Wednesday, September 26, 2012

In Which I Am Honest and Reveal a Shocking Secret

I have a bit of an announcement to make. Some of you may have already guessed (or at least suspected) what I'm about to tell you all, but for those of you who had no clue, I hope that this doesn't make you rethink your support of me or this blog.

First, I'd like to give props to Jennifer over at The Relentless Reader for this post which made me realize that the time had come for me to be open and honest. As I was submitting my comment on what she had said, I realized that all the time that I've been blogging honestly I've still been lying to my followers. Every single opinion that I have had about a book has been true, but there's been a big glaring lie that I've been blogging under since the beginning and I want to come clean.

My name isn't Gabriel. I write under a pseudonym. Of course, lots of people do that every day. But here's the other part of the lie...and it's kind of a biggie. I'm actually not a guy.

The decision to write under a male alias was made right at the beginning of this blog and it never occurred to me that one day I might regret it. For one thing, there weren't many men who wrote book blogs so writing as a guy set me apart. For another thing, my real name is insanely common, especially among book bloggers, so I figured that the name Gabriel would be more memorable. It also allowed me to have a unique rating system and to write a book blog without being sent tons and tons of requests to read romance novels, which I really, truly despise.

As time went on, however, I realized the drawbacks of not being honest about who I was. I realized that book blogging meant more than reading books and talking about them. It meant conventions and meet-ups and interviews with authors and becoming part of a community. I think one of the main reasons why I started to slowly slip out of the blogging world at the end of last year was because I knew that I wasn't being myself and could therefore not truly be a part of the blogging community.

The main thing that really bothered me about it, though, was that I had to be sort of dishonest when I was reviewing books about certain topics. I couldn't say, "Oh, this appealed to me because I know exactly what this woman went through." I had to tip-toe around subjects with a dismissive, "I have no idea what's going on because I'm a guy," which is so completely false that it made me feel guilty.

My review of Bossypants is a glaring example of that. I didn't like the book and I do feel like it's inaccessible to the male population in some ways and I don't want to read about periods and breastfeeding,. But writing under a male pseudonym made that review slightly difficult to write because there were a lot of things that I could identify with her about (parenthood not being one of them) and I couldn't come out and say that. I've always had to be really careful about what I wrote in order to keep up the pretense of being a guy, making every word I write important, and keeping me on my toes as I edited. It got exhausting after awhile, to be honest.

After my boyfriend coaxed me back into blogging I kept saying things to him like, "I feel like I need to say something about this," or "Maybe I should just tell the truth." His reaction was to say, "Do what you feel is right." At first I thought that that was going to be just writing under this assumed identity for the rest of time and never saying anything. But when Jennifer's post came in my reader today I realized that the time had come to step forward and say something before I slipped...or before I signed up to do something in real life that would have revealed my true identity anyway.

I feel bad that I misled people. With all of the outrage last year over the "lesbian bloggers" who were really men and the public outcry over Greg Mortensen and James Frey being less than truthful, is it any wonder that I feel like a heel admitting to everyone that I'm not who I've been saying that I am? Do I think that what I did is horrible? No. My reviews are always truthful and honest (with the exception of anytime that I've ever said something like, "As a guy..."), as are the stories that I've told about my life and the opinions that I have about the world. My writing was just colored by the alias that I had assumed in order to write this blog.

I'm terrified that I'm going to lose followers over this, but I'm asking my readers and my fellow book bloggers for forgiveness. I'm still the same smart-ass reviewer that you know and love. That's never going to change simply because I've admitted that I have different body parts than you've been led to believe. I feel sort of free now, like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I'm just hoping this doesn't came back to bite me in the butt.

Now about the title of this blog and everything that goes along with it. I like the title. And I like the way that I review books (i.e., the Gabriel Scale). One of the main reasons why I chose to write under an alias in the first place was because of the fact that I talk openly about a lot of things, including my job, and I didn't want the hassle if someone found out who I was. And I'm serious when I tell you that pretty much every third person in the world shares my real name. But I also really want to be able to do things like BEA without people going, "Wait, who are you? No, really. Who are you?" So I was torn between leaving things the way that they are or changing this blog to reflect who I truly am.

In the end, the best thing for me to do is, of course, is to change the blog. Not the structure of it or the way that I write or anything like that. I'm currently looking for a new blog title (all of the clever ways to use "bibliophile" are taken) and will be changing the way that I rate books. If I don't get that done before this weekend's Bloggiesta, then that'll be added to the list of things to do. There's a lot of stuff to do in order to right all of this, but in the meantime stick with me. There are reviews coming (I've already scheduled my review of The Hobbit) and I have plans for where I'd like to take this blog in the future.

Again, I apologize for my dishonesty. I truly value each and every person that I've met through this blog and I hope that you will understand what I did and why I did it.

Sincerely (and honestly),

Jen (see, I told you it was a common name!)

24 comments:

  1. This is my face right now (http://tinyurl.com/cfpx4sh)!

    I'm a little embarrassed to say that I never even questioned that you were a dude named Gabe (can I still call you that or do you prefer Jen now?)but then it doesn't really matter to me when it comes to interesting people I meet on the interwebs. And don't worry, I don't feel betrayed or lied to or awkward or any other negative thing, although it'll be interesting to see if I read your reviews differently now that I know you are a girl.

    Interesting news to start the day on!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I actually thought you might be a girl that wrote under a guy's name, or had a "guy's" name. I think that a lot of girls I know would probably pick the name Gabriel if they had to use a fake guy's name.I always thought it was really a moniker. Plus, the Tilda Swinton pictures, it was a little tongue in cheek, cause she played Gabriel but was really a woman.

