ext_6150 ([identity profile] gehayi.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] femgenficathon2010-03-16 01:28 am
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Femgenficathon Changes...and a Question

In a few weeks--April 2, 2010, to be precise--it'll be time for Femgen yet again. (Femgenficathon VI. Six years. That's a long time on the Internet.)

A couple of things are changing this year.

1) I think that six months is just too long a deadline. People forget about what's due, forget that they signed up, lose inspiration and enthusiasm, etc. So I've cut the posting dates. The first date that you can post will be July 15; the last date will be July 31. That still gives people three months to write, and a month to two months if you have to worry about things like term papers and finals.

2) Second, I've thought a lot about this for a long time, and I've decided to alter one of the definitions in the ficathon. For the purposes of the ficathon, I've decided to define women as canonically female characters (cis or trans). (Bree from Transamerica, Wanda from Sandman, and so on.)

Disguises, canonical or otherwise, do not count. If the character is, for example, a cop or private detective dressing up as a woman as part of an undercover operation--no. If a boy who, in canon, has to dress up as a girl to attend a certain school because that's what his grandfather wanted--no.

Curses, spells, one-time bodyswap, alien intervention, etc., that involuntarily transform a male character IN CANON into a female form do not count for Femgen unless the character subsequently chooses to embrace this female identity for the duration of canon. If the character is still striving to break the curse and/or turn back into a male--like Ranma, for example--this character is ineligible for Femgen.

If the character alternates IN CANON between representing as a male and representing as a female, this character is not eligible.

Genderswapping male characters into female ones so that you can write about them in this ficathon is absolutely not allowed. Don't bother asking. The answer is NO.

If you have any questions about the character you're interested in that you don't don't feel were covered by the above, please e-mail me and we can talk about it.

Finally--and this is not a change, given that I've been posting quotations from women as prompts for the past five years--I'm hoping that some of you can suggest names of women of color whom I could quote. I'm particularly interested in finding quotable Hispanic or Latina women, quotable Native American women, quotable Asian and Pacific Islander women, and quotable Middle Eastern and African women. I'm looking for people from all times and all areas of the world. I tried to do this last year, but this year, if possible, I'd like to have a richer variety. So I'm asking for suggestions, because it's quite likely that some of you know names that I don't.

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Crossposted to [livejournal.com profile] gehayi

[identity profile] bantha-fodder.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
I am glad that you are explicitly saying that we can write about trans women and cis women. but maybe you could just say that? i am a cis woman, so i am happy to be told to hush by someone else who is perhaps more experienced in thinking about this/more personally impacted, but the way you've expressed it here (OR as canonically male characters that, in their canons, overtly and consistently, by their own choice, represent themselves as women) just feels a bit funny. i know trans women who would balk at being referred to as 'canonically male, representing as women,' is all.

[identity profile] bantha-fodder.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 10:19 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm, okay, I get what you are trying to say. So to clarify, characters who are eligible are cis women, trans women, and men who are consistently presenting as women?

[identity profile] bantha-fodder.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
Ok, so, maybe that is all you need to say? 'eligible characters are cis women, trans women and men who are consistently presenting as women in canon'? i'm sorry to be so persistent, it's just that to me, your original statement read kind of like you were saying that trans women were men presenting as women.

I understand that you're worried about both a) creating a loophole re: canon and b) using problematic language, but I do think that the language on your original post is also problematic.

Just as a side note, my reading of Sandman was that Wanda was a trans woman, regardless of pre-operative status. Many trans women choose not to undergo surgery (or take hormones), and that makes them no less women than those who do choose to undergo surgery.

And also also: has there been problems in the past with people picking characters who aren't women to write about? I assume that's what has informed the criteria change, and it sort of boggles me that someone might choose to write about a canonical guy for the femgenficathon...like, why bother? THAT IS WHAT THE REST OF THE INTERNET IS FOR.

[identity profile] bantha-fodder.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I totally understand your insistence on IN CANON. I did wonder what had happened, and that's - yeah. That's not cool, what with that still being about the menz.

