Ana Mardoll's Ramblings: The Men: Introduction

INTRODUCTION

An upcoming book, The Men by Sandra Newman*, was announced on Twitter in March 2022. The book was characterized as what I have sometimes called a "Gender Plague" or "Gender Rapture" and which TV Tropes calls "Gendercide". [*Note: Sandra has stated in the wake of her announcement that she is gender nonbinary, but nonbinary people can use any pronouns we want and do not default immediately to they/them, contrary to popular belief! Since I cannot find anywhere where she has provided pronouns other than she/her, I will be using she/her to refer to Sandra throughout this deconstruction until she indicates otherwise.]

Sandra stated in her announcement tweet that "Everyone with a Y chromosome suddenly, mysteriously disappears. In the months that follow, the world gets better: safer, kinder, more egalitarian. But the book is about women who can't let go of the men they've lost, and devote their lives to getting them back."

MY NEW BOOK Everyone with a Y chromosome suddenly, mysteriously disappears. In the months that follow, the world gets better: safer, kinder, more egalitarian. But the book is about women who can't let go of the men they've lost, and devote their lives to getting them back.

Members of the trans community pointed out that there are known issues of transphobia and transmisogyny with "Gendercide" premises, which have been hashed out at length during the last few recent publishing of similar books; I myself have extensively talked about the problems with Stephen King's Sleeping Beauties and Lauren Beukes' Afterland. I have also critiqued marketing for Y The Last Man and Femlandia.

"Gendercide" settings tend to lump trans women in with cis men, trans men with cis women, and disappear nonbinary people and intersex people. Sandra's announcement is a perfect example of these problems: the book is titled "The Men" for the disappeared (which, if based merely on the presence of a Y chromosome, would include trans women as well as some intersex and cis women) and the book description talks about the "women" left behind (which, if again based on the absence of a Y chromosome, would include trans men as well as some intersex and cis men). Sandra pushed back against these criticisms, however, insisting that:

- "The book is set in a world like ours, not a world where trans people don't exist. Trans people totally exist and matter in this book."

- "I will say it's really hard to have 'the men' vanish and make it work. Here, trans women do vanish with the men, but they're always called she/her. The book does deal with what happens to trans men. There's an important genderqueer character. Etc."

- "I am nonbinary and I have written a book against gender binaries."

Also, just to say: The book is set in a world like ours, not a world where trans people don't exist. Trans people totally exist and matter in this book.

Yes. I will say it's really hard to have "the men" vanish and make it work. Here, trans women do vanish with the men, but they're always called she/her. The book does deal with what happens to trans men. There's an important genderqueer character. Etc.

(May Peterson) Yes, I agree with Niko. This is an opportunity to be receptive and pay attention to your privilege relative to trans women and non- binary people. (Sandra Newman) I am nonbinary and I have written a book against gender binaries. I mean, being nonbinary doesn't make me right about anything, but please do not misgender me in my mentions.

Trans community members expressed concern that Sandra might not fully understand transness, having previously been on record tweeting that "we are all a little trans" because of "artificial hormones"--which is not what transness is nor how it works. Nevertheless, big-name authors joined the fray, with Lauren Hough touting the book as "fucking good" and accusing critics of being a "piece of shit...and dumb as fuck". Lauren was clearly aware of the nature of the criticism, saying "Sandra Newman's book is being attacked as transphobic and also man hating by people who haven't read it and never would." Jennifer Taub, in response to this, announced "I will preorder it then". (I have since learned that Lauren is thanked by name in the acknowledgments of The Men.)

I'm obviously not one to brag but I got to read this early and I do not have the words for how fucking good this novel is.

(spen) Pretty sure this terf plot has been published four or five times already. (Ana's note: Spen is correct.) (Lauren) Pretty sure you don't know what the fuck is in a book you haven't fucking read.

If you see another author being being [sic] piled-on on this fucking website, yet again, and you choose to join in for a few likes and a little clout, you're a piece of shit. And dumb as fuck if you think it can't/won't happen to you.

(Lauren) Sandra Newman's book is being attacked as transphobic and also man hating by people who haven't read it and never would. The usual. (Jennifer) I will preorder then . . .reading the book itself will mean I don't need to read the tweets.

Thanks to friends who were early readers: Lauren Hough, David Burr Gerrard, Tim Paulson, Catherine Nichols, and especially Megan Milks, for their enthusiasm and often life-saving advice. Every single thing anyone likes about the book is their doing and the errors are mine.

TLDR: we are all a little trans. We've all been absorbing artificial hormones since we were conceived, and it *has* changed us. 7/

Cis authors urged trans critics to wait until the book was out, read it, and see if their minds were changed. When Black people pointed out that Sandra's previous "plague" novel, The Country of Ice Cream Star, was written in a racist patois that Sandra admitted she'd adapted from AAVE, their concerns were similarly dismissed.

