Anyone who doesn't buy into current fads about "gender flexibility" is automatically an old-fuddy duddy in her view. Somehow, the concept of having respectful disagreement on these issues eludes her.
Rape culture subtext in Firefly? She needs to skip a few womyn's study classes and watch some news reports on what has been doing down in Rotherham, England or northern Iraq.
I find it tragically ironic how closed minded Progressives really are.
In the comments, someone said in essence that the nerds who were picked on in the 1920s and 30s and 40s built a treehouse and wanted to keep others out as they’d been “kept out” by society.
Actually they may have built a treehouse and didn’t want to see it transformed into a soapboxer racer or a fishing boat just because “that’s what the cool kids are into this year”.
Why should a legacied institution like this bend to suit contemporary and fleeting whims? Why should readers of all sexual backgrounds be forced to celebrate “queer” centric (not just books that make reference to bisexual encounters or such, but radical gay authored and focused) texts?
And others in the comment bemoan the lack of panel interest in “slash”(porn) fanfiction. It’s not a sex/porn conference. If one wants to read BDSM tales of Sherlock Holmes and his “gay” partner, well there’s the internetz for that.
To maintain a “credible” stance bequeathing the Hugo awards, perhaps it should remain “stuffy”.
Should the Academy Awards start including various “Best African-American Actor” and “Best Queer Documentary” categories? How about “Best Youtube short feature”? “Best flash animation gif”?
Printed matter will outlive the creators’ lifetime and perhaps be picked up by readers in subsequent eras. Not so old website content. Fail to “resubscribe” or otherwise “abandon” your weblog and even the free sites deactivate your account. The information and text that people create is more ephemeral than ever.
And some may have encountered a snobbery against “self-published” works but those who claim to be successful and are unwilling to take it to a larger audience will be ignored when it comes to establishing who a generation’s significant contemporaries are. If you can present a track record of sales, convincing a publisher to release a compendium or future publication should not be as difficult a task as just showing someone your raw notes.