Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2015, Blaðsíða 14

14 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 12 — 2015
TVEIR HRAFNAR listhús, Art Gallery
Baldursgata 12 101 Reykjavík (at the corner of Baldursgata and Nönnugata, facing Þrír Frakkar Restaurant)
Phone: +354 552 8822 +354 863 6860 +354 863 6885 art@tveirhrafnar.is www.tveirhrafnar.is
Opening hours: Thu-Fri 12pm - 5pm, Sat 1pm - 4pm and by appointment +354 863 6860
TVEIR HRAFNAR
listhús, Art Gallery
offers a range of artwork by
contemporary Icelandic artists
represented by the gallery, se-
lected works by acclaimed artists
and past Icelandic masters.
Represented artists:
GUÐBJÖRG LIND JÓNSDÓTTIR
HALLGRÍMUR HELGASON
HÚBERT NÓI JÓHANNESSON
JÓN ÓSKAR
ÓLI G. JÓHANNSSON
STEINUNN THÓRARINSDÓTTIR
Also works by:
HADDA FJÓLA REYKDAL
HULDA HÁKON
NÍNA TRYGGVADÓTTIR
KRISTJÁN DAVÍÐSSON
– among others
PLEASED TO MEAT YOU!
The cover generated some atten-
tion at the time, especially from
certain online media outlets in the
United States well versed in critical
feminist thought.
For me and many others, the image
was the embodiment of a certain prob-
lem, an uncomfortably matter-of-fact
picture of the current situation: men
holding the keys to the entire publish-
ing industry as it stands. The image was
unpleasantly reminiscent of some reali-
ties in my immediate environment.
It brought to mind another photo-
graph: of the board of the Reykjavík In-
ternational Literary Festival taken that
same year. There sat nine people at a
table—seven men and two women, one
of the latter not actually a member of
the board but serving, and still serving,
as the festival’s artistic director. Since
then, another man has actually been
added to the administration, putting
the proportion of women on the board
at roughly eleven percent.
I looked at this photo for a long time
and tried to imagine the rationale for
such a ratio. Are people deliberately
looking the other way? Do they have no
interest in seeing this? Or is this uncon-
scious, learned behaviour?
I was 23 when the middle-aged edi-
tor of a cultural magazine that I wrote
for pushed up against me and, with hot
whiskey breath, whispered in my ear
that women had no business in the edi-
tor’s chair. They were simply not as ca-
pable writers as men.
A year later, I ran into a young, male
author at a literary festival who asked
me, rhetorically, what kind of books I
was publishing [with Partus Press]—
and smirked as if he were telling a joke
when he answered for me: only young
female poets.
That same year, I heard Steinunn
Stefánsdóttir, the chairman of the Ice-
landic Women’s Rights Association, say
in an interview on a morning radio pro-
gram that “In many respects, it’s some-
how more manageable to advocate for
the law to reflect equality. […] But when
it comes to the intangible, things get
more difficult.”
How does one highlight inequal-
ity in the intellectual world? How is it
possible to isolate and measure when
women’s voices are not being heard,
not being taken seriously, or are even
being ignored?
What does it say about the state
of affairs when nationally renowned
authors sit at a table and seem not to
notice that there are eight times more
men’s voices than there are women’s?
Isn’t that a perfect metaphor for the
problem? Haven’t we become a bit deaf
when we no longer hear that men’s
voices are dominating the conversa-
tion?
No one seems to bat an eye. We just
sit at the table and smile for the camera.
We need more women’s voices, not
fewer. But the problem is even more
complicated than that. As much as we
need to increase the number of voices,
we also need to be more responsive to
them. For even when the voices of wom-
en do make it through—when they’re
heard on the radio, when they’ve
fought their way into male-dominated
organizations despite discouraging
messages from their immediate envi-
ronments—how much attention do we
give them then? How well, in fact, are
we listening?
A little over a month ago, an ar-
ticle was published in GQ magazine
under the title “The New Canon: The
21 Books from the 21st Century Every
Man Should Read.” It’s unlikely to sur-
prise you that of the books listed, only
four were books by women, or just un-
der twenty percent.
Many studies have revealed similar
trends, that is to say, that men are less
likely to read books by women. Some
studies indicate that on average, only
one out of every ten books read by a
man is by a woman.
This year, the publisher Forlagið
released an anthology of Icelandic po-
etry in which former president [and
the world’s first democratically elect-
ed female head of state] Vigdís Finn-
bogadóttir selected Icelandic poems
and verses that have been dear to her
throughout her life. There are thirty-
seven poets featured in this book, three
of whom are women.
But the question of how well we are
listening begs a still subtler and com-
plicated one about
how much interest
and respect we af-
ford women’s sto-
ries—how receptive
we are to the female
perspective.