    I would love to know more about why you felt more comfortable writing as a guy, and how this might reflect the percieved roles of women in our society.

    I have always thought your reviews were really good. Glad to have you for the 'girl bloggers' team, (not that there is a team, or that it is women against men. :P) I will keep following you, although I know I don't comment much anyway, and I need to spend less time on the net.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kayleigh: I love that picture. And you shouldn't feel embarrassed at all. I should have come clean about it before this, but it never seemed like the right time. And as for what you should call me, I was trying out a new blog title but I don't really like it, so I'm going to keep the title Gabriel Reads and my blogging moniker. Everyone knows me by that anyway. Plus, there are a ton of Jens out there in the blogging world and not enough Gabes. LOL

    Laura: My boyfriend said the same thing. He was like, "If no one has figured this out by now I'll be surprised, especially because of Tilda Swinton." He'll be happy to know that he was right. :) Thanks for the compliment. I know there are no teams, but it does feel good to finally have it out in the open.

    As for why I felt more comfortable, I think it was mostly because no one would be able to figure out who I was. Different name + different gender = no chance of anyone I know at work or whatever realizing it was me unless I told them. Plus in the era of no privacy, it was kind of nice to create a sort of privacy bubble around myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean about privacy, when I first started on the internet, I was so keen to be utterly anonymous, kind of paranoid about anyone I knew finding my stuff, now I have a blog and I am completely out there, and so far it's been ok.

      Delete
    2. I was raised in that "Stranger Danger" era where parents were being told that there was, like, an epidemic of kidnappings (which wasn't actually true) and I think some of what was drilled into my head at the time just kind of stuck. Plus all of those warnings that we got about creepers on the internet. The 90s were kind of paranoid now that I think about it.

      Delete
  4. As I was reading your post I thought, hot damn I bet her name is Jennifer. Were you born in the 70s by any chance? There are so many of us!

    Boy/Girl..whatever. I dig your blog ;) Many thanks for the props. Here's to being honest and awesome! Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jennifer: LOL! I was an 80s baby. The year I was born that was the number one name for girls in the country. My mother isn't even remotely original.

    And thanks. I dig it, too. And yours, as well. I love seeing bloggers who are willing to say "I don't care if you're getting rave reviews, I don't want to read your stuff. I'm going to go over here and read books I like."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You just had to point out that you're younger than me huh?? ;)

      Keep on doing what you're doing!

      Delete
    2. Sorry. If it makes you feel better, it's only four years to 30 and I still work around college students. The student workers at the library are pretty much all 90s kids. It's distressing knowing I was in school when these kids were born.

      Delete
    3. There are things that slap me in the face all the time lately. 20th anniversary of that, 25th anniversary of this...ack. Stop world! ;)

      Delete
    4. I'm always a little surprised when I find out that a band that I grew up listening to is about as old (or older) than I am--BNL, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. It makes me realize that there are kids today who are hearing their parents (who are my age) listen to the music of my youth and are saying "Turn that stuff off, mom. God, that music's so old." Hell, the oldies station in my area played a Gloria Estefan song earlier this year--one that came out when I was in late elementary school. I think I speak for Gloria when I say that I'm mildly offended by that. LOL

      Delete
  6. This is so funny! I clicked on your link in the hugely long Bloggiesta participants list because there are so few male book bloggers compared to the number of women. And then to find out you are a woman too! Gave me a chuckle. I hadn't found you before, but I'm glad you won't be feeling guilty anymore. (I don't know Tilda Swinton, so that wouldn't have tipped me off!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I feel sort of sheepish, but in the end I guess it doesn't really matter as long as my reviews are quality (which I like to think they are). And she's fantastic. I have yet to find a performance by her that I don't absolutely love.

      Delete
  7. I think I first started following you as it was rare to find many male book bloggers, but since then I've found loads so I don't mind ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, there are a lot more out there than I thought. I don't know how long some of them have been around so I don't know if I started a trend or not. LOL

      Delete
  8. So you are a woman! I think I was one of your first followers. You won a novel during one of my book giveaways. I kept wondering, hmmm, is the blogger a woman or man as i tried to figure which book to send. Even though i knew the name was mostly given to males i kept wondering if you were a woman that happen to have a father that insisted the next child would have his name even if it was not a boy after trying for the fourth time. LOL. Then again you probably would of been called Gabriella. LOL. GabriellaReads. cute too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had thought about just changing the title to that but I usually just go by Gabe on here so it doesn't really matter. I think I got the idea for the name from a book I had read in which one of the female characters was named Gabe. I've always loved the name Gabriel and thought that Gabe was kind of a cool nickname for Gabrielle (which is what I'm guessing this characters real first name was). But since I wanted to blog as male, I went with the male version of the name.

    Either way, I'll read pretty much anything. I'm a huge proponent of backing away from the gendered corners that we as a society have painted ourselves into. This whole "blue for boys, pink for girls" thing is ridiculous, as is the notion that there are girl toys and boy toys. In that same vein, I definitely reject the idea of gendering books. Books are for people, not for genitals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know, I'm pretty sure the 50 Shades books are for genitals not people...

      Delete
    2. Kayleigh, sometimes I want to shrink you and keep you in my pocket so that you could tell me things like this all day. Seriously, this comment made my whole day.

      Delete
    3. everyone should have a mini-Kayleigh in their pocket, I'm working on the science behind it right now. So I'll get you to beta-test it!

      Delete
    4. Oooh, good. As long as it doesn't blow anything up. LOL

      Delete
    5. I can't make any promises on that count.

      Delete
  10. Books are for people, not for genitals. <~~ Yes!!

    ReplyDelete