It’s Still Complicated

Like others before her, Dr. Kathryn Heyman explained in a letter to the London Review of Book’s publisher that she was through subscribing until their male-female byline gap changed. Dr. Heyman’s approach might read as a bit heavy-handed, but it was also necessary, and at least initially effective: she heard back from senior editor Paul Myerscough, and they’re now engaged in a back-and-forth on the matter. From her original letter:

I would dearly love to renew my subscription, however, based on the tedious regularity with which you ignore female writers and female reviewers, I have to assume that my lady-money is quite simply not welcome in the man-cave of LRB.

And from Myerscough:

Dear Kathryn Heyman,

Many thanks for taking the time to let us know why you’ve decided to give up on the LRB. We’re very sorry to see you go, but respect your reasons. If you were interested, I’d be glad to discuss with you, perhaps in an email exchange, why it may be that women are underrepresented in the paper. I think they’re complicated; actually, as complicated as it gets. However, there’s no question that despite the distress it causes us that the proportion of women in the paper remains so stubbornly low, the efforts we’ve made to change the situation have been hopelessly unsuccessful. We’ll continue to try — the issue is on our minds constantly — in the hope that eventually you’ll feel ready to consider subscribing again.

[via]