Women in My Novels

On Women

Part One. In general; my rant.

The presentation of women in my novels is a function of my view from living in America from the early sixties to the present. While women have made some progress in their legal rights, as have many insular groups, the real proof of progress is not the passage of laws but the changing of hearts and minds. In that realm, progress has been much slower, and I must admit, not at all the progress I had hoped for as my life comes to a close. Before I break down the categories of continued disappointment, I must first remark on one of the greatest disappointments of my life.

I refer to the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment which failed to pass in the requisite number of states in order to become a new amendment to the US Constitution. I won't go into detail now about this, or the history of the various other twentieth century proposals, but I would like to remark about two distinct groups of states both of which will live on in infamy.

The first group are the states that did not approve it, and the second group are the states that rescinded their approval. If you go to Wikipedia and search "Equal Rights Amendment", you will discover that what both groups have in common is that they are all "red" states, Republican controlled, Trump-happy states that have this unimaginably negative attitude about women, women's rights, and the role of women in society.

How this happens is beyond my ken, but it is a fact, as much for the ERA then as for a woman's right to choose now. What is wrong with these states?

Moving right along, let's examine women as a whole, lesbians, bisexual women and trans girls. What progress has been made there? The good news is some progress, but hardly enough. Again, refer to the legal rights vs. social and cultural realities.

As a group, women still make approximately 75% of what men similarly situated make. Women are still charged more, for example, for laundering cotton blouses than men for cotton dress shirts. Women are still preyed upon by unscrupulous business, not just small time predators, but by big company predatory practices.

Slicing and dicing racial inequality, we have white women who very likely fare best followed by even more discrimination against Black, Hispanic, Asian, and mixed race women. In every case? No, but discriminatory practices against all women have become more subtle than ever before, going underground and in some cases doing so openly and daring women to fight back. Time, lawyers, and outright corporate arrogance makes the legal path harder. Companies can spend millions to discriminate, and I might add that it pays off for these companies.

Dollars drive these practices pure and simple. As the old joke goes, why do they do it? Because they can.

Now, let's go a little deeper. Not that I think gay men have had it easy, but I want to stay on topic.

Lesbians, bisexual girls and trans girls. Let's not be fooled by Hollywood as if what happens on TV and in the movies reflects any underlying progress. This discrimination is virulent, open and everywhere. One might think that the Christians of America might open up the New Testament and read a little. The Gospel of Love that I so admire, the gospel of tolerance, caring and understanding seems to be a message lost somewhere along the way. I don't blame it all on religion, but I blame much of today's intolerance on religious intolerance, which also seems to engender anti-semitism, racial intolerance, and sectarian hatred. Much is cultural tolerance for generalized ignorance.

I do not excuse myself for past intolerance, but I became educated and grew up. At the end of my life, I have taken responsibility for my actions, prejudices and beliefs. As reflected in my son, it worked. He was raised with an understanding of the world, has traveled with me and is a modern, progressive thinker. It is men like him that give me hope for the future.

The degree of virulence against lesbians is difficult for me to understand, but it is the curious case of trans girls that particularly offends me by the right wing politicians and religious groups. I will not get sidetracked into the weeds of pronoun use, when real world other issues predominate.

Suicides in the gay teen, lesbian and trans communities is high and the anger around them so destructive that I wonder what people, especially Christian conservatives are thinking? Seriously, where is tolerance? Where is Jesus, who you claim to love? You are killing these people, human beings who were born into this world perfect as they are. Debate all the political crap you want, but what have these girls ever done to you?

And to be clear, why are we spending so much time attacking a small and largely powerless group of female American citizens? You are, all of you out there who do this, nothing more than perverse bullies. What's your endgame anyway? Do you want them to die? It sure seems like it to me which is hideous, unAmerican and unChristian.

I charge Christians, Muslims and Jews alike with this ugly behavior, though much of secular America is no better. For heaven's sake, leave these people alone and go find something better to do. If you oppose abortion rights, don't have an abortion. If you don't like a group, don't associate with them. See? Easy peasy.

There has been progress in America, but it hasn't been enough. While it is the law that needs to change, even more than laws are our hearts. We all live on this small blue planet, and we've nowhere else to go. Maybe instead of inspecting the speck in our neighbor's eye, we might first look at the specks in our own eyes.

In some of my novels I refer to the Way and the Balance. The Way is to treat others as we wish to be treated. It derives from religious teaching. The Balance derives from ancient Greek philosophy. Moderation in all things is best

Love, tolerance and moderation. It shouldn't be so hard.

Part Two.

My books.

I am committed to portraying women in my novels as strong and independent, within the context of doing what I do. I write stories, stories about people finding their way through life, often different, and in lives that are never easy. There are heroes, and there are villains, some are men, some are women. I portray people in situations as they are, and often in situations that may not be "majoritarian". My views on many things are not mainstream, and many of those topics will be covered in other blog posts.

I believe that as we have evolved as human beings, society and culture too evolve. Institutions come and go; things we now view with appropriate disgust were once commonly held beliefs. I expect many folks may not be enthusiastic about my more progressive view of the world, and it is not my intention to shock or titillate On the other hand, these are grown up big boy and big girl issues. If you find any of my work offensive, there are lots of other books to read. But my objective is to stimulate thought, to take us out of our comfort zones and to make us think.

Words hurt. Words can kill. We must be careful with the things we say, not to stifle opinions and dissent, but simply to be kinder to one another.

I am one of the fortunates, being straight, educated, white and male. I have had a good life, a long life so far, with its own challenges. I know we can all be better, do better if we just let our better angels guide our thoughts and actions. Sappy sentimentalism? Maybe. But if so, what's wrong with that?

I hope my readers look beyond the superficial to the things that we all have in common rather than the things that make us seem different. I have lived around the world, and at times in places I knew did not welcome Americans. It was my job to live there, to be there, and do my best. What I found was that people everywhere shared certain common values.

Peace not war. Personal security for family. Education and opportunity. A better life. How we express ourselves and our cultures may be different, but the package is just the wrapper, not what's inside. It is true of products and people.

And for books. Don't buy the cover, buy what's inside. I hope you will explore our offering.

Until our next post,
Douglas Roff,

September, 2023