Earlier in the year I wrote this post after I had found out that a couple of extremely popular m/m romance and erotica authors writing as gay men were actually women.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I couldn’t give a flying fuck if the books I like are written by gay or straight, boys or girls, genderqueer, trans, etc because quality is all that matters to me.
However, if an author has been deliberately misleading, if not down right dishonest, about their gender and sexuality that’s when I call bullshit.
Today, I’m calling one particular author out. Oh, yeah. I. Am. Pissed.
Oh, don’t worry about me landing in the shit. I’m sticking with my policy of not naming names.
I’m just going to play them at their own make-believe game and talk about them as an hypothetical example.
I can’t possible get blamed if you all guess who the author in question is then, right?
*smiles sweetly*
So…
What if an author creates an elaborate bio and life around their pseud/persona?
What if an author hires a gay model/actor to ‘play’ them online? Posting photos of ‘their’ so-called life?
What if an author gets this gay model/actor to go to a book signing event as ‘their’ persona?
What if an author even goes to the extent of writing articles for well-known GLBTQ and review sites about ‘their’ life as a gay man, ‘their’ coming out story, etc?
What if one of the people an author works with finds out the truth and calls ‘them’ on it?
What if an author justifies ‘their’ actions by saying it was marketing strategy in order for ‘them’ to appear more ‘legitimate’ to readers?
What if the person who works with an author cuts ties completely because of their outrage at this betrayal to and blatant exploitation of the GLBTQ communities?
What if the person never discusses what happened and despite the struggle it causes within because of their own family situation?
What if the person goes on to be successful in their own right?
What if an author appears to react to some of the suspicions now surrounding ‘them’ by entering into a working and life partnership with another author?
What if rumour mill begins to churn madly about the possibility that an author’s new partner is actually ‘them’ writing under another pseud?
What if an author gets jealous of the popularity of the person who used work with ‘them’?
What if an author accuses the person of using ‘them’ as a launch pad and tells the person they should be more grateful?
What if an author goes so far as to say the person is only interested in GLBTQ issues in order to look like an ally and thus make more money?
And, what if the person, who has a gay family member, is flabbergasted and hurt by this accusation?
Yeah.
It makes you think, doesn’t it.
It makes you think about how hard you would punch this fucking bitch author in the face and make her life a living hell.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Kris + Books = Good. *Sometimes*. 
*pats* There, there, Ingrid.
*hiccup* thank you Kris
I feel better now
Hi Kris, no trouble whatsoever! I read all the mentioned posts and am now up-to-date:)
Women have spent hundreds of years posing as men in order to get their writing into print. As long as women are not considered good enough for a male audience, this will happen.
iibnf: “Women have spent hundreds of years posing as men in order to get their writing into print. As long as women are not considered good enough for a male audience, this will happen.”
I agree. I also think, though, that this perception changes when you take into consideration the society, culture, religious and political framework, and, of course, the subject matter of the work and the genre.
For example, 10 – 20 years ago, a female author writing in the gay rom and lit genre were specifically told by publishers that they would not get printed if they didn't have a male pseud.
Times have changed, especially in the last 5 – 10 years, with the internet and then with epublishing. Now the gender and sexuality of an author is not as major of a concern, although, yes, there may be some truth to the claims that there is a certain market advantage to have a ambiguous or male pseud.
However, I have heard nothing about any author, particularly within the last 5 years when the likes of J L Langley and Carol Lynne have been amazingly popular openly female authors of gay fiction, ever being told to take a male pseud. Maybe I'm just being naive about the subject, but I find this type of situation highly doubtful.
To turn this topic on it's head… I wonder how many male authors have been told to take on female pseuds when it comes to writing and publishing het romance. That would be interesting to know.
To turn this topic on it's head… I wonder how many male authors have been told to take on female pseuds when it comes to writing and publishing het romance. That would be interesting to know.
I think Victor Banis has talked about having to do that back in the day.
These woman who pretend to be male authors really think they'll sell better if they do whatever they can to make their readers believe they are really men?
Wow, they have a lot of time on their hands to go to such lengths.
But then again, women authors have been pretending to be men for years, especially before the 20th century.
Chris: You're right! I think he talked about it in the interview he did at Wave's.
KBC: “But then again, women authors have been pretending to be men for years, especially before the 20th century.”
True. See my comment to iibnf.
wow! you just totally ruined _____'s life. What gave you the right to tattle their secret? Who appointed you the masked author to hurt someone by exposing them? Wow! You are a viscious, cold hearted, vile person! Karma it comes around and you deserve nothing but the best!
Yea because you're so righteous miss nasty anonymous poster?
No one ruined anyone's life and frankly I can't wait for karma to bite you in your vicious nasty ass. Don't think that you do anything but prove Kris' point with your post.
You want to say something real? Feel free to come to me and then we'll see what you really have to say. So pathetic and spineless. This comment just goes to show what a GOOD thing exposing this deception was.
Anon: I didn't ruin anyone's career. People will continue reading his work, especially if they are fans like you obviously are.
I didn't name anyone in the post. In fact, I didn't 'reveal' anything until AJ did his 'come clean' post after which I provided all the links.
Nor am I an author or an aspiring author.
Who I am is a person in the m/m community who, despite having known that AJ was born female for close to a year, eventually got tired of hearing about instances of his offline bullying some of which I believed, and still believe, were hypocritical given the extent of his gay male persona. I then blogged about how wrong the entire situation was.
As to Karma… she's been kicking my arse since I was a teen, which will apparently please you no end.
Wow Kris, from Anon's statement you have the power! I shudder in fear from you!
KBC: Sure you do.
