Time to Be Political

Recently TV comedienne and late-night host Samantha Bee conducted a special retrospective on the #MeToo movement on her August 22 Full Frontal show on TBS. She allowed as how some think the movement seems to be dying down, as evidenced by the failure to hold those exposed for sexual misconduct and/or workplace harassment accountable (for example, CBS CEO Les Moonves), or even rehiring them (for example, Chris Hardwick on NBC).

When I started blogging as The Well-Rounded Geek around 2009, I wrote a series on how to mentor women and minorities in the sciences and technology, even suggesting that they should be given a place at the table at meetings and encouraged to contribute their ideas without constant interruptions. I thought perhaps one day I'd turn that into a book. Those old blogs are still there (viz. "I Am Woman, Hear Me Geek").

But then I retired from the dog-eat-dog world of software engineering and became a science fiction short story anthologist, starting my company, Third Flatiron Publishing. I've been at that for over six years now. It's still dog-eat-dog, but in a different way.

In case you're worried about where this is heading, no, I'm not quitting yet. But I am discouraged by the news about women in the workplace. Haven't we been through this in the 70s, and again in the 90s with Anita Hill? Wasn't Hillary Clinton the best qualified candidate in the 2016 presidential election?

On a few occasions, Third Flatiron's anthologies have been praised by reviewers for avoiding politics. For the fall/winter book, we will be running a story that's definitely "political," entitled, "Me Too, Medusa," by Canadian author and academic Evelyn Deshane. Though clothed in the trappings of mythology, the story points out admirably that "Me Too" isn't a new problem. They've been talking about it for millennia.

The new anthology, Terra! Tara! Terror! is available for pre-order on Amazon, with official release date on September 30.

Ladies (and gentlemen too): Don't let them tell you to shut up, or that it's all over with. Get out there and vote--tell 'em what you want.

Signed,

Gorgon in Chief

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