How To Suppress Women's Writing / Joanna Russ

2007-09-19T01:38:58Z

195.8.168.252:

''How To Suppress Women's Writing'' is an essay published by [[Joanna Russ]] in [[1983]], which she describes as "a sketch of an analytic tool: patterns in the suppression of women's writing" (prologue, p. 5).

It is a brilliant book, containing a mine of information and a wealth of insight into sexist tactics in literature, covering the vicious circle that operates from the prohibitions and material conditions that prevent women from writing, to the obstacles in publishing, the social conditions that meet authors who have published, and the impact on readers.

The Afterword "is poetic justice" (p. 135): Russ addresses her own suppression of writers of colour from the purview of ''How to Suppress Women's Writing'' and describes the consequences of her ignorance of their work.

=== Related Reading ===

At the start of a [[What Are We Fighting For? Sex, Race, Class, and the Future of Feminism|later work]], Joanna Russ refers to [[Dale Spender]]'s essay, ''[[Women of Ideas: What Men Have Done to Them]]'', published in [[1982]]:
: Many feminists have suspected that women's achievements in general and previous feminist movements in particular have been edited out of critical history, but only in Spender's book have I found this suspicion substantiated by an accumulation of evidence (more than eighty cases) that didn't allow me to say, "Oh, sure, we all know that," but instead, ''"Omigod, I didn't know it was that bad."''

Spender's work in ''Women of Ideas'' precedes and complements Russ's, in adopting a chronological study of specific instances that illustrate the same patterns which Russ began to analyse independently. Dale Spender situates the suppression of women's ideas by men as a function and a result of the [[sexual harassment]] used to oppress women as a class.

[[Jeanne Gomoll]] wrote "An Open Letter to Joanna Russ" in [[1987]] in which she said about the dismissal of women's contribution to SF in the 70s:
: I think I've just discovered another strategy to suppress women's writing (...) "They wrote it, but they were a fad."

The [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8720/letter.htm letter] contains an eloquent attack a
1000
gainst the men's forgetfulness about science fiction [[fandom]].

== External Links ==
* [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8720/letter.htm Fanthology '87: An Open Letter to Joanna Russ], by [[Jeanne Gomoll]]

[[Category:Nonfiction works]]
[[Category:1983 publications]]
[[Category:Works of feminist theory]]
[[Category:Works of criticism]]

Feminist SF Wiki:Suggestions

2007-09-18T23:47:58Z

195.8.168.252: Replacing page with 'Suggestions'

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How To Suppress Women's Writing / Joanna Russ

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