*deep breath*
I was almost fooled into thinking that this year would be a
peaceful Women in Horror Month… but hurray… of course someone had to ‘shake
things up a little.’
By now anyone who has anything to do with the Indie / Small
Press / Self Published writing world must have heard about ‘Haggate’ or ‘Hagapalooza’.
For those of you who don’t, here’s an update in a nutshell. An author (I shan’t
name them, that’s not my place) got very upset with the horror community and he
pointed out that all female horror writers look like hags.
This is the actual quote (though a lot more was said): “They do library readings, sign their novels
on people’s lawns, pose for pictures as ghouls and monsters (the women are
especially guilty of this; most of them look like hags anyway), and
self-publish their work.”
My first reaction was to give myself a painful facepalm,
mumble something about stupidity, and sigh,… but now, in hindsight… I actually
want to thank the author who said this. Why? Because his dumb remark was a
spark that ignited the flame. What he said created drama… but also awareness.
Let’s be honest, it’s nice that we get interviewed for Women
of Horror month, but without the ‘drama’ it’s just that. People dutifully share
the interviews, and the occasional person will point out it’s Women in Horror
month. This doesn’t always create a lot of awareness, and not a lot of people
really care.
There are a few people who always get their ‘knickers in a
twist’ over the Women in Horror Month, and they’re quite verbal about it. For
some reason women getting attention, when men don’t, doesn’t sit well with
these individuals, and they can get very rude and very mean about it.
To those of you who are so jealous that we have this month…
don’t be. It does NOTHING for sales (at least, not from my experience, February
tends to be a crappy month in sales for me), and so far most of us just have to
deal with a lot of surly misogynists,
who are suddenly reminded that women actually exist in the horror genre, and
they hate us so much that they will go out of their way to be hateful.
Being called a hag was actually one of the kinder experiences
I’ve had. It was less patronizing than last year, when I was accused of using
my sexuality to sell books. God forbid we’d actually just have talent, right?
So, what the author of that little ‘hag’ statement did, is
point out something that’s very wrong in the world, something that proves that
we NEED a women in horror month… We’re still being judged on
our appearance,
and not our talent.
Now, I didn’t even take the comment as particularly
misogynistic. It wasn’t exactly ladies friendly, but the man was so angry at
everyone, that he made derogatory remarks about more than just women. But it
was remarkable that he pointed out our looks.
What do my looks have to do with my writing? Unless I decide
that I want to take up body painting and put my words on my naked flesh…
nothing. It doesn’t matter how I look. How I dress is irrelevant. All that
should matter is ‘my work’. Why are women always expected to ‘look good’?
Someone made a funny remark about Stephen King selling books
with his looks. I laughed, but at the same time I felt sad too. It doesn’t
matter for men how they look, but women are expected to be attractive. And we
feel that pressure (at least, most of us do).
And to be really honest… it kind of sucks being called a ‘hag’.
Sure, I laugh about it, because what else can you do? If someone is being mean,
the best remedy is to ignore it or mock it. At the same time it did hurt a
little. The way he said, this
stranger, was demeaning, and the message it sends to women is that they’re of
less worth.
Which, incidentally, brings me back to the point of the
women in horror month. Times are changing, and I’m glad of it, but we still
struggle with too many stereotypes. Too many people (I don’t want to single out
men here) still treat us as if we’re not a integral part of the ‘horror writing
game’, as if we’re ‘different’ somehow, and what we do isn’t as ‘valid’. It’s a
man’s world, and we’re just guests in it.
I keep reading in comments that ‘women write a certain way’.
Ehm… okay? What way is that?
Last year, my good friend Malina Roos decided to challenge
the people who claimed women wrote differently than men, and she put up
excerpts of writing without names. It was impossible to see which was written
by a man, and which was written by a woman.
Not one of the people who said they wouldn’t read anything
by a female author accepted the challenge… though apparently some of them did
send Malina some nasty messages and threats.
How dare a woman step out of her place, right? No wonder
they got upset.
So back to why I’m thanking the author who called us hags.
His statement caused outrage, and it was like a band-aid being torn off. It
exposed the festering wound underneath. Sometimes these wounds heal best when
they’re out in the open. Misogyny is the same way, it can only be battled if we
all see it.
He started Hagapalooza, and he created a wave. We joke about
it, put pictures of hags up on our profiles, and some of us (me) even wrote
ourselves a haggy bio. 
Are we using this incident to get attention?
Sure we are, we’re writers, we need to be seen.
But it’s more than that, we’re using it to say “Here we are.
You can’t get around us, and we won’t stand for disrespect any longer.”
 |
| This is actually my drawing that I made for my story 'The Bone Witch' |
But in the meanwhile… we might as well laugh at Haggate.
I am hag… hear me cackle.
