So, women authors are sometimes asked a series of particular questions that are often sexist at best or misogynist at worst, and so for fun, WHACK! Magazine’s Lela Gwenn took some of those questions and asked them of two dude authors instead.
Those two dude authors being me and Stephen Blackmoore.
The results of that experiment are here.
(For the next iteration of this, I’d love to see Seanan McGuire’s suggestion of asking these questions of male authors who are ignorant of this phenomenon. Or, at the very least, spring these type of questions on male authors who think they’re getting a normal interview about their books — you know, and then suddenly someone’s asking them about how pretty they feel or about pregnancy or children. Like a prank. But socially relevant!)
(Though for the record, people ask me a lot about my toddler, but one assumes that’s because I talk a lot about the teacupped tempest known as “B-Dub.”)
EDIT:
Okay, additional thing:
Let’s crowdsource the worst, most offensive and outright dopiest questions posed to women authors. What other questions do women authors get asked that men never do? Let’s hear some examples. Pop ’em in the comments below.
smithster says:
Might want to do an NSFW disclaimer there. Baylor College of Medicine (who provides my internet service here at work) apparently classify WHACK! as pornography.
Yay, now they think I’m surfing porn at work lolsigh.
August 15, 2013 — 9:56 AM
terribleminds says:
Well, this site is often noted as NSFW on work networks, and further, my posts are almost universally NSFW, AND to boot the top header notes that the site is NSFW.
I think we’re all pretty warned.
— c.
August 15, 2013 — 10:21 AM
Kay Camden says:
Yet, terribleminds.com comes through loud and clear on my work network. I think you need to up your game, bro.
August 15, 2013 — 3:20 PM
Sam says:
oh because clearly he made you come here not like it was your work’s responsibility to block anything it doesn’t want it’s employee’s looking at while working or anything CRAZY like that….
August 23, 2013 — 5:09 PM
Kay Camden says:
smithster, same thing happened to me. I thought, surely that’s miscategorized on this network, let me switch to our other network. Doh! Porn there, too. So I’m guilty on two counts.
Please pretty please do this to an unsuspecting male author. And get a video. I’d pay to see that.
August 15, 2013 — 10:20 AM
Steven Chapman says:
Ditto, which is funny because it lets me look at actual porn…I mean…erm…
August 15, 2013 — 10:20 AM
terribleminds says:
I think WHACK! is on Tumblr, so it might just be flagging Tumblr in general.
August 15, 2013 — 10:21 AM
Dawn Napier says:
What’s your favorite dessert?
August 15, 2013 — 10:23 AM
terribleminds says:
Yeah, someone else said that one on Twitter, too. WTF.
Related: now I want to eat dessert.
August 15, 2013 — 10:29 AM
fairymothermedicinewoman says:
I would so love to see this done to an unsuspecting male author…. thanks in general for your very awesome blog. It does good things for my brain. 🙂
August 15, 2013 — 10:28 AM
Jess says:
Oh…I SO wish I’d had Stephen’s response to feeling the pressure of having kids when Husband and I got married.
Inappropriate question: “How does your husband like the ‘research’ for your erotica?”
August 15, 2013 — 10:28 AM
Francis Knight says:
Does your husband mind you writing, the time it takes away from family time?
Answer: Not normally, because I generally tell him to sod off to the pub so I can get some words in. He *does* mind if I can’t make a guild run on whatever MMO we’re playing at the mo, because they need my DPS to take down the Big Bad Boss. I just laugh while they wipe, and carry on writing
In other words, this is my job. No one asks if I mind him working….
August 15, 2013 — 10:29 AM
Francis Knight says:
I’ve had the ‘Do you practice the sex scenes with your husband’ question too.
August 15, 2013 — 10:30 AM
terribleminds says:
Man, that’s skeevy.
August 15, 2013 — 10:38 AM
TheMariaLima says:
Skeevy, yes, but VERY common, sadly. I’ve not gotten asked that b/c not married, but I’ve heard/seen it asked of many of my author buddies. Ugh.
