Sexism in SF - that Big Finish competition

[matgb]

Hmm. The BBC and Big Finish have announced the winner of their short story competition and bibliophile1887 observes that the list is overwhelmingly male. snapesbabe entered and shares the concern (interesting comments discussion in both posts). This put me in mind of a discussion last week at nihilistic_kid's over recent submissions to his magazine:

there is a long history of women writers obscuring their gender ... One hundred percent of the authors who submit their work to Clarkesworld under an initialed byline are women.

I'd like to think that such attitudes are in the past, but looking at my shelves, the overwhelming majority of my SF books are also written by men; my current favourite author may be female, but most of the rest of my picks are male. Is this because less women are writing, because I have 'male' tastes or is there still sexism in the publishing industry?

Having said that, (Cllr) Nick submitted an entry, and as it didn't win, he's posted it to his LJ.

Comments

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

And that's without even opening the can of worms that I HATE romance but love sci-fi and horror...

I'll be posting my losing entry later, but apart from any sexism or anything else, I think mine was probably rejected for being too violent and nasty LOL

[tinuvielberen.livejournal.com]

I don't buy romance novels either. But I do like to see heroes with foibles, strong yet vulnerable. I like to see strong women, too; interesting female characters who think about something other than a man. I like complicated, sciency plots but also strong characterisation. I'm not too keen on violence or gore; I prefer more psychological horror.

You can write an excellent SF story with these characteristics which will appeal to BOTH women and men.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

So can you, but neither of us got picked.

[tinuvielberen.livejournal.com]

I meant to say, "One can write" or "it is possible to write" etc.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

LOL I know. I meant to put a ;) on the end of that, too.

[matgb]

So the question is really why there aren't many succesful women authors doing so, and why SF is still seen as a male market, despite the palpable female presence in online discussions on the subject?

[matgb]

Well, yes, I think most sane people do, but a large proportion of fiction sold is within the broad 'romance' category, which means it's bought almost exclusively by women.

So where's the male equivalent, and why is it so popular?

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

missdiane reads romance novels, or used to. You could ask her why they are so popular; I have NO clue.