In “VIDA Counts The Rumpus” two female writers from VIDA: Women in Literary Arts “crunch the numbers and let us know how The Rumpus is doing in the gender disparity department.” The verdict: we’re kinda sexist, but not as sexist as most places; that’s what the numbers say at least.
But what do the people–the women, us motherfuckers–behind the numbers say? I said the following in the comments section of “VIDA Counts The Rumpus,” and I repost it now as a suggested addendum to the piece.
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Dear Susan and Cate and Rumpus readers and all women and all men and everyone in-between:
While I find the mission and effort behind this article important, the reductionist quality of this list fails to capture the full picture of how women are represented at The Rumpus. Now, I’m the first to play the numbers game and expose the sexist literary world for what it really is and bemoan to my girlfriends about the lack of [insert what you think is lacking here: tampons, for instance].
But the VIDA numbers don’t address what I did last night.
Last night I missed The Rumpus Summer Shakedown co-hosted and co-produced by Rumpus regular contributor and powerhouse Rozalia Jovanovic. I missed seeing Jessi Klein and Sara Marcus and Corrina Bain in New York. I missed The Monthly Rumpus in San Francisco and couldn’t see one of my favorite writers and friends, the unmatched Katie Crouch. Last night/this morning I worked until 4am on the Funny Women column, our 31st, for today, written by the talented Jennine Capó Crucet. Last night I talked to senior literary editor Julie Greicius about sending Rumpus Women, Volume I to the printer. Here are some numbers for that: 20 female contributors, 2 female editors, 1 first book by The Rumpus Paper Internets.
VIDA, I think the work you do is awe-inspiring. I stand behind it, and I’ll stand beside you.
But I wanted to provide a real human woman’s voice who works behind the numbers you’ve listed. I needed to say something because numbers alone divide and underrepresent the tremendous work I, and countless other Rumpus volunteers, try to do for women and for people in general. I started Funny Women for the express purpose of giving women a room of their own on the Internet. But your numbers don’t reflect that. The numbers don’t reflect my entire life’s mission, nor do they capture one of my life’s challenges . . . see my question to Dearest Sugar that provoked my dad, worried and upset with what I wrote, to question why I write at all if it can hurt so much and if people can read it.
He asked me, “Why write for The Rumpus? Why make this public?” And it was difficult to answer him. “For money.” No, I don’t get paid at all. “For fame.” No, I don’t have enough Twitter followers. “For other women like me to read and identify and learn as I learn.” Yeah, that’s why I do it. That’s why I make it public. I do it for women like me, and I do it for me, because I have something to say–something that I think (hope, pray) other people want to hear, and I’m lucky to have a platform and a community of writers who let me speak my truth and help me edit books & columns and push me to be better.
And when I say “push me to be better,” I mean “push me to stop thinking I need to be better,” which is the point I’m trying to make regarding your article. While I think The Rumpus needs to be better in light of your findings, I think even more that we need to refocus on how fucking awesome we already are.
