Media representation: more argh for your arghing dollar

[laurashapiro]

Why Is Television Losing Women Writers? -- This is an interesting article that in my view buries incredibly relevant points halfway through. For instance, though women currently make up only 15% of television writers, the article goes on to mention parenthetically that about 10 percent of working writers are minorities, according to the WGA, and that number has not budged for many years.

And it takes 3/4 of the article before you get to the arguments about who television is made FOR, anyway, in terms of desired ad markets (hint: it ain't women).

The other issue relevant to fandom is, of course, what this means for female characters. The SDSU study found the number of female characters has dropped from from a high of 43 percent in the 2007-2008 season to 41 percent in the 2010-2011 season. Not a big drop, it's true, but every little bit hurts.

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Meanwhile, there's literature. Specifically, books for young adults. Some of whom are gay. But don't think for a moment that they get to read about gay kids. According to two writers trying to get a YA novel published, that isn't happening: Authors Say Agents Try to “Straighten” Gay Characters in YA. Well, that's just dandy.