Every SF writer wants to win a Hugo. Stories are nominated by fans and readers, and they have a special place in everyone's hearts. But this year's events threatened to derail the awards for ever. Google 'sad puppies' and 'rabid puppies' and you'll get the whole sorry story. I'm more interested in what the result means for SF, and for women, in the future.
I have the sense that this is a time of change for the SF genre. Over a year ago I attended a Women in SF panel event at Blackwell's Bookshop in London where five female published SF authors described the struggles they had to be recognized and reviewed. Since then, it feels like the pressure to recognise female and diverse voices in SF has risen steadily.
Which is good, but we women have to do our part too. I won't deny that Twitter scares me as much as I find it useful. It can be fabulous for raising awareness of issues, but it can also be a very nasty place. Like many women, I dislike direct conflict, and I will sometimes pull my punches in comments, mindful of the snark that will ensue if I speak my whole truth.
I have to stop doing this. We all have to stop doing this, and the Hugos this year was a watershed. It was a time when we said 'this misognyy is not acceptable', and voted accordingly. The awards were about much more than the individual nominees. This year the result sent a message to the world about what we want SF to be in the future - inclusive.
Some good people lost out on awards they deserved in the midst of the 'no awards' carnage, but we had to take a stand. For after all, if speculative fiction cannot speculate on a future where women and diverse people are equal, then it has no right to call itself SF. The Hugos were a necessary calling to account and course correction.
Wendy Metcalfe is the author of Panthera : Death Spiral and Panthera : Death Song and the short story collection Otherlives. Find out more at www.wendymetcalfe.com
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete