What about the nature of the responses she got? The way the critiques of her writing were VERY OBVIOUSLY gender coded? It’s not even about whether or not its “harder” or not, its about the assumptions being made and how the perception of her writing style even changed based purely on whether the agents thought she was…

You obviously spent a lot of time sighing and not a lot of time actually processing. As is evidenced by your completely privileged and tone-deaf response.

“Even fifty agents. The query process is random as hell [...]”

Dude, as a fellow male, let me try to put this in perspective for you so you can understand where everyone is coming from: you’re a douchebag and you’re talking out your ass. Hope this helps.

If you look in the dictionary, you’ll find this quoted under “mansplaining.”

Your field is non-fiction, which is a completely different set of criteria, as I know because I worked for a non-fiction publisher on the edit/acq side and now write fiction. So I have to wonder what your motivation was in commenting on this post at all.

So...we’ve got two male writers - one who works in environmental advocacy and one who is a science writer and illustrator - commenting on the fiction writing experiences of a woman. Thanks, guys. Helpful.

Actually the commenter I responded to showed his contempt for women by dismissing our claims of sexism.

Thanks for your perspective, but it feels like you bypassed a major point. The gender of those in the publishing business doesn’t matter—it’s their attitude towards male vs. female writers in assessing who even GETS a “first-step” response. I wouldn’t be surprised if women are just as gender-biased as men. It’s not…

“I’m a member of the privileged majority of this profession (not female) benefiting from sexism and sighed for at least the ten minutes it took me to read this piece. I would be completely deflated for sighing so long should I have not been full of hot air in the first place. I am taking one person’s chronicled…

men tend to be flustered: “oh, I’m sorry. I thought— this whole time I guess I was thinking you were a man. Uh, not that it matters.

My name is traditionally masculine, but it’s also a very popular girl’s name; people still assume that I’m a man until I show up or call them and god I love the surprise they can’t even hide. I get such personal glee out of it.

my parents gave me a very masculine name— in fact I have only, in my 27 years of existence, even heard of two other women with my particular name— and when I apply to jobs and correspond electronically I don’t give any indication that I am, in fact, female. It’s a little ongoing experiment of mine. People’s reactions…

hey, could you guys perhaps do better research before you post? Just an example, iColorama S for iOS is NOT free today....but keep up the good work

hey, could you guys perhaps do better research before you post? Just an example, iColorama S for iOS is NOT free…

I love salads, but this line was pure poetry.

I weigh about 135 now and I am one of those girls who wants to lose 5 - 1olbs....let me tell you why!

Whenever we need to partner up at CrossFit, the same woman always finds me and we partner. I like her 50% of the time and loathe her the other half. She is OBSESSED with giving her weight, and talking about weight in terms of numbers and just weight in general. “Oh no, I’m not sure I’ll be able to squat 130 lbs…

Errrrrr...Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes ever to walk the planet and is a solid wall of muscle. I don’t think her 160 lbs is comparable even in the slightest to Amy Schumer’s or Christina Hendrick’s 160 lbs. They are all beautiful women but...that comparison is nonsensical.

I hear you. But I’m one of those women who weighs 135 pounds and wants to lose weight because I’m barely 5’2. For me, 135 pounds is about 10 pounds past where I feel comfortable.

I KNOW. The guy cheated on her, and very publicly, too! He’s a douchebag.