Kendra+and+Reo

[]

Abstract: This article is about the bias that favors male writers, causing female writers to be taken less seriously. Fiction that are written by women are taken less seriously, regardless of the quality of the piece. Jonathan Franzen's latest novel, //Freedom//, is said to be the next "great American novel." Jodi Picoult, a famous female writer, addressed this with a question: If a woman had written this book, would it have been sidelined rather than celebrated? The article goes on and talks about how it is a tacitly accepted attitude that film and novels produced with a female market in mind often don't receive the recognition that they deserve.

Questions: 1)Do you think this bias does exist? If so, what do you think is the cause of it? 2)What do you think about Picoult's question: If a woman had written the book, would it have been sidelined rather than celebrated? 3)Would it be possible to get rid of this bias completely? If so, how? 4)Did this article alter your view of novels written by female authors in any way? 5)How come knowing the gender of a novel's author can change a reader's opinion on the book? ** 6)Why is it that women's words are less credible? What factors influences this stereotype? ** 7)Emma Young, the writer for this article, states in the last sentence, “**Emma Young is a freelance writer”** ** what does she mean by it? **

Reo: It is sad that this bias still exists in the life of fiction even today. Critics and audiences should not base the quality of a novel or film on who it was written by, but the actual quality itself. It is upsetting and dissapointing to hear that critics often dismiss pieces that have a female voice and a female audience. This is a very serious issue that women should not have to deal with. It is interesting how people see novels written by me as neutral, while they can only see novels written by women as feminine and not as important.This preconception that lingers handicaps women writers to this day. Picoult made good point about Jonathan Franzen's new novel. I think that there definitely was a big possibility of the novel to be dismissed if it were written by a woman. It is very unfortunate that women novelists still have to face this inequality and injustice to this day.

Kendra: ** Women in today's society still face numerous gender discrimination issues. It is hard to accept the fact that even literature works are still being judged due to the author's gender. People still hold doubtful skeptics on the voices and opinions of women through their novels. Does the quality of a story plot really differ if it is written by a man or a woman? Not really. Everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and behaviors and women's expression through writing should not hold a difference to men's work or writing. I agree that talent, as Emma Young says it, should be admired and shared, no matter the gender. **