Girls in a Boy’s Club: Tips for Poets

Elisa had a post about the excellent manifesto, How to Be a Woman in Any Boy’s Club. As someone who has worked in a few boy’s clubs (working as a tech manager for a decade before my foray into writing) I will say that I think poetry has some of the subtlest but also most difficult sexism I have ever run into, which makes it more frustrating. Sure, you’re welcome to the party, but only if you’re this kind of girl – and even then you’re almost statistically guaranteed less in terms of awards, grants, publication, and reviews. As I commented on Elisa’s blog, a lot of the problem is summed up in the headline I saw recently: “Women more educated, still making less than men.” In the end, we can work harder, but we still get…less.

I identified with this essay quite a bit, as I grew up with three brothers and no sisters, and automatically gravitated towards hanging out with guys for most of my life, took up stereotypically “guyish” habits, etc. I’m not a tomboy by any stretch of the imagination, but as you can see with my poetic fascination with robots, comic books, anime, etc, I definitely felt (and feel) comfortable in the quintessential fortresses of male culture. Anyway, this made me think about what I was personally doing to help poetry become less of a boy’s club.

So, since I’m a take-action kind of person, I thought I would post some tips, some action items, for poets to help make the poetry world a little bit less of a boy’s club. (Hint: these tips work equally well for men and women.)
–When you buy a book of poetry, try one by a female! When you review a book of poetry, try a book of poetry by a female.
–When you review said book of poetry by a female, try to eliminate any references to Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, or Elizabeth Bishop. I’m so tired of reading comparisons to those three women poets, as if male reviewers haven’t read any other female poets besides those two or three. It just looks lazy, fellas.
–When you have an opportunity to pay readers, have a woman out. Remember, we’re making less money over our whole life span, so cut a sister some slack. Try to remember to invite a woman poet who is not already rolling in dough and awards – that would be extra nice.
–Female poets: start reviewing books. You have something to say about literature and your voice is just as valuable as a male reviewer’s voice. Remember, if you’re not part of the conversation, you’re letting somebody else drive it. Write like your work is something important. Send out like you already know your work is great. Don’t keep everything in an envelope in your desk hoping someone will Emily Dickinson you, because let’s face it, it’s probably not going to happen.
–Don’t automatically laud men who write a lot of sexist poetry. If I have to read one more poem comparing a woman’s body part to something edible…are we allowed to call male writers out when they compare women to animals, lessening women to the sum of their body parts, etc? I was just thinking about Tony Hoagland’s poem “The Change” and how it started a discussion of race. What about a similar discussion of sexism in poetry?
–Volunteer for literary magazines or book publishers that promote work by women. I’ve volunteered for The Seattle Review, Silk Road, The Raven Chronicles, and Crab Creek Review, and was amazed at what I learned as a board member, editor, reviewer, etc.

In a totally non-related moment: Interested in gluten-free recipes for creme brulee? Interested in gluten-free Northwest restaurant info? See my newish blog! First post has a lactose-free, gluten-free creme brulee recipe. I plan to chronicle my experiments in gluten-free cooking and restaurant-visiting there.