copyblogger | why james chartrand wears women's underpants
In which “James Chartrand” of copywriting blog Men With Pens reveals that she is among the ranks of George Sand and the Bell brothers and George Eliot (and AM Homes and SE Hinton and JK Rowling — and my own very deliberately genderless - and therefore presumably male - resume and email address.)
Most shocking to me: the commenters surprise, and especially those who accuse her of fraud or say that the male pen name just boosted her confidence and wasn’t at all related to the sudden pay increase she recieved upon becoming a man on paper — that she broke through the glass ceiling by coincidence, that it wasn’t the name so much as that pretending to be a man actually just made her better (thereby implying that, you know, she’d be better if she was actually a man, so pretending to be one helped.) Here are some fun facts from the US government, kids: a century of feminism and still my talents or work would be more likely to be taken more seriously (and rewarded more generously) if I had pen instead of an inkwell, as one charming commenter so nicely pointed out pointed out.
Tangentially related and depressing: recent NYT article on African American women taking steps to hide their racial background on their resumes. Also: the under-representation of women in film.
