{"id":6147,"date":"2016-10-26T07:35:55","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T11:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6147"},"modified":"2016-10-28T06:56:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T10:56:18","slug":"killer-women-and-sisters-in-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6147","title":{"rendered":"“Killer Women” and “Sisters in Crime”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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photo: Nick Kenrick, creative commons license<\/p><\/div>\n

Don\u2019t for a minute think the only books women want to read\u2014or write\u2014are chick lit and romances. London\u2019s first crime-writing festival<\/a>, organized by the all-female writing collective Killer Women<\/a>, was held recently at London\u2019s Shoreditch Town Hall. This creepy Victorian building was picked for a reason: it\u2019s where the inquest for Mary Kelly was held\u2014you know, Mary Kelly, Jack the Ripper\u2019s last victim.<\/p>\n

Killer Women (whose tagline is \u201ccriminally good writing\u201d) was started a few years ago for many of the same reasons women writers in the US launched Sisters in Crime<\/a> in 1987. SinC\u2019s mission is to \u201cpromote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the festival report points out, \u201cwomen dominate crime fiction.\u201d Women buy 80 percent of the 21 billion crime books sold annually. They outnumber both male writers and readers in the genre. So, what\u2019s the problem? Why are groups like these needed?<\/p>\n

Are Women Good Crime Writers?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Writers are attracted to the genre, one Killer Women founder says, because it \u201callows you to say almost anything and explore emotions that\u2014particularly as a woman\u2014are not acceptable to explore . . . and it allows you to give the bad guys their comeuppance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottish crime writer Val McDermid<\/a> has said that women writers may actually be better at scaring us, because \u201csince childhood we have learned to imagine this\u201d\u2014the possibility for violence in our lives. We\u2019re the ones careful when walking at night, watching the shadows, lying in bed listening for the squeaking stair tread. We read about violence as a way of processing that fear and, perhaps, preparing ourselves for the worst, as well as that satisfying bit of revenge (need some fMRI studies here!). Like the line from the Chicago<\/em>\u2019s \u201cCell Block Tango<\/a>,\u201d \u201cif you\u2019d have been there, if you\u2019d have seen it, I betcha you would have done the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three-Dimensional Characters<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Women writers are in a good position to create more believable female characters too. It\u2019s a long-standing concern that too many women in crime fiction (and film\/tv) are present only for titillation\u2014as one Shoreditch participant put it, \u201crunning around in their panties, chased by a serial killer.\u201d Their only role is become the victim of a grisly crime or to have (always steamy) sex with the male protagonist or both. Killer Woman member D.E. Meredith calls this sexualization of murder \u201cmorally dodgy.\u201d And boring, I say.<\/p>\n

Women as calculating protagonists\u2014actors, not victims\u2014has become a standout trend with the growth in popularity of the \u201cdomestic thriller<\/a>.\u201d The success of Gillian Flynn\u2019s Gone Girl<\/em>, Megan Abbott’s recent You Will Know Me<\/em>, and numerous variations on the theme have opened new territory.<\/p>\n

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