Jonathan Strahan Apologizes
I’ll crosspost this on FSF blog when I get a chance unless someone else beats me to it. I feel that this deserves just as much attention as the issue that caused it:
The truth is that under the pressure of needing to deliver and of my other work, I overlooked gender balance as an issue in the closing couple months of preparing Eclipse Two for publication. There is no doubt in my mind that I should have paid more attention to this, and it is something I sincerely regret.
[...]
Writers dropped out as always happens (and this is no reflection on them), and I wasn’t paying attention to gender balance. More women happened to drop out than men, and when I went to solicit stories close to the deadline I went to writers I felt I could impose on, that I had a relationship with, and they were all male. I should have been more aware, and made sure I maintained the kind of balance I’d started out with. I didn’t, and I regret that.
[...]
Know also that I genuinely understand why there has been anger and frustration about the TOC for E2. I wish had done a better job of maintaining gender neutrality in E2, and I will continue to try and do so, in this series, and in my other work going forward.
Read the full post here (it’s worth it).
Now, there are probably many discussions we could have about whether Strahan is sincere or not and other related subjects, but I am going to choose, for now, to accept what he says at face value. I reserve the right to change my mind should the future belie his stated commitment, but I will hope for the best.
Good on him for saying those things. I really hope he means it.
Hey, I appreciate the apology. I’m willing to take him at his word. I think it takes a lot to apologize publicly in such a straightforward manner.
Also, he DID have a gender-balanced TOC for Eclipse One. Whatever problems we had with the cover didn’t have anything to do with his editing process.
Thanks for posting this.
Both tone- and content-wise, Strahan has really done a much, much better job of reacting to criticism this time around.