Welcome to Wednesday Links! It is getting very warm here in the Northeast and the underboob sweat is upon us. It’s definitely time to break out the window unit and a good book.
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While I’m not a huge fan of Jennifer Aniston (in terms of her movie/TV career), I’m loving the blog she recently wrote for The Huffington Post on the media’s obsession with women’s bodies:
We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone. Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples. Let’s make that decision consciously, outside of the tabloid noise. We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own “happily ever after” for ourselves.
Her message is so integral to what I love about reading romance novels and, if Aniston ever wants to write one, I’d definitely pick it up.
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REMINDER! The RITA awards ceremony is Saturday, July 16th. If you have a RITA Reader Challenge review you’re still hoping to submit, no reviews will be posted after that date. Also, when turning reviews in, keep in mind that we need to read through it and edit it, so probably sending it in at midnight on the 15th is a little tricky! Any questions, feel free to email me!
Additionally, we will not be hosting a live chat for the awards ceremony this year due to scheduling issues. Sarah will be on a plane! However, we will still host the live stream of the awards.
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For anyone attending San Diego Comic Con this year, Carrie is moderating a panel on romance comics:
Once a staple of the Golden Age, romance comics have faded into the background in recent years, but now they’re making a comeback and tackling a wider variety of love stories than ever before! Carrie Sessarego(Smart Bitches, Trashy Books), Janelle Asselin (Rosy Press publisher), Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Complex, Fresh Romance), Thom Zahler (Love and Capes, Long Distance), and Cecil Castellucci (Shade the Changing Girl, The Plain Janes) discuss both classic and new romance comics, some of comics’ most enduring love stories, and the challenges and joys unique to creating romantic stories in comics!
I would love to go to Comic Con (either San Diego or NYC) one day, but I have a deep hatred of large crowds. MAYBE ONE DAY!
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Lastly, with RWA this week, I thought it was pretty poignant that I stumbled across a blog post by Alyssa Cole: The Economic Impact of Non-Diverse Romance, Part I: The Quality “Problem”:
Now to the point: when the people who are the gatekeepers for romance publishing view submissions from marginalized authors as “less than” from the jump, how are these authors expected to achieve economic equality with their peers? Every book by a black/Asian/gay/disabled romance author shouldn’t have to be above and beyond just to be gain consideration. Although I read some amazing, amazing, amazing books by marginalized authors, they are often self-published, while books that many would consider mediocre are published by top publishers, complete with advances and marketing pushes. All authors have to work hard, but we all know that self-publishing is more time intensive and requires a significant initial investment by the author. Thus, too much of the time, the current state of publishing leaves marginalized authors with the economic options of (a) accepting less money for their work by trad publishers than their white/cis/able-bodied counterparts or (b) having to self-publish within whatever means their current salary allows them.
I don’t think Cole has written a Part II yet because I’m sure she’s a crazy busy woman, but I’m looking forward to her further thoughts.
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Kudos on the Comic Con panel, Carrie! That’s quite the achievement. Take (and post) lots of pictures!
NPR has an interview with a romance cover model posted today. I’m not skilled enough to link it!
I hope Carrie will post a follow up about her panel. I recently finished Love and Capes and LOVED it. Can’t wait to see what Thom Zahler puts out after Long Distance.
I love me some Jennifer Aniston, gotta admit she’s my fashion goddess with her flawless taste in clothes. But if she’s so big on individuality and the right to cheeseburger bloat, why does she allow herself to be photoshopped, airbrushed and buffed to perfection in every photo shoot she does? There’s no way she has no say in the matter. Walk your talk, sis.
I’m not an Aniston fan myself (it’s nothing personal – I’ve never seen any of her movies, and I feel like the only person in America who’s never seen an episode of Friends), but I really like her message. As someone who hasn’t gotten married or had kids, I can’t even begin to guesstimate the amount of rude comments, nosy questions and negative statements I’ve gotten. Some people just refuse to get the fact that, yes, marriage and children are wonderful, but you really can have a great, fulfilling life – and even a happily-ever-after – without a wedding cake and white picket fence.
As I hate large crowds and long distances are too hard for me to walk, I’ll be missing Carrie at ComicCom here in San Diego. Don’t know how long she will be here but it sure would be fun to meet at a decidedly less expensive, less crowded venue. Don’t know either if there are any other SB in San Diego, but wouldn’t a get together be fun?
In relation to the criticism of airbrushed photos, I wonder if people realize that the people who have their photos taken don’t own the image. Jennifer Aniston isn’t the only one criticized for appearing in manipulated images, so this isn’t only a defense of her on this point, though it is a convenient moment to mention it.
The thing is, until the public stops spending money on these types of images and/or otherwise demands un-retouched photos (or at least, photos that aren’t so extensively manipulated), this practice will not change. I see this issue very much as a “blame the victim” kind of thing which unfairly (though probably predictably) detracts from the point Ms Aniston was attempting to make. Instead of saying, “She’s right” and taking her seriously and looking at the ways everyone feeds into a culture which condones the treatment she’s endured, saying “But she’s a hypocrite” is like a get-out-of-jail free card that allows us to brush aside the whole issue of the unrealistic and unfair and ridiculous expectations put on women. How would anyone like to be told you have no right to expect decent behavior from paparazzi, or expect others to exercise restraint when it comes to questions regarding your plans to reproduce because your skin was retouched in your high school yearbook or you used a filter on your Instagram selfie?
As an aside, there are others in the industry – hair & make up artists, for example – who are also against the extensive manipulation of images under the argument that it’s a false representation of their work. As yet, though, a critical mass of people demanding change hasn’t made a dent in this practice.
Judging by the blame the victim response I’ve seen to Ms Aniston’s open letter, change remains a long way off.
More than one of my photos for high school were airbrushed decades ago.
What I take is this: we have just got to stop judging people by their appearance. Whether it is what Hillary wears as she campaigns or what Jennifer looks like without cosmetics or why women dye their hair that post-menopausal shade of blonde, a person’s appearance belongs to the person and is none of anyone else’s business.
Trillions of dollars are spent in an industry whose sole purpose is to make women feel like a less than unless women fall into that con artistry and buy their products.
Women get to choose. Always. If awoman wants to use cosemetics etc let it be because the woman loves it. Not because she was somehow shamed into it.
It also has to start with us women.
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