August 15, 2013 — 10:54 AM
Carol McKenzie says:
I write erotica and I’ve had that question, or a variant, asked by a client…and he was then no longer a client. He assumed everything I wrote was from personal experience. Skeevy does not describe how I felt after that particular email.
August 15, 2013 — 11:08 AM
betsydornbusch says:
Q: You write strong female characters. What makes strong female characters strong? Who are some of your favorite strong female characters? How do you write strong female characters? Why are strong female characters important?
A: *headdesk*
August 15, 2013 — 10:40 AM
betsydornbusch says:
Which always makes me laugh because my better known protagonists are male. But I’ve got girl parts so it makes me an expert on “strong female characters” apparently.
August 15, 2013 — 10:46 AM
Meg Gardiner says:
Bingo.
August 15, 2013 — 11:47 AM
Carol McKenzie says:
What a nice photo on the back. You’re so pretty. Did you do your own make-up and hair?
August 15, 2013 — 10:40 AM
jnbradley says:
I stand by my “Which of your characters would you marry?” question I posed to you once.
August 15, 2013 — 10:40 AM
Francis Knight says:
Yup. Also very tempting to answer ‘No, I pick up crack heads from the local park and get jiggy jig with them instead’
August 15, 2013 — 10:41 AM
Laura W. says:
PLEASE say that to the next person who asks you that question…and contrive to film it somehow so we can have their flabbergasted face on record forever 🙂
August 15, 2013 — 6:05 PM
Francis Knight says:
Also, not an interview question but someone did once snarkily suggest I must have ‘slept with an editor’ to get a book deal. Weeelll, I would have done, but I don’t think she swings that way.
August 15, 2013 — 10:43 AM
betsydornbusch says:
What recipe goes best with your book–from romance/erotica interviews? (I should direct them here next time I get that one–you have more recipes than I do!)
August 15, 2013 — 10:47 AM
Madeline Ashby says:
“Why robots? Why not vampires?”
variant: “Why aren’t you writing YA?”
The implication being that because my first novel was published before I turned 30, I should have been writing about supernatural elements and not cannibal robots with carbon aerogel muscles and graphene coral skeletons. Because robots aren’t for girls, apparently.
My other favourite is, “Oh, are you a writer too?” when I’m out with my partner. He’s working on his fifth book; I have two out and am working out the deals for more. I have a literary agent and a film manager. I write foresight scenarios for tech companies. I’ve composed and edited reports commissioned by the provincial government. Yes, I’m a writer too. I don’t expect everybody to know me or the trajectory of my career, but if I’m wearing a panelist badge at an expensive convention, I’m not there to tag along. I probably shouldn’t find it as grating as I do, but the tone of the question is often pretty condescending — like I’m a little girl wearing a “writer” costume for Halloween. I’d be okay answering, “What’s your programming look like this year?” or “What are you looking forward to?” or something more open-ended and interesting. That way I wouldn’t have to unroll my bona fides and we could have an actual human conversation about things we’re interested in or the experience we’re sharing.
August 15, 2013 — 11:22 AM
Sporkdelis says:
I’m a caricature artist, and when I was working with a company in a six flags I got asked a lot when the “artist” would be free. What do you think I’m doing here? Playing secretary?
August 21, 2013 — 11:33 PM
Andrea Phillips says:
Repeating from Twitter: I get a lot of “How do your children inspire your work?” Because, you know, I’m a lady with babies so OF COURSE the childrens inspire me… right? Right?
August 15, 2013 — 11:27 AM
Dawn Napier says:
Stephen King’s early books were inspired by his kids, but I’ve read dozens of old interviews and he never got that question to my knowledge. How…. interesting….. /puke
August 15, 2013 — 12:35 PM
Lala says:
So…does that mean that his daughter has psychic powers?
August 16, 2013 — 8:08 PM
Dawn Napier says:
No, but it does mean that she had a cat named Smucky that got hit by a car.
