Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Stacey May Fowles on CNQ's systemic sexism

....and a few other things. I've responded, because I think the criticism of CNQ is uninformed. In discussions with other editors and the publisher of the magazine, no single non-content-question has come up more often than the rather lad-heavy list of contributors. It isn't something we want, but as I say in my comments on Stacey's post, it's something of an uphill slog trying to get women to contribute to the magazine. I think most reviews editors, particularly ones working for low-paying venues, could tell you the same story. We're a magazine that solicits most of our content; I expect magazines that rely on a passive slush-pile model have no trouble, since there are probably at least as many female as male writers out there submitting fiction and poetry to journals. And I know from my work at a more mainstream magazine that there are loads of gung-ho female freelancers out there looking for work--work that pays well, at least. Book reviewing and literary criticism is a ghetto. Maybe it's just that women are fed up with doing hard work for lousy pay, eh.

4 comments:

Carmine Starnino said...

It's funny to see Fowles' rant on the Walrus blog, a magazine that has had its own well-publicized problems attracting female contributors.

NigelBeale said...

Clearly they're smarter than we are

Pearl said...

*sigh* calling it a rant and complaining that she talked there will no doubt encourage women to feel welcome at CNQ.

"they" being those at the Walrus or women?

Jesse said...
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