The Story Behind The Story: Some Feminist Humor

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 I am in the midst of a socializing week, which just requires so much of me. Draining. But I can jump in here to tell you that I had still another humor piece published this past Tuesday at Slackjaw. If you are a woman, particularly a woman of a certain age, you've heard that many women object to be calling "ma'am," and you probably know why. If you aren't a woman of a certain age or if you are a man, perhaps What Do You Mean You Hate Being Called "Ma'am?" will be enlightening.

Now many Medium writers publish there every day. I've often seen articles there explaining how various writers write articles in just three hours and either immediately publish them themselves or find a Medium publication to do it. I did, I think, three drafts of the "Ma'am" humor piece and submitted it to two non-Medium sites where it was rejected. Slackjaw suggested some edits before accepting it, which I had no objection to. Working with Alex at Slackjaw makes me feel as if I'm working in a comedy writers' room, which I enjoy.

I will say that the first draft that was rejected elsewhere came off as much more of a humorous argumentative essay with material about old white guys who run the patriarchy wanting women to believe we need to keep them and all their buddies in a constant state of arousal and women accepting that about themselves, thus leading them to believe the word "ma'am" is an indication of having aged out of desirability instead of an indication that a woman has achieved personal power. Yeah, there was, perhaps, some strident feminism in that. When it was rejected, I needed to edit it down in order to submit it elsewhere, which led me to strengthening the narrative voice and focusing, focusing, focusing.

What's Coming Next?

This was the third piece of writing I've submitted and had accepted for publication in less than a month.  However, they were all started last summer, except for Dinner at Shirley Farr's, which was started 20 years ago. I hope to get a few more pieces written, submitted, and published by the end of the year, but I have nothing actually started right now.

We'll see what next week brings.