Serving Seattle's romance needs since 1992!
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Next Meeting
We meet for dinner beforehand (at 5:00) at Angelo’s in the banquet room (ask for Eastside RWA). If you would like to join us for dinner, please email danasch@blarg.net by Monday, 5/13. For more information about dinner, see "Dinner Details" below.
Joanna Gregson & Jen Lois -- Craft and Career: The Gendered Culture of Romance Writers
Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 7pm
Angelo's Restaurant, 1830 130th Ave NE, Bellevue, 98005, 425.883.2777
DESCRIPTION:
Professors Joanna Gregson and Jen Lois will discuss some preliminary findings from their three-year sociological research project, “Craft and Career: The Gendered Culture of Romance Writers.” Jen and Joanna are studying the romance-writing industry through a method known as participant-observation: they attend romance conferences and meetings, interview writers and other industry professionals, visit websites, read romance, and have even tried to write some themselves. The goal is to understand the subculture of romance writers by allowing writers themselves to show what is important.
Joanna and Jen have found that the feminization of the romance genre is the most important factor underlying many of the struggles romance writers experience along the career path, such as outsiders’ perception of the genre, writers’ family responsibilities, and the ways they deal with criticism and rejection. The feminization of the genre, however, also provides a buffer against these challenges by providing a culture of optimism and inclusiveness. This talk will highlight how the prevalence of women in the romance industry is the determining factor in how writers experience their careers.
Attendees will walk away with an understanding of how romance writers’ experiences are both positively and negatively shaped by gender, and how the industry can respond—at the individual and group levels—to enhance or mitigate these effects.
INSTRUCTOR BIO:
Joanna Gregson, PhD, is a sociology professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of gender, sexuality, family, deviance, and popular culture. Joanna has published sociological articles on such varied topics as teenage motherhood, incarcerated women, and women’s divorce experiences. Her book, The Culture of Teenage Mothers (SUNY Press), was published in November 2009. http://www.plu.edu/sociology-social-work/contacts/home.php?details=joanna-gregson
Jen Lois, PhD, is a sociology professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Jen teaches and publishes in the areas of gender, emotions, motherhood, deviance, and popular culture. Her books have focused on the gendered culture of mountain-environment search-and-rescue volunteers (Heroic Efforts, NYU Press, 2003) and the emotional culture of homeschooling mothers (Home Is Where the School Is, NYU Press, 2012). http://www.wwu.edu/soc/bios/lois.shtml
Jen and Joanna have been collaborating on their research project, “Craft and Career: The Gendered Culture of Romance Writers,” since 2010. In 2011, RWA awarded them the annual Academic Research Grant.http://www.rwa.org/cs/academic_research_grant/past_recipients#Gregson
DINNER DETAILS
Joanna Gregson & Jen Lois -- Craft and Career: The Gendered Culture of Romance Writers
Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 7pm
Angelo's Restaurant, 1830 130th Ave NE, Bellevue, 98005, 425.883.2777
DESCRIPTION:
Professors Joanna Gregson and Jen Lois will discuss some preliminary findings from their three-year sociological research project, “Craft and Career: The Gendered Culture of Romance Writers.” Jen and Joanna are studying the romance-writing industry through a method known as participant-observation: they attend romance conferences and meetings, interview writers and other industry professionals, visit websites, read romance, and have even tried to write some themselves. The goal is to understand the subculture of romance writers by allowing writers themselves to show what is important.
Joanna and Jen have found that the feminization of the romance genre is the most important factor underlying many of the struggles romance writers experience along the career path, such as outsiders’ perception of the genre, writers’ family responsibilities, and the ways they deal with criticism and rejection. The feminization of the genre, however, also provides a buffer against these challenges by providing a culture of optimism and inclusiveness. This talk will highlight how the prevalence of women in the romance industry is the determining factor in how writers experience their careers.
Attendees will walk away with an understanding of how romance writers’ experiences are both positively and negatively shaped by gender, and how the industry can respond—at the individual and group levels—to enhance or mitigate these effects.
INSTRUCTOR BIO:
Joanna Gregson, PhD, is a sociology professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of gender, sexuality, family, deviance, and popular culture. Joanna has published sociological articles on such varied topics as teenage motherhood, incarcerated women, and women’s divorce experiences. Her book, The Culture of Teenage Mothers (SUNY Press), was published in November 2009. http://www.plu.edu/sociology-social-work/contacts/home.php?details=joanna-gregson
Jen Lois, PhD, is a sociology professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Jen teaches and publishes in the areas of gender, emotions, motherhood, deviance, and popular culture. Her books have focused on the gendered culture of mountain-environment search-and-rescue volunteers (Heroic Efforts, NYU Press, 2003) and the emotional culture of homeschooling mothers (Home Is Where the School Is, NYU Press, 2012). http://www.wwu.edu/soc/bios/lois.shtml
Jen and Joanna have been collaborating on their research project, “Craft and Career: The Gendered Culture of Romance Writers,” since 2010. In 2011, RWA awarded them the annual Academic Research Grant.http://www.rwa.org/cs/academic_research_grant/past_recipients#Gregson
DINNER DETAILS
- Do not feel obligated to buy dinner at the restaurant. However, since the restaurant is giving us the space for free, it would be nice of us to have dinner there when feasible (no pressure though; we know some folks don't have the time or have budgets to stick to).
- The restaurant can accommodate gluten-free or other special dietary requests; just ask the server.
- If you can't make it at 5:00 for dinner, you can still order dinner if you get there later; just please be there to place your order by 6:40ish so that we don't interrupt our speaker.
We'd love to see you there! :)
Dana Delamar
Eastside RWA President