Many factors
are certainly at play
here. This touches
on how we define
the canon. What we
choose to teach in
schools; which books
we choose to buy;
how we arrange those books in book-
stores; who we choose to include in our
poetry anthologies; and who we invite
to sit on the boards of our literary or-
ganizations. All of these decisions have
consequences and reveal which voices
we value, safeguard, encourage, or
simply dismiss.
Do we think it’s reasonable, for ex-
ample, that female writers who write
from a woman’s perspective should
need to contend with devaluation of
their art by way of terms and market-
ing tags like “chick-lit”? The term
shouldn’t, perhaps, be insulting, but it
undeniably is. (What would be most
reasonable, of course, would be that
books told from a female perspective
be read by everyone.)
With that in mind, it should seem
no coincidence that the most famous
female protagonist in Icelandic liter-
ary history [Salvör Valgerður, from the
Halldór Laxness novel 'Salka Valka']
was created by a man.
But back to that subtle question—
what can we do in order to be more
responsive to women’s stories and to
women’s voices? The outlook is bleak.
It’s not exactly desirable to put your
perspective or work of art out there
if no one pays any attention to it. And
how does one get people to listen if
they’ve already decided not to? How
do we become receptive to those voices
that reflect something other than just
our present points of view? That these
viewpoints are forever celebrated by
literary organizations is a matter of
fact. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate
diversity?
The problem is complex and tan-
gled, but some of this
is clear. Role models
make a difference. It
is simply not permis-
sible to pretend not
to see, to pretend not
to hear. It is not pos-
sible to hide behind
excuses any longer.
The country’s liter-
ary organizations
fail the younger gen-
erations when they
don’t think about
equality in publica-
tions, in festivals, in grant conferrals.
The media fails when equality is ab-
sent from their literary coverage. You
may be stuck in old habits, but let’s
not forget that fresh eyes are watch-
ing and fresh ears are listening. Ev-
erything we do sends them a mes-
sage about what business they have in
this world.
Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir is a poet and
writer living in Reykjavík. She is a found-
ing member and current director of the po-
etry collective and publisher Meðgönguljóð
(Partus Press) and was nominated for the
PEN International New Voices Award in
2014. Valgerður originally read this edito-
rial on an episode of ‘Skáldatími’ (Authors’
Hour) on The Icelandic National Broad-
casting Service radio station, Rás 1. It has
been translated and republished in The
Grapevine with her permission.
Summer 2013. The cover of the British magazine Port
declares that a new golden age in print media is under-
way. The magazine’s cover is minimalist—black letters
spelling out the names of six editors at the largest cul-
tural publications in the Western world. Dead centre is
a crisp, black and white photo of six white men.
Do You Read Me?
Inequality in the intellectual world
By Nanna Árnadóttir
Dear Nanna,
What's the coolest souvenir
I can buy in Iceland?
Best,
Future Shopper
Dear Future Shopper,
Anything in the shape of Iceland,
that has the shape of Iceland
painted on it or has the word
“Iceland” written on it so you
definitely don’t forget that you
were in Iceland that one time and
no one who looks at your souvenir
thinks you may have gone to
Denmark instead.
Nanna
Dear Nanna,
My sister is breaking up with
her boyfriend of a few years.
The family has always really
loved him and he's a really nice
guy. But now my sister is saying
that he was abusive. I'll be hon-
est I've never seen any evidence
of abuse, none of us have. We
were all really surprised actu-
ally and she does exaggerate
things sometimes. Anyway,
I'm wondering if I have to stop
hanging out with him because
they broke up? Just because she
dumped him doesn't mean the
whole family should right?
Best,
Sister Sister
Dear Sister Sister,
Whatever you do don't buy a word
your sister tells you. I don't know
what you've heard about believing
abuse survivors when they speak
up but it can really hurt the al-
leged abuser's feelings.
In my experience people always
act the same when they are in
public as they do when they are
in private but even if they didn't
do that I'm sure your sister’s ex
would beat up or verbally abuse
your sister in front of you, just so
you could both be sure your sister
wouldn't exaggerate it later.
My advice to you is to cut your
ties with your sister.
Best,
Nanna
Because this needs to be said. On
an all-jokes-aside note, if you or
someone you know needs help es-
caping domestic abuse in Iceland,
contact Iceland’s Women’s Shelter
(Kvennaathvarfið). They have a
hotline and offer counselling.
Tel: 561 1205.
Words by Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir
Translated by Larissa Kyzer
Politics | Bright?Opinion | Chromosome concerns
I was 23 when the
middle-aged editor
of a cultural maga-
zine that I wrote for
pushed up against me
and, with hot whiskey
breath, whispered in
my ear that women
had no business in
the editor’s chair.