Yet another SFWA departure
Dec. 11th, 2007 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfAmazing. I'd been intending to let my membership lapse ever since the whole debacle with Harlan Ellison and Connie Willis. Apparently lapsing is now a multi-strike process; I've been contracted 3 times to make sure I really want to leave. I gather the bandwagon is rather full.
I'm bailing for a number of reasons, which range from the whole blind eye to sexual harassment problem, the inability to incorporate new writers and new writing, the staggering stupidity of raising the membership rates to ensure that the clubhouse stays 'exclusive', the failure to comprehend e-publishing and the almost complete irrelevance of the organization's publications.
I did renew my membership in RWA, however. RWA has its own exciting set of baggage but they deal with it differently, which is to say, at all. The biggest strikes against them from my standpoint are the issues that some members have with homophobia, the overwhelming heterosexism and the rather phobic attitude to erotica. However, within the last 2 years, I have seen an overwhelmingly negative response in the RWA Report to a homophobic letter written by one of the members. I've seen the number of erotica awards grow. I've seen them broaden their list of publishers to include Bold Strokes, a publisher of (primarily) lesbian romance. Just a month ago, I was contacted to serve as a judge for the erotica entries (including some queer content) for an RWA writing contest. And I've seen the organization grow and actually work on serving its members by promoting and expanding the genre. Not hard to see why SFWA suffers in comparison.
I'm bailing for a number of reasons, which range from the whole blind eye to sexual harassment problem, the inability to incorporate new writers and new writing, the staggering stupidity of raising the membership rates to ensure that the clubhouse stays 'exclusive', the failure to comprehend e-publishing and the almost complete irrelevance of the organization's publications.
I did renew my membership in RWA, however. RWA has its own exciting set of baggage but they deal with it differently, which is to say, at all. The biggest strikes against them from my standpoint are the issues that some members have with homophobia, the overwhelming heterosexism and the rather phobic attitude to erotica. However, within the last 2 years, I have seen an overwhelmingly negative response in the RWA Report to a homophobic letter written by one of the members. I've seen the number of erotica awards grow. I've seen them broaden their list of publishers to include Bold Strokes, a publisher of (primarily) lesbian romance. Just a month ago, I was contacted to serve as a judge for the erotica entries (including some queer content) for an RWA writing contest. And I've seen the organization grow and actually work on serving its members by promoting and expanding the genre. Not hard to see why SFWA suffers in comparison.
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Date: 2007-12-12 05:24 am (UTC)A lesbian nurse I know has been on stress leave for months because of the reaction of the medical establishment to an incident in which a dr. touched her inappropriately. Not traumatic in itself, and she only asked for an apology, but it set off a firestorm in which her credibility, professionalism and people skills have all been questioned despite all the other women in the field who have told her the same guy (such a healer) treated them the same way. Yecchh.
This is the stuff we were fighting against in the era of disco fever.
When will they ever get it??
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Date: 2007-12-12 12:47 pm (UTC)I'd heard about the Willis/Ellison thing from my partner when it was first reported (on news or 'net) and found the whole thing rather outrageous - I'll assume things got even more heated behind the SFWA doors.
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