Apparently, the International Thriller Writers have just announced the nominees for their first awards. The nominees are all men. At least one writer believes this is sexism and wrote a post about it.
For a rebuttal and a post on blogging etiquette, see JA Konrath's blog.
For another perspective, see the always entertaining Lee Goldberg.
Gayle Lynds, co-founder of ITW, responds here.
As a long time RWA member, I'm just sort of snickering (not in a mean way, but I don't know another way to describe it). RWA seems to always be beset by one sort of controversy or another when it comes to the RITAs every year. Erotica can't get a fair break, Blazes aren't romances, etc. I'd point you to posts on this, but I'm too lazy to search right now. The Blaze controversy is recent, so go check out some Blaze author blogs (Alison Kent being one of the best blogging authors out there — see sidebar).
Erotica authors are still trying to get respect. See PBW's SOILs post (Sisters of the Immaculate Love Scene — you'll have to search). Okay, so maybe it ain't men v. women over at RWA, but awards seem to always bring out controversy no matter who's giving them out.
So ITW, take heart. You'll be okay. And not everybody's gonna like you, no matter what you do to correct the impression you're sexist or xenophobic or snooty or a bunch of hacks or whatever the topic of the day is. Maybe you deserve it, maybe you don't. Time will tell.
Good post… And time will tell. I am not sure if it is or isn’t … Interesting topic though.
It’s an interesting thing to watch in the future, that’s for sure. I think there’s been a perception at MWA that there’s a male bias in mystery, but I only repeat rumor as far as that goes. I don’t know how true it is. RWA has been accused of having a female bias in the past. While there are male romance writers, they are few and far between. And, poor guys, they aren’t usually allowed to write under male names.