I'm not trying to talk about politically correct language, I'm trying to talk about language that is potentially quite insulting and/or incorrect. I think I HAVE suggested a way of framing the criteria in a way that isn't transphobic - I think that as it stands, the language in the criteria IS unintentionally offensive. I know that, especially if the terms are new to you, they can be confusing, and I appreciate that you are worried about causing offense, and I think that now that I have talked to you I understand what you are going for and that you are just trying to be clear (and in no way are you trying to be insulting/offensive/transphobic) but I am saying that you need to make it clear in the criteria that you don't define trans women as 'men presenting as women.'

Actually, thinking about it, I have a simpler suggestion, that I think remains as clear as you want it to be, and removes what I see as the problematic component:

"canonically female characters (both trans and cis) OR as canonically male characters that, in their canons, overtly and consistently, by their own choice, represent themselves as women."

I think adding "(both trans and cis)" makes it clear that there is no implication that trans women = men who present as women (which is really the thing I think is potentially unintentionally offensive).

I would also suggest that allowing men who are crossdressers in to the criteria is not necessarily the correct way to go, as it only exacerbates the idea that trans women = crossdressing men, whereas the reality is that crossdressing men are still men (and therefore I believe inappropriate in a ficathon about women). But I understand that you are trying to keep up with other communities, so, you know. :o)

[identity profile] bantha-fodder.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much. I think it reads really well, and I think all the bits that don't count are quite clear. Don't fret! It all looks good! And thanks for being cool.

[identity profile] elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 10:02 am (UTC)(link)
Other Women's Voices (http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/) has quotes from women before 1700, scrolling through the list I can see Latina, Asian and Middle Eastern sources.

[identity profile] blueinkedpalm.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm thrilled both that you're rerunning the ficathon and that you've expanded the rules to be inclusive of all female-identified characters. I think reading the femgenficathon entries is always wonderful, so thank you!

I defaulted in the femgenficathon the last time I participated. Would I still be eligible to sign up this year, or do you have an atonement process like Yuletide's New Year's Resolutions?

[identity profile] blueinkedpalm.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

Here's a second question, and I hope asking it isn't annoying for the reason of pushing the original character boundaries you have wisely set. Only canonical female characters as protagonists (thank goodness for no Sues), and I'd like to ask about the OC status of female videogame player-made characters. For example, in games like this older one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur's_Gate), it is canon that the player character participated in certain events, but the player designs the character themselves including gender. I have a feeling the answer is probably 'yes', but would stories centering on female player-made characters of games like this be barred for being too close to OFCs? (There would also be canonically female-identified non-player-characters for femgenficathon writers to use as protagonists.)

[identity profile] blueinkedpalm.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the answer! Yes, I've certainly seen Mary-Sueness getting into characters designed by the player as written by the player.

[identity profile] squirrelarmy.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Here's a link for some good quotes by Chinese women: Click here! (http://thinkexist.com/quotes/top/nationality/chinese/gender/women/)

Also, are quotes from books allowed? (As in, not said in a speech, etc, but rather written as a description or a quote from a character.) Because I have many books about China that would have some lovely ones, I imagine.

[identity profile] hungrytiger11.livejournal.com 2010-03-16 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Mary Brave Bird (has also been published under the name Mary Crow Dog) is a Lakota Indian who wrote her memoir "Lakota Woman" focussing on her interactions with the AIM movement in the 1970s, including the second battle of Wouned Knee and the Trail of Broken Treaties.

You might also try looking at the the national women's hall of fame (http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewAll), if you haven't already. I know that all the ones on that list are American but many are of Indian, latino, and pacific Islander backgrounds.

Also, she is not a racial minority, but Esther Morris has always been a favorite famous woman of mine. She's sometimes known as the "Mother of Suffrage" for her work in getting women the vote in Wyoming, the first government to allow women to vote. She also became the first female Justice of the Peace that same year, a post she held for a long time.
swissmarg: Mrs Hudson (Default)

[personal profile] swissmarg 2010-03-17 07:28 am (UTC)(link)
For quotes and other inspiration, have a look at this blog (?): Women of Color You Need to Know "a collection of photos, links, stories, poetry and news about women of color". http://woc365.tumblr.com/

For the African ladies

[identity profile] igrockspock.livejournal.com 2010-04-03 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
Have you seen Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Danger of a Single Story (http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html)? It is a beautiful and fascinating talk, and if you look over to the right side of the page, there is a link to an interactive transcript for quoting purposes.