Punk-Ass Book Jockey

I finally got around to reading the Scott Westerfeld YA trilogy, "Uglies," (now a trilogy of four, in fine Douglas Adams tradition), and was liking it a lot.... until I finished "Specials" (number 3) and discovered, facing the last page...

AN AD FOR FANLIB.

YES RLY.

I applaud Westerfeld for being cool enough to invite his fans to play in his sandbox (the ad had a link to part of FanLib where you could post your own "uglies" stories) but I really wish his publisher - Simon & Schuster - hadn't gotten into bed with that particular group of evildoers. It's months after the initial bruhaha, but my reaction to seeing the ad was still a feeling of nausea.

I'm thinking about taking a razor to every copy of the book that we have and getting rid of the page.

Chris Williams of Fanlib accepts Henry Jenkins' invitation to answer questions from the fan community.

His answers allay no-one's fears.

I particularly appreciate Aja & Mel's responses early in the posted comments.

----

BTW, that discussion I posted about earlier, on paradox_dragon's entry the all-male BoD @ FanLib, & why it's relevant?

I decided it was time to stop banging my head against a wall, and therefore wasn't going to keep explaining to the anonymous poster (thread here) why paradox_dragon was right.

And then I checked my email again, and he had responded to my last comment (not to what I was actually _saying_, mind you) by replying that he was a guy in fandom.

( In which I boggle against the idea that men in fandom actually find it okay that the FanLib BoD is all male. )

Also, I love that the FanLib people won't touch the gender discussion with a ten-foot pole. It "offends" them. It offends us that we have to point it out to you, okay?

paradox_dragon posted about why it matters that there's an all-male BoD @ FanLib; someone anonymously replied, no, I don't think it does; I waded into the fray, and now I'm just annoyed.

cupidsbow, in her awesome, awesome post about fanfiction through the lens of Joanna Russ, comments on the developing female artist tendency to meet scornful "you can't create!" comments with a puzzled look and then a turned back as the female artist goes back to creating what she is creating.

Maybe we have an obligation to other people who haven't thought about gender trouble to talk about feminism and it's application to our daily lives, and to explain, carefully and patiently, why something pisses us off, but more and more I get impatient. I certainly got impatient with anonymous poster. I don't want to break down why gender divide=gender trouble. S/he can say it doesn't; I'll be over here working on a model that takes it into account and eliminates the problem.

I mean, I'm not doing that, since I'm not a philosopher or aca-fan. (Although I'm really starting to warm to the idea of pursuing fan studies academically. I could do that! And apparently I could get fuckin' FUNDING to do that.)

But seriously. Turning your back. Not a practical or forward moving action, but a relief. Who wants to have the same discussion over and over again? Isn't that why there are books?

Also, I am no longer supportive of anonymous lj posting. We all use pseuds here, people. We're anonymous already, by design. For gods' sake, make up a free sock-puppet account if you really have to, but offer some kind of trace-back accountability.

I feel like this was a bad week for female voices. Lloyd Alexander--creator of one of the best girls in YA fic--is dead; FanLib shit hit the fan; VMars was cancelled.

I'm pissed off with myself too. I'm doing a fine job of stifling my own female voice.

So. Deep breath. I am resolved to quit. I'll give them two pay periods. (I'm light-headed now. Good thing I've got some wine. ... Oh. Had some wine. *sad*)

And then there's FanLib. All I have to say (since everyone else is doing a fine job with the raking-over-coals and raising-of-eyebrows -- here is a pretty comprehensive list of responses) is that for all the protesting that the FLib people are doing--and I've now spent the last three hours reading through the cheerleaders and naysayers--no-one on the pro-FLib side has bothered addressing the question that is burning the brightest and angriest for me -- to paraphrase astolat , what the hell are a group of non-fanfic/vid/art-producing or -consuming men doing attempting to make money off of a female gift economy?

Anyone? Anything? I really want an answer. This is the thing that totally damns FanLib for me -- the all-male and apparently heterosexual (or not willing to mention their queerdom) exec and board of directors.

Really. Damns. TO HELL.

Or, in secular and practical terms, damns to me not participating, endorsing, or doing anything to help or encourage. I have no patience for this blind, opportunistic, rude nonsense.