August 17, 2013 — 2:08 AM
petewoodworth says:
Two questions from Philcon last year, both spoken by men and directed at female panelists:
“I’ve noticed your male characters seem very flat. Do you have trouble writing men because society conditions you to be afraid of us?”
“Why do you think women can’t write [hard] sci-fi? Because it’s not ‘real’ enough?”
The second one almost got a proper spit take. The guy was totally serious, too – when asked to clarify a bit, he said it was because there are no famous female science fiction writers, but a lot of fantasy ones, so there must be something about sci-fi that women can’t process.
August 15, 2013 — 11:28 AM
Dawn Napier says:
Betuz it hurt my widdle head!
I seriously would not be able to resist saying something like that.
August 17, 2013 — 2:10 AM
Citrine says:
alright, so she is a family friend, I could be biased, but…Catherine Asaro?
August 23, 2013 — 1:59 PM
petewoodworth says:
Honestly I don’t recall at this point, my apologies.
August 23, 2013 — 2:30 PM
Drew B says:
Okay, Chuck, you asked:
1) so who is your protagonist’s love interest? what can you tell us about him?
and (don’t kill me, you asked for OFFENSIVE questions)
2) when it’s “that time of the month,” do you have trouble writing? is your writing more violent or anti-male?
August 15, 2013 — 11:33 AM
gaie says:
I was going to reply, but then I realised I actually have *no words* for how entirely enfucked this is.
August 17, 2013 — 6:22 AM
Kathy Holzapfel says:
“What does your mother/father/husband/child/employer/church think about you writing those trashy romance novels?”
August 15, 2013 — 11:36 AM
saundramitchellbooks says:
What’s your favorite recipe?
August 15, 2013 — 11:42 AM
josinlmcquein says:
Press on nails? Really? You’ll never be able to type in those.
August 15, 2013 — 11:44 AM
Meg Gardiner says:
Don’t you think it’s nice that your hobby has turned into something?
These novels of yours–have they ever been published? (Asked by a fellow panelist at a high school career day, who had heard my professional qualifications during the introduction, and who, as he asked the question, was staring at a copy of my latest hardcover.)
Seems that you’re a looker. Did you get your book deal because the publisher knew they could put an author photo on the book jacket?
August 15, 2013 — 11:53 AM
terribleminds says:
*headdesks so hard the desk splits in half with the sound of a thundercrack*
August 15, 2013 — 12:27 PM
Meg Gardiner says:
Chuck, please wear a helmet.
And I should mention: I am thrilled at how my author photo turned out. It’s amazing what happens when a professional photographs you, instead of your kids, catching you asleep on the sofa.
August 15, 2013 — 12:42 PM
Karina Cooper says:
“You write a lot of pages a day. Do you still make time for your husband?”
This has been softened and sharpened, depending on what type of jackass is doing the asking. The worst culminates in, “Do you still manage to keep him satisfied?” Because that’s everyone’s business.
August 15, 2013 — 12:12 PM
terribleminds says:
Subtext: “Do you have time away from your WRITING HOBBY to complete your other REAL JOB which is making your husband happy?” Eeeesh.
August 15, 2013 — 12:27 PM
Lindsay Harris-Friel says:
For what it’s worth: The Dramatists’ Guild magazine printed a transcript of a panel discussion between a bunch of female playwrights, about their experiences as women writers. The first question was something like “How is your experience being a writer and having children?” and Sarah Ruhl piped up, “It’s so much easier when they’re babies, because they sleep all the time…” and I almost threw up, thinking, sure it’s easy when they’re babies that sleep all the time, and you have a nanny and a housekeeper and tons of commissions and praise. I threw the magazine in the trash immediately.
I wish someone had said, “It’s great if you dab some ether on their crib sheets, that usually works pretty well until they’re 17 or so.”
I wonder why I let my Dramatists’ Guild membership lapse? Hmm.
August 15, 2013 — 12:13 PM
The Baroness says:
thank you Thank You THANK YOU!
