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[locustwinged]

why do i feel like if a man unironically sinks tons of passion and time into some creative work he came up with, he’s heralded as a genius and so clever and interesting but if a woman does the same thing she’s brushed off as pathetic, self-involved, and possibly crazy?

Comments

[zsomeone]

Because we're living in a "get back in the kitchen" society, apparently. Fucking bullshit.

[sadeyedartist]

Shouldn't she be home with the children?

(She doesn't have any children)

Shouldn't she WANT to have children?

(She does not want children or puppies.)

Heartless bitch!

(...even though she rescues street kids from the gutters in her spare time.)

Teenagers, aggghhghghghg. Hormonal zombies from the other side. Best to be avoided.

(Back to the main point, she is ambitious and knows that having kids would compromise her vision, so she has decided that in an age of birth control she would put her vision first.)

Heartless bitch! How could she put anything before The Children?!

(Well, her husband doesn't think she is worthless; he's so and so, who just won the xyz loriette prize.)

OH M GEE, SHE'S MARRIED TO HIM?!?! HE IS AWESOME. SHE MUST BE SO PROUD OF HIM. SHE NEEDS TO BAKE HIM A CAKE!!!

(She doesn't bake.)

Heartless bitch!...

[wikdsushi]

Because we live in, frankly, a neo-Victorian society. Once the Industrial Era came about and the middle class was established, leisure time became more common, as did creative pursuits, at least for men. Women still had significant home duties to attend, but men could easily write, paint, take up music, or otherwise express themselves creatively. The women that did were usually upper class, and often expected to be little more than pretty dolls, sex toys, and mothers. When they took up creative pursuits other than the sanctioned needle arts (which I personally love, mind--they are VERY valid crafts), they were often seen as little more than children imitating the grown-up men.

In short, we're seen as pathetic and selfish, whereas men receive accolades, due to paternalistic attitudes lingering from previous centuries in which middle-class men were granted leisure to pursue self-expression, and upper-class women were denigrated for doing the very same thing. ("That singular anomaly, the lady novelist.")

[locustwinged]

Wow. I never thought of it in that light.

On Tumblr, I have at times been met with accusations of being self-indulgent and socially maladjusted (often voiced in an ableist way) any time I express a sense of accomplishment over my original work, and yet I don't see what I do as being too much different from what a lot of male creators are doing. It's like, a guy can pour his heart and soul into his creations, and he's a visionary and everyone wants to be like him, but if a woman does the same thing, she needs help.

[wikdsushi]

Ugh. This is why I prefer to talk about my writing in fannish circles, whether the primarily female parts of fandom like you find on LJ, or in science fiction fandom, where encouragement is pretty widely given. You might want to look into a writing group similar to the organization Broad Universe. It's a feminist SF/F organization, and while not exclusively female, it strongly encourages female creators. I'm lucky to have a heavily female and feminist SF/F/H writing community in my area, but I know most groups tend to be guy-oriented.

[locustwinged]

Oooough, what I wouldn't give for a group like that in my area. I will look into Broad Universe, though. The thing I'm working on is sorta more modern-style occult fiction than straight sci-fi, but yeah.