Tag Archives: Women

Are We Responsible?

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Yesterday’s post about the gang rape of an 11-year-old Texas girl received the highest number of hits ever recorded on AngelSpeak. I don’t say this with any amount of celebration. But it does raise a question that I think is relevant to the topic of this blog: are writers encouraging a rape culture? Are we, in some way, responsible for the atrocious acts that are committed against women every day?

I used popular fashion advertising to make my point yesterday. Like it not, deny it if you will, but we have a rape culture in this country. As Roxane Gay said in her posting on The Rumpus:

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I Am Woman

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It’s International Women’s Day! Here at AngelSpeak I’m celebrating poets with a sampling of the women whose work I love and who have inspired and taught me so much.

Some writers I’ve learned from:

  • Jorie Graham’s poetry taught me to not shy away from my intelligence in my writing – it’s okay to be a smart woman.
  • Sharon Olds‘ poetry taught me to write with fearlessness and stark honesty about everything and anything.
  • Larissa Szporluk taught me to pay attention to something other than subject matter: the power of the sound of words.
  • Annie Finch taught me pay attention to something other than sound: the impact of rhythm on the body.

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