pats_hotlist posts about copy that's been written for a science fiction novel (the book is authored by a woman), which includes the phrase: "A female SF writer so good she's showing the men how it's done."

Pat, as a man, has taken offense. (Edited to Add: This is my inferrence from his post. And as squirrel_monkey rightly pointed out, commenters and Pat himself are focusing mostly on the same issue I have with this copy, which I talk about below.)

My perspective (as a woman, who sometimes writes science fiction) is that the publishers’ decision to write this copy for bookbuyers is reflective of the industry, where men are still considered better at science fiction (especially “hard” scifi) by some people.

There’s one part of me that wants to go “Oh, please!” at Pat’s offense (because men are ever so disadvantaged by women, aren’t they now?). That’s overridden by my conviction that slights made at one gender in favour of another, regardless of which gender is being disparaged, are damaging.

The most important thing to me is the problem this highlights in the field. Why can’t women write excellent scifi? There’s no reason at all, of course, and there already exist women scifi writers who do a great job; and they’ve been doing it for decades and decades. But there still seem to be perceptions against them. I want those perceptions to go. Now.

I hope this bit of copy doesn’t damage the book’s chances. I also hope that phrases like the one used won’t be needed in the future.