To those following this thread, I want to share a link with you to a great article about GLBTQ and cultural appropriation and the impact it has: http://www.womanist-musings.com/2011/11/there-is-no-excuse-for-glbt-or-cultural.html
I hope people take the time to read it. This outlines one of the reasons why a number of people are particularly upset about this situation.
Here's what anon doesn't get: it's not that the author used a male pseudonym that bothers most folks. What a lot of us have issues with is the elaborateness of the ruse. This author gave interviews to GLBT publications and blogged about his own life as a gay man. (I am using the male pronoun because the author has indicated that preference.) The author even shared his coming out story. I don't think using a pseudonym of the opposite sex is necessarily exploitative, but those other things are. Add the fabricated romance with another autho, and it all boils down to lies and exploitation. That is wrong.
Then, the act of bringing a coauthor's teenage relative into the situation is just reprehensible.
Is the author's life ruined? No. Readers may be lost, but I bet this attention might bring him some new readers. I am sure he is very unhappy right now, but it was his lies and his treatment of othrs that put all this in motion.
Good article, which said a few things which I thought about too. And what as Eyre said upset me too
Eyre comments are good, at least somebody is seeing the facts. I must point out that DJ Manly and AJ Llewellyn are not the same person. Manly has been around muchlonger. I remember being with Manly in chats years and years ago and at that time Llewellyn wasn't heard of. I believe they live in different countries.
As for everything that is posted on the web it has been a background rumor for a long time. Zillions of people knew that Llewellyn was a woman, so why was a single person singled out as the guilty party who outed her. Because there was a disagreement of some kind? I feel sorry for the former coauthor. The rumors have been flying for some years. It was only a matter of time before someone took it public. Reading her coming clean article the lies continue. If readers are lapping it all up they're stupid and all Llewellyn is doing is making herself look like a idiot in they eyes of the people she writes for. On the other hand as a reader I don't care who is behind the words. If a book looks interesting I will buy it weather it be giraffe fish male or female.
Sharon: “I must point out that DJ Manly and AJ Llewellyn are not the same person.”
Thank you for this, Sharon. If this is the case, I certainly owe DJ a major apology for perpetuating any rumours. I also hope that DJ doesn't get caught up in the backlash to this situation. That would make her/him one of the few real victims in this controversy.
I have to admit that I have been surprised and disillusioned by what has seemed to me to be the willful acceptance of the appropriation of GLBTQ identities. I just can't understand it at all.
To those following this thread, I want to share another link to an excellent post by author Damon Suede about one of the main issues at the heart of this controversy:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/705444-author-s-gender-does-it-matter?page=1#comment_39677307
Thanks for that, Kris – I apparently stopped getting notifications on that post.
The comments on today's new post at Dear Author are also very interesting and thought-provoking.
http://dearauthor.com/features/industry-news/tuesday-midday-news-aj-llewellyn-admits-adopting-male-persona-despite-being-female
I have trouble giving credibility to something that an obvious enemy says about another person. There are two sides to every story. Aside from what this person has done or not done, we ALL make mistakes. This is how we learn. When I am tempted to judge someone, I consider the wisdom contained in this quote:
“And always remember:
When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.” ~ Wayne Dyer
Arelene: “There are two sides to every story. Aside from what this person has done or not done, we ALL make mistakes.”
Good point, Arlene, and something that I will definitely cop on the chin as well as hope that this will be taken on board by everyone involved in the current situation.
You're holding up remarkably well, Kris. It's not as if this hasn't been widely known for a long time but you know what they say about shooting the messenger!
Amazing to see so many different interpretations of this news & thanks for the Damon link. Love Sparky–always a voice of reason (unless Beloved is in the kitchen).
Juni: You mean that's why people hate me or are avoiding me??
Okay. You have a family member who is coming out, so that gives you the right to police someone else's gender identity.
Yup, that's always a good excuse for getting in someone else's business.
Anonymous because I don't need your brand of righteousness pointed my direction too. Or Ms Somerville's.
Anon: Firstly, you have the right to your opinion, which is why I have never stopped people from making anonymous comments nor do I moderate the comments.
Secondly, it is not I who have the family member who came out. I am not the former associate of the author, despite what some may claim.
Thirdly, this was never about questioning gender identity.
This was about the appropriation of a GLBTQ identity, which, as far as I'm aware from the research I've done and from the answers received to my naive questions by some very generous gender queer people, are two entirely different issues.
Over the past day or so, I have been lucky enough to have a Twitter buddy very generously share her experiences in being gender queer. It has been enlightening to say the least.
It the interests of helping others understand, please go and read these articles:
http://rowanmcbride.blogspot.com/2009/03/note-to-someone-who-might-be-my-sixteen.html
http://rhianonetzweiler.blogspot.com/2011/11/ones-and-zeros-breaking-past-binary.html#more
Anon: “Karma it comes around and you deserve nothing but the best!”
Yes it does. And it wasn't too long ago Lewellen was throwing around labels like homophobic bigot. Karma does, indeed, suck.
I will add that I am, categorically, female. And while I sometimes tell my physical therapist I think I'm really a gay man with a vagina, I've never identified myself as such in my author persona. (My RL persona's a girl, too, just to be really, really clear).
VJ: “Karma does, indeed, suck.”
It sure does.
“I will add that I am, categorically, female. And while I sometimes tell my physical therapist I think I'm really a gay man with a vagina, I've never identified myself as such in my author persona. (My RL persona's a girl, too, just to be really, really clear).”
Thanks for being honest. 🙂
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pingback: A J Llewellyn – a study in deception » Rants and Ramblings By An Old Bag