Am I sexist? I have to consider this possibility since the other day I came to the realization that I don't recall EVER having read a book written by a woman. Seriously. And I read a lot of books. I can't think of one. Can someone please help me remember a book I've read by a female author?
27 comments:
I don't think the problem is that you are sexist it's just that women can't write good.
If you enjoy fiction the Harry Potter series is great.
That may be the key. I read almost zero fiction and women are really good at lying.
Ahh - no fiction does make it tough, once it requires analytical thinking chicks are pretty much out of the running.
So maybe instead of being sexist against women you should just say you are genre-ist against fiction and the gender of the authors you read is simply a byproduct of that.
Truth be told I can't name a non-fiction book I have ever read by a woman either. Of course I only read about 3-4 books a year so that's less impressive.
I'd say just start counting any "emergent" authors you read.
PS Seriously - Harry Potter is great.
Upon further reflection and survey (of my bookshelf) I have read 1 non-fiction book by a woman. It was a history of the ordained ministers of Reformed Baptist Church. I liked it.
First girl book you should read - something by Mother Teresa.
Any Elisabeth Elliot books?
Ezra had a woman in it..
hey! You guys actually made me think of a couple things I've read. I did once read a book of quoted by Mother Teresa. And, after I remembered that, I thought of one more: "Worship Evangelism" by Sally Morgenthaler. It was tolerable.
Plus, I saw a documentary which was mostly based on Elizabeth Elliot :)
would that qualify as a "Chick Flick"?
Have you tried out the mystics?
Hildegard von Bingen, Julian of Norwhich?
St. Catherine was a fine writer too.
I am disappointed in you Matthew.
If any of you took "History of Missions" at BBC, than you would have read a text called "From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya" by Ruth A. Tucker. There are plenty of non-fiction texts written by women scholars, it's just that most professors don't choose to highlight them.
I also recommend, "Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed" which is a historical documentary with moralistic undertones. Written by a woman.
Have you read anything by Corrie Ten Boom?
What about Anne Frank?
I recently read "Infidel" an auto-biography by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and my worldview and political leanings will never be the same, and my discontent with injustice has been hightened, and my awareness of how the systems of the world function was bolstered.
Also, people who don't read fiction at all have myopic worldviews. :P
Try "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck. It's a classic, and it's about Chinese culture. You'd like it Matthew.
p.s.
I realize that woman are more imaginative than men and therefore write more fiction, but perhaps the reason you don't see equal amounts of scholarly works by women is because they are home taking care of the kids and sacrificing their best years to their men and their families. Who has time to be a detailed scholar and sit around and think when you have other responsibilities? Men who write scholarly works do that for their career, usually, and there is seldom any competition for their time.
p.p.s.
You may want to take not of how many biographies men write about the inspiring lives of women too.....
p.p.p.s. I know you are all saying these things in jest, but it is still perturbing.
You are all forgetting Judy Blume. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber and Superfudge. How about the Outsiders by S.E.Hinton. Wuthering Heights by Emile Bronte and on of my personal favourites: Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austin. I think Mary Shelly wrote something about a monster. I've also read Margeret Atwood, Emily Dickinson, and sadly yes I have read Lucy Maude Montgomery. (dang you Anne)
Who is Harry Potter?
I also loved Carolyn Keene. (Nancy Drew)
I've read several nonfiction books by women, but they tend to be books that mainly women would read. You know, about dating, and feminism, and modesty, etc.
You really should read Corrie Ten Boom's book, The Hiding Place. It is excellent.
Oh, I just thought of one. I read a book about Mormonism that was written by a woman.
Maybe I will write a book. It will be about... something.
Now that you mention it I think I did read "The Hiding Place" years ago.
If you include fiction my list of female authors grows significantly longer (well, at least more than two longer) favorites include JK Rowling and Agatha Christie.
Interesting issue, once you start to think through it.
Do women not write or are they not published? Why might they not be published?
Has higher education (traditionally) been easier for men? How many (often older) women in your church had fantastic grades in High School, but for financial reasons, the family sent the son(s) to college? (I know a couple, but there could be more.)
That's when you start to see that even those who are really not sexist are still conditioned by their cultures and systems.
