#feministrolemodel

[lovelydrunkensailor]

Cheers to the woman who taught me how to cook grand meal or potato pancakes when times were thin. Cheers to the woman who taught me to be fearless, be that taking apart a vacuum or spinning on ice in a empty parking lot (to see how it feels like and how to react when it happens for real). Cheers to the woman who gave me the love of love of long car rides with CBC or books on tape, and to embrace spontaneity. Cheers Momsy! I love you more than I could express so I will just keep telling you every day #birthgiver #happymothersday #bestfriend #coolwoman #sorryforhurtingyourvagina (that one is really just to make Jason feel uncomfortable and rol his eyes) #sorryforgightingwithmysiblings #sorryfortotallingthecar #greyhairdontcare #feministrolemodel #playinghookeygoingforadrive (at Drunken Sailor)

[womenscifiandhegemony-blog]

Kij Johnson is a sci-fi/fantasy writer who is an H.P. Lovecraft scholar. 

I listened to a podcast in which she was featured – Episode 217 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast – in which she discusses the relative absence of women in H.P. Lovecraft’s works. Johnson loves his work, but has been applying a more critical lens to Lovecraft since honing in on this pattern. As quoted in this Wired article, Johnson explains: “The only times that Lovecraft ever uses women, they tend to be very negative, very stereotypical,” she says. “They’re evil old grannies or the scared farmer’s wife, but even those are so minor. It’s as though he existed in a world without women at all.” Upon reflection, I don’t remember any key female characters in either “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” or “The Horror at Red Hook.” The most memorable one is the dead fish ancestor in “Innsmouth,” and the slayed bride of Suydam in “Red Hook,” both dead/unspeaking characters. I think that Johnson is correct in her observations. 

 In response, Johnson decided to write a spin-off series of Lovecraft’s “Dreamlands,” called “The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe,” which tells the stories through the P.O.V. of a very fit and formidable older woman. Johnson is confronting hegemonic representations of women in Lovecraft’s works by re-imagining counter-hegemonic alternatives.