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Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

theguardian.com

11–20 of 27 posts

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#11
post #10

When a woman does it, it's to expose the patriarchy. When men do it it's a scandal. Pen names have existed for centuries. Who cares?

The question would be whether or not they did it to exploit the advantages that culture and media now afford to women. But then again, that’s the same reason women have historically used male pen names.

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#12
post #10

When a woman does it, it's to expose the patriarchy. When men do it it's a scandal. Pen names have existed for centuries. Who cares?

It's not about using a pen name. They are free to write under a feminine pseudonym (reverse George Elliot style).

I am not sure if the prize is intentionally limited to women --it sounds like it isn't--but I dont think we want people claiming prizes this way. Consider that there are competitions for eg. high school students, first time authors, etc.

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#13
post #12
post #10

When a woman does it, it's to expose the patriarchy. When men do it it's a scandal. Pen names have existed for centuries. Who cares?

It's not about using a pen name. They are free to write under a feminine pseudonym (reverse George Elliot style). I am not sure if the prize is intentionally limited to women --it sounds like it isn't--but I dont think we want people claiming prizes this way. Consider that there are competitions for eg. high school students, first time authors, etc.

If the prize is not restricted to female authors, what's the problem?

Your argument would hold if the article actually mentioned anything like that, but all that's being discussed is if it was a marketing strategy or not.

This is peak hypocrisy when we're supposed to believe that women are constantly held back, but accuse men of using a woman pen name to sell more.

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#15
>Their lead character in the Carmen Mola novels is detective Elena Blanco, a “peculiar and solitary woman, who loves grappa, karaoke, classic cars and sex in SUVs”

How is anyone surprised that this series was written by three middle aged men, and not a woman?

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#16
post #7

> Beatriz Gimeno, a feminist, writer, activist – and former head of one of Spain’s national equality bodies, the Women’s Institute – attacked the men for creating a female persona in their publicity for Carmen Mola books, over several years

Cross-gender pen names are an common tradition. Have they also condemned the Bronte sisters or George Elliot or George Sand for creating a different gender persona for their writing? Or JK Rowling and Andre Norton literally changing their name for marketing purposes so that their gender would not be apparent on the books cover while they were still unknown as authors?

Men outrank women on the privilege stack. A woman adopting a male persona is "punching up"; a man adopting a female persona is "punching down".

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#17
post #16
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cross-gender pen names are an common tradition. Have they also condemned the Bronte sisters or George Elliot or George Sand for creating a different gender persona for their writing? Or JK Rowling and Andre Norton literally changing their name for marketing purposes so that their gender would not be apparent on the books cover while they were still unknown as authors?

Men outrank women on the privilege stack. A woman adopting a male persona is "punching up"; a man adopting a female persona is "punching down".

I was born with membership in the less popular protected classes, woe is me.

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#18
post #14

Based on the linked Spanish ABC article [0], it seems like it was well known that Carmen Mola was a pseudonym and they were even widely suspected to be a man. [0] https://www.abc.es/cultura/libros/abci-carmen-mola-elena-fer...

Worth mentioning it is 2018 article.

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#19
post #16
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cross-gender pen names are an common tradition. Have they also condemned the Bronte sisters or George Elliot or George Sand for creating a different gender persona for their writing? Or JK Rowling and Andre Norton literally changing their name for marketing purposes so that their gender would not be apparent on the books cover while they were still unknown as authors?

Men outrank women on the privilege stack. A woman adopting a male persona is "punching up"; a man adopting a female persona is "punching down".

Then we should encourage that even more. That they are sacrificing sales/money for experiencing being a female.

Re: Female thriller writer who won €1m literary prize revealed to be three men

#20
post #12
post #10

When a woman does it, it's to expose the patriarchy. When men do it it's a scandal. Pen names have existed for centuries. Who cares?

It's not about using a pen name. They are free to write under a feminine pseudonym (reverse George Elliot style). I am not sure if the prize is intentionally limited to women --it sounds like it isn't--but I dont think we want people claiming prizes this way. Consider that there are competitions for eg. high school students, first time authors, etc.

The first rule of high school student contest will be that you need to be in high school. For feminists, they have shot themselves in foot in this regard. They want that everyone to be treated equal(and in many case not even define females) but at the same time they don't.
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