AND I see that female playwrights, like female Literary Novelists, are unspokenly (yes it’s a word. yes. yes it is) UNSPOKENLY relegated to a certain short list of topics: rape, abuse, motherhood, wifehood, relationships, terrible illness, aging, being or becoming a lesbian, rape oh wait got that one…did I miss one? I wrote a play (that was *produced* in two cities) about War Journalists. The most common comment was “A woman wrote this? Huh.”
I have not joined the Dramatist’s Guild in part b/c I feel it serves to perpetuate this silent oppression.
August 15, 2013 — 4:09 PM
Lois Breedlove says:
It’s nice that you can have a hobby you can enjoy in between your other responsibilities.
Not really a question, but…
August 15, 2013 — 12:29 PM
angelablackwell says:
The best one I’ve received was when we were attending a science panel at a convention. I spoke up about something on medical devices (my day job). Moderator ignored me and said something about unqualified responders. Then a male friend on the panel pointed out to him that I was more expert than anyone else on the panel. Apparently he hadn’t bothered to read the info on me just assumed because I like Dr Who shirts and I’m female that I was a fangirl and not a science person.
August 15, 2013 — 12:36 PM
thetitularauthor says:
So, this is romance, right?
August 15, 2013 — 12:42 PM
Elaine Cunningham says:
“If you were a character in one of your Forgotten Realms novels, would Danilo Thann (He’s a bard, bon vivant, and Scarlet Pimpernel type of guy…) flirt with you?”
August 15, 2013 — 1:07 PM
gaie says:
“So your character runs a brothel. What sort of research did you do, nudge nudge wink wink?” It wasn’t the question, which is not unreasonable, it was the way it was asked. But whether a bloke would get asked this under the same circumstances, I leave you to judge.
August 15, 2013 — 1:21 PM
Elaine Cunningham says:
When I first started writing sword & sorcery novels some 20 years back, I was frequently asked how a woman could write fantasy battle scenes. Because as we all know, MALE fantasy writers can draw from their vast personal experience in melee battles with hordes of orcs.
During my suburban soccer mom years, people invariably asked if I wrote children’s books. I wouldn’t have minded that, except that they invariably looked surprised to learn that I had something else going on beside the mom thing.
August 15, 2013 — 1:24 PM
Miranda says:
When my in-laws found out I was working on writing they both separately assumed I was writing children’s books. It was very surprising. I don’t even have kids. Or, like, a swear-word filter. How the hell could I write children’s books?!
August 16, 2013 — 2:56 PM
Lauren Beukes says:
Has being a mother changed what you write about?
Do you hate men?
What kind of woman writes about violence like this?
And, to my husband: Aren’t you a little scared to sleep next to her at night?
August 15, 2013 — 1:37 PM
terribleminds says:
I’ve gotten the “being a Dad change your writing” thing a few times now.
Everything else, ehhh no, not so much.
August 15, 2013 — 2:08 PM
Justice says:
I was at a conference when a guy interrupted a character description to ask if my female protagonist had sex a lot. This was after I got as far as saying that my protagonist was a young woman. He then proceeded to advise me that “If you make her have lots of sex, you could probably sell lots of books.” This was before I ever described my manuscript.
August 15, 2013 — 4:07 PM
The Baroness says:
Know what’s awful and embarrassing? I didn’t recognize how biased these types of interviews are until I read this reversal piece. Nicely done! Even though now I am angry and sad….Guess I’ll go eat some chocolate and have a baby. Or maybe EAT a baby….
August 15, 2013 — 4:16 PM
Carol McKenzie says:
Dip the baby in chocolate first…
August 15, 2013 — 4:17 PM
Stephen Blackmoore says:
Mmmmm. Chocolate baby.
August 15, 2013 — 4:59 PM
Jeff says:
interesting….my web filter thinks your article link is pornography.
August 15, 2013 — 4:18 PM
StaceyHH says:
Love your answers. It’s worth pointing out, though, that if a woman author answered this way, it’s far less likely to be portrayed as an amusing social experiment, and far more likely to result in the interviewer or potential audience labeling her as hostile.
