I think what you’re doing here is handing your enemies the means to destroy you.

Okay, slight exaggeration. What I mean is that while I don’t think you’re sexist, if I *did* this passage would reinforce that belief. Because it reads a lot like, “Some of my best friends are black.”

Which is unfortunate, and only serves to distract from your argument.

Yes, there have been strong female voices in novels in the past, but always they seemed to be standing in for or supporting “their man.” Now they stand on their own. A woman doesn’t need a man to define or defend her, and like a man, she should bear the full weight of her mistakes, as well as her triumphs, which is what the protags of UF do.

I was a single mother who went into the military in a traditionally-male career field at a time when it wasn’t widely accepted. I put myself through college, raised three sons by myself, and have stood on my own two feet my entire life. And yes, I’d kick anyone’s ass who threatened my family, so these women SPEAK to me.

As for UF not being “literature,” well, call it what you want. Like someone else here said, I’ve spent more money on books in recent years than ever before because I LIKE what’s being written now and believe in supporting the writers who do it.

It’s been around *at least* since Frank (whoreswhoreswhores… Eh, sorry, can’t resist making fun of him…) Miller. And probably earlier than that. It’s even become something of a cliché in itself. (not that clichés aren’t neccessarily good things)

If anything the bigger problem is something that people at girl-wonder.org is keen on: Namely that while women can kick ass nowadays, they can only do so as long as they are also sexy. (hence why “hot chicks in leather kicking ass” is kind of bothersome) there’s still a big double-standard there.

One thing I want to ask is genre fiction’s ability to show Truth. Many have speak of how genre fiction can be a place for dialogue, a place for discussion, and a place for brand new ideas to emerge.

But do these ideas have merit, do they show us some Truth about ourselves as citizens of our society or as human beings? Where we are, where we should be going? Are they trying to remove barriers between men and women, or trying to define what it means to be a woman, alone, in relation to, and in relationships with, men?

Do genre books, and films for that matter, simply give us questions to come up with our own ideas or stake a claim about a certain Truth? Either way, we are left to decide our own answers, but the first gives you nothing but the question you already came with.

On the question of gender, I must say that I’m a fan of feisty girls, but one must always wonder what certain authors are trying to do. Is the purpose of a given author to show that women are no different from men? What a horrible thing to say! Women have their own nature which distinguish them from men, otherwise what does it mean to be a woman?

While I think he gets blurry on certain matters, Joss Whedon’s Buffy is a perfect example of a woman trying to be a woman. There is no “I’m no different from you.” She is a woman succeeding in being a hero, which is a whole different thing to say.

Thoughts, comments, bashings?

I liked reading your essay, and also reading the reactions to it. Something that blurs the lines always engenders controversy, and especially when you are setting up male/female comparisons. Whatev. I agree that UF, as you write it, comes from noir, not romance or paranormal. Maybe that’s why I like it so much? Imagine if Chandler or Cain or god, Thompson had written paranormal noir. Cool beans. Good food for thought (not the beans).

The comments only confirmed one of the points in your article–that this genre is considered lowbrow and apparently trashy romance only to be enjoyed by females wanting wish-fulfillment fantasies.

And that’s just silly.

I was also amused by how many of the commenters admitted to not having read a single UF title yet they were perfectly fine with tearing it down.