A little over a year ago I heard a lecture by Frances Young (a woman) on suffering. I believe her femininity led her to reject the benefits of theodicy in favor of more rigourous views of atonement. (Her book, "Sacrifice and the Death of Christ" is very valuable in atonement studies.)
But I am in the same boat. I have to stop and think about non-fiction full length works by women that I have read, while I can rattle off works by men.
PS. Ruth Tucker, the author that Jo mentioned, has quite a story that some believe involves her being a woman and her removal from employment at Calvin Theological Seminary.
Could it be that woman authors are in the same boat as women pastors? If you are awesome you will "make it" but if you are good it's unlikely and if you are average or below forget about it. While for guys it's "if you don't make out with the teenage girls we'll keep paying you"?
I think there is also an issue of perspective or voice. I realize this is going to cause some of you here to think nasty things about me but... I tend not to identify with a female "voice" in what I'm reading, fiction or non and so once the writing sounds "like a woman" I tend to tune out (in my defense I "tune out" of about 50% of books so it's not just on this issue). I'll go with woman fiction writers since that's where I have the most experience. You could read the entire HP series and not know JK is a woman but the tone of her writing.
Is this sexist? Maybe but I'd be willing to bet if people were honest it's also pretty common. Could it be that women have had to learn to enjoy a male "voice" in book or not read much while men can read tons of stuff without having to read female authors. The reason fiction breaks this rule consistently is because when it's done right we hear the voice of the character/s and not the author.
Hey AJ,
I don't take that as sexist, because we are all open to our own opinions and you have not expressed a value judgment (i.e., women writers are bad because they are women), but only your opinion, which reveals as much about you as it does those authors you don't like.
I'm curious: When you say, "sounds like a woman," what does that sound like?
Just realized that that could come across a little combative, which is not the way I meant it.
I've already taken up to much space here so why stop now - to Jo's p.s.:
Seems to me that men and women peak, have their "best years", at different times. Most "great men" I know hit that point in their 30's or early 40's and spent the rest of their lives plateaued at that spot . Most "great women" I know were just getting started in their 40's and really cleaned house (ok bad choice of expression for this discussion) in their 50's and beyond.
Could it be that the tendency now for woman to try to establish themselves in a career during their younger years and then raise a family in their later years is actually detrimental?
Could it be that doing it the other way around would work better and play to a woman's greater strengths at different life stages?
I'm still house-sitting, so when I got online today I was surprised by how many comments this topic received :)
Good recommendations. I think I should read 'The Hiding Place' at some point.
I am surprised that the US school system didn't have me read more female authors.
I think Jo's line "sacrificing their best years to their men and their families" is interesting. I may be interpreting it wrong, but that sounds like they are giving up their potential to focus on raising a family, whereas I see there being no higher calling than raising a family. I'd word it that they are "utilizing their best years for their family."
I very much resonate with what AJ said. I find it difficult to connect with the 'female voice' in non-fiction works long enough to survive more than a few pages. I think he has a point that women probably 'learn' to connect with the male voice whereas men don't have any motivation to put forth the effort.
This one is common
I also found this list, but it's pretty extensive - male and female authors, all religions. Still there were a few books that stuck out to me on it, so if you're looking for specifically religous non-fiction, there might be something there.
I think if you look at the dates on the books you've read you'll get an idea why there aren't more prominent women authors - it's only fairly recently that women have been seen as capable of writing outside of "their area" (so anything besides missions, childrens ministry, women's ministry or being a good wife). And there still exists the view that women shouldn't teach men, and books are a form of teaching, and thus any non-fiction work by a women intended for men to read is evil (no really, I actually new someone who believed this!!)
For non-fiction, most of my favorite writes are women, the male authors don't capture my (limited) attention as well. Juliette Marillier, Austin, Bronte, all wonderful stuff.
er, for the last part of the above, i meant fiction, not non-fiction...oops
Steph, I actually read it wrong so I had it right to begin with :) Good recommendations from you as well.
Upon further reflection, I think I read a lot of stuff written by female authors. After all, most of the good bbc bloggers are female!
Nice save there, Matt.
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