August 15, 2013 — 7:27 PM
jodilee says:
Q: You got divorced because you didn’t have a real job, right?
A: Actually, I got divorced because my ex-husband liked to try out my research notes with multitudes of other women. One decided to get clingy and kept phoning the house, interrupting my process.
Interview mysteriously ended right there. Never appeared, either, LOL.
August 15, 2013 — 7:43 PM
Susan Spann says:
Betsy’s question about strong female characters? NAILED IT.
My contribution, though: Did you have someone help you with the research for your books?
Technically, it may not be a “girl” question but I’ve never heard a guy asked it (and I have been, more than once). And, the answer I want to give but have not given:
OF COURSE. I might break a nail if I picked up all those heavy books all by myself!
Which is doubly amusing considering that my hands look like I work for a living. Which, ironically, I do.
August 15, 2013 — 9:30 PM
Jen Donohue says:
Does it count if I just make a blanket statement that any question starting with “As a woman…..” is probably dopey? Interesting overlap in my blog reading, actually, as this week on Belle Jar Blog was a very articulate post entitled “What it’s Like to be a Woman and a Writer” (http://bellejarblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/what-its-like-to-be-a-writer-who-is-also-a-woman/). I read the post, and I cringe because it is what women go through, I’m sure (I haven’t yet; I’m “Undiscovered”).
I also cringe, because I can only imagine the kind of answers I would give somebody, even in a “professional interview”, should I be asked them. I pity that future hypothetical interviewer. Kind of.
August 15, 2013 — 9:58 PM
Lala says:
“If you write about the discrimination and inequality that women face, and don’t immediately follow up with a list of double standards imposed on men, you will be accused of misandry. If you discuss violence against women without adding in that yes, sometimes women can be violent towards men, you will be accused of misrepresenting the facts. If you don’t qualify every discussion about women’s issues with the fact that, yes, men have issues specific to them, then you don’t believe in equality.”
Yes, just yes. This happens in pretty much every discussion about feminism or women’s rights nowadays that it’s just pathetic. It’s like those people can’t even go for a single minute without everything being about them and their lives. Thanks for sharing that article. It’s really great, if slightly depressing.
August 16, 2013 — 8:28 PM
Mozette says:
I’m not a published author, but I do write all the time. So, I guess it classes me as a female writer as such… anyway, I digress.
When I’m asked by anyone what I write, I tell them sci-fi action thrillers first (because I’m working on it right now)… then I tell them vampire romance and they assume it’s the Twilight shit that’s been hitting the market over the last decade! Come on, people! ‘Dracula’ was out well before that stupid bitch wrote that series of sparkling idiots running around pretending to be vampires… and besides, my vampires would leave them for dust! Literally.
I also write a bit of erotic romance, and I also get the same rotted questions about ‘getting toey’ because I’m single and might need ‘a little’… how skeevy can ya get??? I mean I write erotic fiction because it’s an idea I had and I wanted to see if it would work out as a story, not see if it turns me on!
A lot of people don’t understand it when women write what they do; and when we are asked crap questions and we don’t answer them – or give smart-ass answers – they automatically assume we’re PMS or going through ‘the change’…. dammit we’re writers! If you’re gonna ask us stupid questions, you’re gonna get stupid answers. 🙂
August 15, 2013 — 11:17 PM
danzierlea says:
Seconded and applauded.
August 16, 2013 — 1:37 PM
Raven Blackburn says:
Thirded (?). I love vampires, have loved them from the wee age of five and will always love them. I write about them and even if there is romance in my books, it is not freaking Twilight. They don’t sparkle and they sure as hell do drink blood and kill people. They don’t only say they are dangerous, they really are. If I met one of them in a dark alley, I’d run (not that that would help).
Every time I say I write paranormal romance, and yes, with vampires, someone always asks “like Twilight?” and has this stupid smile on their faces that says “not real books then, huh?”. While I congratulate Mrs Meyer on her success and do not begrudge her this, I am not writing the same stuff.
