they can think to toughen up a female character is to have someone try to rape her? And what the fuck is with the idea that players don't want to be Lara Croft?

Deja Boob

I happened to catch a recent article in IGN, "Opinion; Boobs, Bad Games and Misogyny", and almost had to restrain a sigh of utter boredom. Not because it's a bad article, it isn't, but due to the fact that this is still, STILL, a subject in gaming circles. Don't get me wrong, it's good we discuss gender issues relating to games; there's still progress to be made in the gaming world with regard to full gender integration (and full sexuality integration - how many LGBT characters can you think of in video games?) But it depresses me that we still have articles and arguments about "boobs in games". The fact there are (relatively) so few women in the industry is far more interesting to me, especially the fact that the number is starting to grow. But instead most discussions of misogyny in games comes down to the size of characters tits... *sigh*

I've played games most of my life; I am no stranger to the way that some female characters have been designed. The most obvious that springs to mind is the one and only Lara Croft, who was known as much for her chest size as her ability to raid a tomb or two. If I'm honest it never bothered me or made me angry when I played the first game - because it was a good game. I do remember playing it with a friend and both of us collapsing into a heap of giggles when we started talking about her boobs, but it never annoyed me. In fact I think I was just happy to have a female character at all, considering before that there hadn't been that many. This doesn't make it okay for all women to be portrayed as Playboy bunnies of course, but what this never ending topic always misses are the countless female characters that were not like this. Those with realistic bodies, sharp minds, and the ability to sharp shoot. So I'm going to list here five of my top female game characters who don't conform to the stereotype of "all sexy, no substance". Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Samus Aran - Metroid Prime series

One of the earliest female characters to not conform to expectations, many players got a surprise when they finished the first Metroid Prime game to discover that the character they'd been playing all that time was in fact a woman. Of course in later iterations when we do get to see her she has the big chest to be expected in games (apparently) but it doesn't detract from the fact that the Metroid games were never about her looks.

Samus has become something of a sex
symbol outside of the games. Unsurprisingly...

April Ryan - The Longest Journey

Not many may have played it but I loved the Longest Journey (and to a lesser extent it's sequel), mainly due to April Ryan being a fantastic and deep character. She has parent issues, ambitions, dreams under threat - and at no point are her looks an issue.

Aeris - Final Fantasy VII

She may have started out as the "girl needing rescuing" but Aeris develops as a substantially important character in her own right, and again her mind and abilities are the focus. Also; Most. Tragic. Event. Ever. In. Games. Period. (If you don't know what I mean, I pity you; you missed out big time)

Alyx Vance - Half-Life 2

A companion to the main character, Alyx is a very useful helper; she hardly dies, opens doors, and helps in combat. And no huge mammary glands.

Jade - Beyond Good and Evil

Also one of the first non-white main characters to grace a game, Jade was smart, brave and has all her clothes on. The developer behind her creation, Michael Ancel, admitted that he wanted to create a realistic character, rather than a "sexy action woman".






Other notable mentions should go to; Chell - Portal, Chloe Frazer - Uncharted, Elena Fisher - Uncharted, Grace Nakamura - Gabriel Knight series, Lightning - Final Fantasy XIII, and the most excellent Elaine Marley - Monkey Island series. The thing all these characters have in common with the "stereotype" is their attractiveness - so far no ugly main female characters have graced our screens. But the same could be said of TV, films, music videos... hell, any visual medium. And I want to emphasise here that I'm not saying it's fine to portray ALL women as bouncing bimbos who get rescued by the big strong man, and can only help by healing him when he gets hurt. But that isn't what I see in the gaming world. I see a vast diversity in female characters; some are 'bimbos', some are smart, some are vulnerable, and some are tough as nails. Some are even a mixture of all of the above. There's still work to be done to get more of this variety into games, but it isn't, in my opinion, the sexist mosh pit that some articles/commentators would have us believe.