My name be Ice Cream Fifteen Star. My brother be Driver Eighteen Star, and my ghost brother Mo-Jacques Five Star, dead when I myself was only six years old. Still my heart is rain for him, my brother dead of posies little. My mother and my grands and my great-grands been Sengle pure. Our people be a tarry night sort, and we skinny and long. My brother Driver climb a tree with only hands, because our bones so light, our muscles fortey strong. We flee like a dragonfly over water; we fight like ten gus; and we be bell to see. Other children go deranged and unpredictable for our love. We Sengles be a wandering sort. We never grown nothing from anything, never had no tato patch nor cornfield. Be thieves, and brave to hunt. A Sengle hungry even when he eat, even when he rich, he still want to grab and rob, he hungry for something he ain't never seen nor thought of. We was so proud, we was ridiculous as wild animals, but we was bell and strong.

How did you go about creating the voice of Ice Cream Star (and the groups who live in Massa) and how did you sustain that for an entire novel? I didn’t initially intend to write the book in an invented patois. But when I started to write the book, it had to be set in a future world, and I wanted to the voice to feel absolutely real. I’ve always been the kind of writer (and reader) who needs a story to be completely convincing. When I was writing the book in standard English, I just couldn’t believe in it. A hundred years had passed. Obviously English would have changed in that time, especially if there were no schools and no media, and the language was only being spoken by children and teenagers. So from there, the language ended up being informed by African-American English. I’ve given a lot of reasons for this, but the bottom line is just that it’s my favorite English, and probably objectively the best English going. It also gave me not only a model for innovation in the vocabulary, but a starting point for innovation in the grammar. And finally, most people are familiar with it to some degree, so readers have a starting point for understanding it. Once I had the flavor of African-American speech in the language (and don’t get me wrong – it’s not African-American Vernacular English as spoken now, but it’s obviously strongly influenced by it) it felt like the characters should be black. Or, put another way, why shouldn’t they be black? I mean, it became a choice to make them anything but black.

Others pointed out that Sandra has a reputation for publishing articles calling "Social Justice Warriors" "pathetic" and "hysterical" and for characterizing the critics of Rachel Dolezal, the white NAACP official who falsely represented herself as black, as trying to set down "rules of etiquette about identity".

Hysterical Activism There's something pathetic about the way Social Justice Warriors would rather repel potential supporters By Sandra Newman • 06/22/15 12:18pm

In any news environment, Ms. Dolezal would have been a story. If you consider the tradition of black people passing as white, it’s a classic man-bites-dog. What’s specific to our time is that it was perceived as a political event; that serious political writers felt obliged to address what it means; for a week, the energies of the American left were focused on a stupid personal choice made by a non-entity in Spokane. The primary reason for this is the increasing power of what have come to be known as “social justice warriors”– self-appointed crusaders in the battle for a more equal world. Because social justice types are disproportionately represented at media outlets and in the audience for political discourse, they also have a disproportionate impact on what is written, broadcast, and known. And for proponents of social justice, nothing is more important than rules of etiquette about identity – even when, as in the Dolezal case, those rules govern situations that almost never occur.

Sandra wrote: "As defined by this new breed of progressives, social justice is almost exclusively about gender, sexual orientation, and race. It's not about economics. It's not about labor law or voting rights or equality. ...social justice warriors will actually work to silence their own supporters. Put simply, the word “ally” is only used to tell people how they're doing it wrong." Most relevant of all to her ability to write trans characters with sensitivity was her statement that: "As violence against transgender people is common, trans activists focus political energy on the introduction of gender-neutral pronouns like ze and hir. "

As defined by this new breed of progressives, social justice is almost exclusively about gender, sexual orientation, and race. It’s not about economics. It’s not about labor law or voting rights or equality. It’s about issues you can understand with a third-grade education, but as considered by people with degrees from Oberlin and Vassar. It’s political activism for people who aren’t interested in politics.

But social justice warriors will actually work to silence their own supporters. This is related to the concept of “allies.” According to this terminology, a white person who wants to campaign against racism, a man who identifies as a feminist, or a cis person who cares about transgender rights, are all allies. The word is innocuous, but the way it’s employed is not. Put simply, the word “ally” is only used to tell people how they’re doing it wrong.

The final, and most significant, failure of the social justice movement is in the issues they prioritize. These tend to be the concerns of highly educated people living in affluent liberal enclaves; people, that is, who have never experienced what most people think of as oppression. Feminist activists show a remarkable obsession with the gender of fictional characters. As violence against transgender people is common, trans activists focus political energy on the introduction of gender-neutral pronouns like ze and hir.

Because I have a history of critiquing "Gendercide" novels, I put out a call for anyone with an advance review copy to send me one if willing; I also visited the unusual ARC sites and put in a request for the novel directly to the publisher. Within 48 hours, I had a copy in my hands and was ready to read. I promised: "Though I expect the book to be problematic and I have no pretensions to neutrality, I plan to be as fair as I possibly can. I am also a perisex nonbinary transmasc person and not the best person to call out transmisogyny or intersexphobia, but I will do my best."

These are the results of that read. I will cover the novel in themes and parts first and then, if I have the remaining capacity, I will go over a chronological line-by-line reading of problems. I expect this deconstruction to take several days and may occur in several parts. I would ask that no one tag the author into this read. Authors should not be tagged into critique.

index

The Men: Introduction

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