And then, when I finally grit out “no, not like $%&§ Twilight”, then they assume I PMS’ing or something. Those people tend to suffer a terrible fate in my books though.
/rant end
August 17, 2013 — 3:32 PM
Tiny1 says:
I’ve been asked what it feels like to write a male protagonist -_-
August 16, 2013 — 11:19 AM
Ann says:
“I had no idea men used vowels. Quite the wake-up call.”
August 22, 2013 — 10:32 AM
danzierlea says:
Well, let’s see here. Questions about personal anything, questions about process that presume the writer is in some way incapable of performing the process, questions about… well, basically, anything non-professional. Or which presumes that the ability to use the imagination like a surgeon wielding a scalpel and not like tourist flailing a dull machete with rust holes in the blade is a rare and weird talent. As many a pathologist knows, “invisible” doesn’t mean “not there”. Many of the writer’s tools are invisible. Most of the awful questions presume that just because I’m a girl, my invisible tools are actually non-existent.
Halfway through this list I was daydreaming about being on a panel, being asked a stupid question along the lines of “Do you practice your scenes with live people?”, inviting the person onstage, offering to practice on them, and then making them bleed until they admitted their stupidity. But that probably wouldn’t fly. Mostly because I can’t do magic and explode people, but my characters can.
So:Q: “Your kid is so creative and imaginative! Have you ever written any of your kid’s stories?”
A: You really think I’m so dumb I’d plagiarize from my own family members?! No. She writes her stories in notebooks, but they’re still HERS and not MINE.
August 16, 2013 — 1:35 PM
lizaoconnor says:
I like you guys. Thanks
August 16, 2013 — 2:21 PM
Miranda says:
I so want to watch/read interviews where these questions are sprung on unsuspecting men!
August 16, 2013 — 3:14 PM
Monica Gallagher says:
This is such a brilliant idea, just like the gendered book cover experiment. I’m a woman who writes/draws comics, and I think some of my best questions beyond “Where’s your boyfriend, is this his stuff?” have ALL started with “As a woman in comics, do you find …” because I’m not a comic book writer, I’m a FEMALE comic book writer. 😉
August 18, 2013 — 9:57 AM
M Harold Page says:
Disappointed you guys didn’t give straight answers to these questions! Would have been interesting…
August 18, 2013 — 4:29 PM
TheE says:
I’m 22 and female. I study literature and writing and have currently published about a dozen short stories and won some prizes. People, guys, namely, mostly tell me that they like my stories because I write very much like a man. „I could’ve sworn a guy wrote this!“ Apparently that’s a compliment.
Another question I get a lot: „As a girl (mostly I’m called a girl despite being 22), why do you write so much about violence?“ And: „Why do you write so much about men?“
August 22, 2013 — 7:09 AM
Ann MG says:
As an editor, how many times do I have to replace “young girl” with “young woman” in some (usually male) writer’s text. Oi. ‘Cuz they’re writing about undergraduates, not six-year-olds.
August 22, 2013 — 10:26 AM
Beth says:
Are you going to quit writing when you have a baby? (Note the “when” not “if.”)
Also, and this is most often said amongst friends, not as a professional review question: It’s so nice that you have your husband to support you while you write!
Ironically, this is something I’ve heard at least three times in the last year since my husband quit his job and I became the sole breadwinner for our family, supporting us with my writing.
August 22, 2013 — 8:14 AM
sesinkhorn says:
“Don’t you think this is a little too deep and philosophical? I mean, don’t teenage girls want to read about stuff that’s, you know, lighter?”
August 22, 2013 — 11:16 AM
Liviania says:
Danielle Steel just wrote a piece about how people ask her all the time, “So, are you still writing?”
http://daniellesteel.net/blog/2013/08/are-you-still-a-brain-surgeon/
Because for women authors, it’s apparently just a hobby, not a job.
August 22, 2013 — 11:55 AM