Women Writers Using Male Pseudonyms Online

This post at Salon.com relates how some women bloggers are finding success using male pseudonyms online. Specifically, James Chartrand recently revealed that 'he' is a man in name only, landing more freelance gigs and earning twice as much money as she did using her real name. Salon points out that while this seems old fashioned ala George Eliot and the Brontë sisters, it's still common for women writers to publish under explicitly male or gender neutral names today-- Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter series was published under her initials J.K. because her publishers didn't want the author's name to put off young boys. And in an age-old story, some women online use pseudonyms out of fear for their safety and the safety of their children after receiving threats of violence or sexual insults. I am hopeful that with spaces like PulseWire, where women's words are valued because of our gender and not in spite of it, more and more women will write using their real names and without fear.