Neil
Gaiman once said; “I like stories where women save themselves”, which is
something that I believe that more and more women are trying to do themselves
nowadays. I think that in a way, they are doing that through writing to express
themselves and give their insights through the art of storytelling or other
forms of work.
For
my Women Writers class, I had done a lot of research for a project I did, and I
found a lot of sad but true, interesting things about women writers that I
thought were important to share with all of you. I learned that it’s more
dangerous and that’s partially why there are fewer women writers online than
men writers. I was not surprised when I saw that there was few women writers,
and the ones that are able to write and publish their work, are finding it
harder to make a living as a writer because men are dominating in that field. I
read in one of the articles that 75% and more are men, even though women are
the majority of readers and book buyers. I read that in 2013, women topped men
82% to 69% when it came to how much they read. Women certainly aren’t paid
nearly as much as men, and some admittedly said this to them.
One woman writer, feminist Jessica Valenti had
essentially said that because of the harassment she has faced online by being a
feminist and a woman writer, if she could start over, she just might have done
it completely anonymous, because the harassment is that bad. It’s not even
criticism anymore, it’s blatant harassment. Women are often feeling unsafe
writing now because of the harassment. I think in a way that’s just a demand
for more women to stand up and stand out. One of the articles said “Women,
urged to tell their stories, are being ferociously punished when they do.”
Women are being threatened with rape and death among writing things online, and
if that doesn’t say that there is a problem, I don’t know what does. One thing
throughout my research that upset me was how with all the harassment and abuse
women writers face, they are basically told to just get a thicker skin. It is
NOT that simple! It’s draining and dehumanizing to face such harsh and
terrifying words. So bad to the point that a lot of women writers are being
diagnosed with things like PTSD and having to see therapists. All for wanting
to follow their passion and share their work with others, which is absolutely
sickening. We are losing many brilliant women writers because they think that
they are failing, and they are scared to write because of all the hate they get
for doing so. This is a form of hate crime that I think needs to be stopped,
and stopped quick. That’s why I encourage other women who enjoy writing to
write, and share their work publicly and I think the easiest way to do so is by
doing it online. Men are not the only ones who can write. Start making women
the heroes, instead of just giving them advice on “how to get the guy” . Don’t allow your
opinion on women be based solely on how men write them.
Men
and women are equal, just some different hardware. I just hope within the next
few years, women are shown to write more than just that and that we are treated
better when sharing our ideas and stories. Everyone should be equal, especially
in our writing because that is one of the most important things someone could
do. Why is that? Writing teaches, and can save lives, so support women writers
so we may share our knowledge on such things.
Links
to where I found this information:
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