The last thing I want to say on this subject is that I've never been insulted by a female character having big breasts, a small waist and a pert bum when I've been playing games. I'm far more insulted by a bad game with awful game play being sold at the same price as the good stuff. It's no surprise that when you're playing a game, especially one that may last for 60+ hours, you want something nice to look at (I play as a male Shepherd in Mass Effect - partly because I feel he fits better with the story, and also so I have a nice bum to look at for the hundred or so game play hours I'll be putting in. I can't blame straight guys for doing the same with female characters).

We can all agree that outright objectification is bad (and lazy). But if that's the case, I think the guys have a lot to complain about too, don't you think?

Source; gearsofwar.xbox.com

All images from Wikipedia, unless otherwise stated

Flash Fiction - "We Can't Win Them All"

This is my entry for the feminist flash fiction competition going on at Mookychick. If you're not familiar it's open to everybody (male or female), internationally, and entrants are tasked with creating a piece of flash fiction or a haiku under 200 words based around an aspect of feminism. It's free to enter and the top prize is £100 (or your country's equivalent) and a year's subscription to Bust Magazine. See their website for more details if you'd like to have a go.

My entry is below, and ended up being about more than I originally intended... please to enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~

“But he’s a rapist.”

“Not exactly, he paid them didn’t he?”

“The girls were underage – and don’t even speak English.”

“He wasn’t to know that.”

“How could he not know that?! He screwed them and he doesn’t notice they can’t speak English? Oh, and that they’re obviously children.”

“I know you’re frustrated, but you can’t prove any of that. Especially not against a man like this. Don’t take it so personally.”

“I’m not… He paid for sex, which is a crime, he smashed a girl’s face in, which is a crime, and he raped who knows how many underage girls. How exactly am I meant to be okay with the case being dismissed?”

“You need to calm down, take a long term view. We’ll get him for something else – looks like he’s been embezzling for years, so once that case comes round we’ll get him behind bars.”

“And what about the girls? Looks like all but two of them are being deported and we both know they’ll just end up back here, pimped by someone else.”

“You really need to not get so hysterical about this. I know it’s frustrating, but we can’t win them all.”

This is an entry for the Mookychick blogging competition, FEMINIST FLASH FICTION 2011. Enter now.

A Serious Misunderstanding of Rape

My earlier post “What Feminism means to me” has been very popular (if the number of people going to that page is an indicator) so it turns out that I’m going to do occasional political posts on topics of the moment. I’ll try to share my perspective on things but I apologise now if I come across as preachy at times – it’s hard to keep things level headed with certain topics like the one I’m taking on in this post; rape. Not a topic I like thinking about, let alone writing about, but recently I’ve been reminded yet again how skewed the general portrayal and understanding of rape is. Specifically the still prevalent victim blaming that goes on, and the idea that some men accused of rape may have had sex with the woman but not thought for a moment it was rape. That latter point, I’m ashamed to say, was one I used to think was a likely explanation for some “he said, she said” cases but I’ve since seen some studies that have made me think again. And that are very relevant to the Strauss-Khan situation.

What Feminism Means To Me and Why the French Veil Ban is Wrong

A political post? Didn't I say at some point I'd avoid these? Yes I probably did, but it's my blog so I can do what I want. So there. Feel free to skip if it's not your thing but I promise you it will not be as angry as you think. Well, not very angry anyway.

I felt compelled to make some sort of statement about feminism for a few reasons; 1. I am a feminist (as I define it, more on that later) 2. I am tired of having to explain what kind of feminist I am on blogs/news/forums for and against or that are even ambivalent about so called feminism. And thirdly, the ban on face veils was enacted today in France, a travesty that feminists everywhere should be up in arms about, and yet the reaction online, that I've seen, has been muted. So I thought now would be a good time to talk about what I think feminism is and isn't, what it means to me, how it's affected my reading and writing and why I can't believe we're still in a time when a supposedly free and equal society are not only tolerating but supporting women being prejudiced against.