>> I think that it's partly that and partly because women tend to show up in genre writing, while men tend to focus on mainstream. Genre fiction is often not taken as seriously as mainstream fiction and is not considered "worth" reviewing. <<
I've never really understood that slant, but then, most mainstream fiction bores me. A simple solution here would be to look at the categories in action, and portion out reviews based on size of categories. It's not hard to find reviewers interested in particular fields or topics -- I've often worked venues that sorted that way, both as a reviewer and an editor. You get better reviews handing people things they typically like.
>> And while there are a lot of women reviewers in the blogosphere, most of the reviewers for papers and magazines are older white men who have had their jobs for some time. <<
Hence the need for more diversity in reviewers. On the bright side, cyberspace gives everyone else a voice away from the mainstreamers.
Thoughts
Date: 2014-02-27 03:50 am (UTC)I've never really understood that slant, but then, most mainstream fiction bores me. A simple solution here would be to look at the categories in action, and portion out reviews based on size of categories. It's not hard to find reviewers interested in particular fields or topics -- I've often worked venues that sorted that way, both as a reviewer and an editor. You get better reviews handing people things they typically like.
>> And while there are a lot of women reviewers in the blogosphere, most of the reviewers for papers and magazines are older white men who have had their jobs for some time. <<
Hence the need for more diversity in reviewers. On the bright side, cyberspace gives everyone else a voice away from the mainstreamers.