has there been problems in the past with people picking characters who aren't women to write about?
There have been a LOT of problems with it. Over the years, I've gotten repeated pleas--all denied--to allow the following:
* a canonically male character who, by some means, has been turned into a woman against his will for the author's story * a canonically male character acquiring forced empathy with the women in his circle/world/universe in the author's story * an AU in which a canonically male character was born female in his universe * a canonically male character who has never shown any canonical desire to be female and who has never represented as female wanting to be female in the author's story * a canonically male character being a guy and mulling over the problems that women have being women * a canonically male character remaining male and going from extreme chauvinism to enlightenment in his dealings with women
Last year was the first year that no one asked if they could write about a male character in various guises. And this being the first year that I'm allowing anything beyond canonical cis-women and cis-girls, I'm worried that someone is going to misread the purview and write about Samantha Winchester (who was always female) or Draceana Malfoy, drag queen and pre-op transsexual.
Hence the insane specificity about what's allowed and what isn't, and the stress on "in canon" in every sentence about this.
The repeated requests didn't create the change, though. It was just that last year I became aware of various ficathons that were doing the same sort of thing that Femgen does...only they were all allowing the participants to write about canonical transwomen and men representing as women in canon. I felt that Femgen needed to catch up.
I don't see a way of stating this that isn't problematic. However, there are two reasons why I'm not using politically correct language. First, I'm very concerned with making it ultra-clear what is and what isn't allowed. Because I founded this so that people would write about the female characters as something other than wives and mothers, love interests and sex interests. I don't want that to be lost.
Second--and I think this is a generation gap issue, since I'm in my late forties--I'm not familiar with the politically correct language about transgender people. I only learned what the word "cis-" meant last November, if that gives you an idea. I'm far more afraid of using the language incorrectly and in an unintentionally offensive way than I am of saying, "Look, this is not politically correct language, I get that, but I'm just trying to be specific and inclusive. And if you have any questions, you can ask."
no subject
There have been a LOT of problems with it. Over the years, I've gotten repeated pleas--all denied--to allow the following:
* a canonically male character who, by some means, has been turned into a woman against his will for the author's story
* a canonically male character acquiring forced empathy with the women in his circle/world/universe in the author's story
* an AU in which a canonically male character was born female in his universe
* a canonically male character who has never shown any canonical desire to be female and who has never represented as female wanting to be female in the author's story
* a canonically male character being a guy and mulling over the problems that women have being women
* a canonically male character remaining male and going from extreme chauvinism to enlightenment in his dealings with women
Last year was the first year that no one asked if they could write about a male character in various guises. And this being the first year that I'm allowing anything beyond canonical cis-women and cis-girls, I'm worried that someone is going to misread the purview and write about Samantha Winchester (who was always female) or Draceana Malfoy, drag queen and pre-op transsexual.
Hence the insane specificity about what's allowed and what isn't, and the stress on "in canon" in every sentence about this.
The repeated requests didn't create the change, though. It was just that last year I became aware of various ficathons that were doing the same sort of thing that Femgen does...only they were all allowing the participants to write about canonical transwomen and men representing as women in canon. I felt that Femgen needed to catch up.
I don't see a way of stating this that isn't problematic. However, there are two reasons why I'm not using politically correct language. First, I'm very concerned with making it ultra-clear what is and what isn't allowed. Because I founded this so that people would write about the female characters as something other than wives and mothers, love interests and sex interests. I don't want that to be lost.
Second--and I think this is a generation gap issue, since I'm in my late forties--I'm not familiar with the politically correct language about transgender people. I only learned what the word "cis-" meant last November, if that gives you an idea. I'm far more afraid of using the language incorrectly and in an unintentionally offensive way than I am of saying, "Look, this is not politically correct language, I get that, but I'm just trying to be specific and inclusive. And if you have any questions, you can ask."
Does that clarify matters? I hope?