If you haven’t read about the current SFWA controversies, here’s a link to it. Let me be clear. I’m not going to rehash everything that everyone has said. I may reference a few points, but the point of this post is to give everyone my personal opinion on the issue. And it is my personal opinion.
The past month has been really hard emotionally because two organizations I’m affiliated with have gotten the hammer from various sources. It’s hard dealing with it, trying to write, and trying to keep my head in my day job. So I haven’t publicly commented on the SFWA issue because I was busy dealing with the other organizational issue. Now I’m ready to say something, so take this for what it may be worth.
Two weeks ago I renewed my SFWA membership. Even though I am only an Associate Member (no voting rights), I like the organization and most of the people in it are my friends. Especially Jean Rabe, one of my first editors. I did not like seeing her thrown under the bus by certain members that I usually respect. It pissed me off to no end to see everyone blaming her without giving her a chance to tell her side of the story. Especially when it turns out that she was following a procedure set up to catch crap like this and people at the other end of that procedure (again, members that I respect) didn’t catch the crap.
My first comment is this: as a fellow editor who reports to someone else, I totally get her caught-in-the-middle position and defend her rights to not take flack for this s**tstorm. So please get off her case. There was nothing in this mess that she could have done that would have prevented someone from coming down on her and to act like she is the Devil Incarnate is just plain wrong.
Second comment: Why did I renew my membership? Because despite the handful of jerks and idiots who are also in SFWA, most of the membership are good people. These are hardworking authors and editors who I do respect. Some of them have personally helped my career. Others are just peeps I’ve met at various cons and are fun to be around. The good ones treat me with respect, listen to my opinions (even if they don’t agree with me), and share their opinions with me. I have never been harassed at a SFWA event. There’s one member I have particular issues with, whose name I will not mention, but this person probably doesn’t see me as more than a blip on the radar and I ignore this person’s posts and conversations as much as possible because I can.
I encourage people to join SFWA. Because despite the noise by the Old Mens Club, most of the membership is better than that. Does the organization need work? Absolutely. There needs to be a harassment policy (not just a sexual harassment policy, but a plain vanilla harassment policy) put into place. There needs to be consequences to members who use official SFWA tools (Twitter, the Bulletin, etc.) to promote an agenda of racism, sexism, and hate. And the editor of the Bulletin needs to be give Kill Switch power instead of the “We pay these people to write a monthly article, so take what they give you” mandate.
Point of note: Jean had to send out regular emails to people begging for articles for the Bulletin because hardly anyone wanted to contribute beside the few regulars. So really, the majority of SFWA has little room to complain about what’s in the magazine if they’re not willing to submit other material to fill it. And I mean all the other stuff, not the monthly columns that pissed people off.
While many people agitate for Change and others resist it, few actually enjoy the implementation process. In today’s “instant” world, everyone expects Change to happen as quickly as a tweet can be written. But Change takes time and it takes people willing to see the process through, growing pains and all. SFWA needs to change, yes, but quitting the organization won’t accomplish that. In fact, it just leaves the old grumps who don’t want change with a greater majority. If SFWA is to change, it needs members who support that change, new and old, female and male and transgender, white and POC, straight and GBLT, young and not-so-young.
So while I may not be able to vote in the elections, I can make my voice heard. I have done so many times before. My voice was heard a few years back as SFWA put together a study on RPG fiction and its eligibility for membership. My voice was heard on epublishers who pay only royalties. My voice was heard on changing the bylaws so Associate Members get more voting rights. I won’t say that SFWA did everything I asked, because they didn’t. But the board listened to my opinions and gave them due consideration. I recently emailed them about the whole Theodore Beale issue and have received a credible “We are listening” response from them.
Yes, members (and some non-members) of SFWA are making the organization look bad. No, this does not mean the organization as a whole is a bad organization. Yes, changes need to be made. No, they’re not going to happen quickly. The board has a responsibility to its members to obey the bylaws. If they don’t, the board opens up all of SFWA to some nasty legal action. I would prefer SFWA do things the right way, even if it means no insta-resolution, and set the proper precedent instead of taking hasty, ill-considered actions that could destroy the entire organization.
I stand by Jean. I stand by SFWA. I stand by the need for change, but I don’t stand by the jerks. This is my opinion on the subject. You can like it or not like it as you choose, but don’t expect your opinions to change mine.
