The Female Gaze

Years ago, I gave a presentation called “The Female Gaze” at Yaoi Con. I talked for an hour about how media and entertainment are filtered almost entirely through the male gaze as a default setting, and how female gaze stories might change the landscape.

I’ve considered turning the idea into a book, and now feels like the time. Women’s issues are always at the forefront of my mind in one way or another, and these days even the right to choose what we do with our own bodies is once again in question. So it seems that telling the stories of our lives is more important than ever.

That goes for fictional stories too. Stories inspire however they’re told, whether as a novel or streaming series or Hollywood movie. But sometimes I think we don’t believe in our own stories - that they are heroic or even interesting enough to tell. Part of this is due to male dominance of culture overall. We are indoctrinated to see the world through the male gaze, in which women mostly still play supporting roles. If we are to get out from under this misperception of who we are, it will be up to us to stand up, speak our truth, and be counted.

I see this as being a short non-fiction book, like four or five long essays all related to female gaze themes. My goal will be to publish it by the end of summer - fingers crossed.

And I haven’t forgotten Tales of the Queendoms. Since it’s basically a collection of short stories, I’m thinking that I can work on both books at the same time, with one serving as relief from the other. If you’ve ever worked on two writing projects at once, you know what I mean. Sometimes productivity increases as you go back and forth between projects, as your mind continually gets refreshed by working on more than just one thing.

In any event, I’ll post about my progress at least once a month. Hope everyone’s summer gets off to a great start. I’ll be back here soon. :-)