One Author’s battle against the “Sexy” Sci-Fi Cover

Over the years, the “sexy-heroine” has become the standard model for sci-fi and fantasy book covers—but why? Is there something about big breasted women wielding guns and striking contorted poses that inherently causes sci-fi and fantasy audiences to buy more books? The publishers seem to think so.

But many critics suggest that these sexist book covers alienate potential women readers, a demographic the industry has excluded by its perpetual sexism.

To illustrate how ridiculous these covers are, sci-fi author Jim Hines dresses up and poses like the women on the covers and posts the pictures on his blog.

Since he started in January 2012, Hines’ poses have become the most popular posts on his blog. So he launched a new series in December to raise money to fight Aicardi syndrome, a genetic disorder that mostly affects girls..

 

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Pat Johnson is currently working on his master’s in Fiction Writing at San Francisco State University, and is the owner and editor of the satirical news website The New Porker. When Pat’s not reading or writing he’s likely squeezing a lime into a Tecate and headed to the dance floor. He also creates short films, documentaries, and sketch comedies. Pat is completing his first novel, The Virgin and Marilyn Monroe, and writing a book of Creative Non-Fiction short stories.

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The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper.

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