Stacy Gillis

Women’s writing has long been a thorn in the side of the male literary establishment. From fears in the late 18th century that reading novels—particularly written by women—would be emotionally and physically dangerous for women, to the Brontë sisters publishing initially under male pseudonyms, to the dismissal of the genre of romance fiction as beyond the critical pale, there has been a dominant culture which finds the association of women and writing to be dangerous. It has long been something to be controlled, managed and dismissed.