In light of the "catfishing author" incident, a thread on pen names, their history, conventions, and courtesy.

This is my personal perspective. Other people may disagree, but from my perspective this is how it is.

Pen names are a common and well-established part of the writing landscape. I use a pen name, for instance. There are many good reasons to use a pen name: For privacy, or because you don't like your birth name, or because you write multiple genres and want to keep them distinct.

There's always been a "wink and a nod" aspect to pen names where readers understand that the name on the cover may not correspond to a real person. Many people may share one pen name or one person many pen names. This isn't deception because everyone understands how it works.

If you use a pen name like Lemony Snicket, for instance, even small children can divine that there wasn't a moment at the hospital when the doctor asked "What shall you name your baby, Mrs. Snicket?" and she replied "I shall call him Lemony."

But things get complex when the pen name has a different gender or ethnicity than the author. This, too, has a long history, going back to people like the Brontës and George Eliot, who used male pen names to gain credibility in an era when female authors weren't taken seriously.

Importantly, they were using pen names to access privilege that they'd been denied. They wouldn't be taken seriously under their real names, so they used pen names. And the "wink and nod" still applies: They never outright said they were men, they just let their audience assume.

Things get trickier when you reverse the situation. The Brontës weren't taking anything away from male authors. But when a privileged person uses a pseudonym from a less privileged group, they really are taking space and accolades from people that have limited access already.

For instance, several white poets have used Asian pseudonyms, trading on orientalist ideas that Asians are sage and wise while also taking advantage of the goodwill of editors trying to publish diverse voices. Now that really is deception. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/when-white-poets-pretend-to-be-asian

The situation is a little different with gender; there's a much more established history of men using female pseudonyms. Both men and women have written Nancy Drew books under the Carolyn Keene pseudonym, for example, and that's harmless and not really deceptive.

Still, there are reasons to be uneasy about men using female pseudonyms. While authorship and sales are split pretty evenly, male authors tend to vacuum up the accolades, and there are "pink collar" aspects to how genres are divided.

So women may reasonably feel that their space is being edged in on if a man uses a female pseudonym to write, say, romance or erotica. Or they may find it voyeuristic, especially if it's a straight guy. But that's a matter of opinion--lots of women are fine with it.

But here's the key point, the TL;DR if you're skimming the thread:

A PSEUDONYM IS NOT A PERSONA.

A pen name is just that--a name. It doesn't state anything about who you actually are. It may imply things, like your gender, but readers know that might not correspond to who you really are.

When you outright state false facts about yourself, that's a whole different situation.

Once an author outright states that they're female, queer, Asian, etc, in bios or on social media, there's no longer a wink and a nod. That's just lying. Readers have a reasonable expectation that the facts you state about yourself are true.

If a straight author were writing under her own real name and she claimed to be a lesbian to get attention from LGBT publishers, for example, I think we'd all find that reprehensible. Using a pen name doesn't change the situation.

And the more robust the persona, the more deceptive this becomes. A male author using a female stock photo as his profile picture, confirming he's a lesbian when asked, and worst of all, abusing the #OwnVoices hashtag all add to the deception.

Admittedly, using a cross-gender pseudonym is tricky in the age of social media! In the James Tiptree Jr. era, the convention was for pseudonymous authors to be reclusive and not reveal anything about themselves. That's not really possible anymore.

But still, using a cartoon character or your pet as your profile photo, using a bio written without pronouns, and so on can do a lot to make readers feel like you're not deliberately tricking them. Or simply use a gender-neutral pen name, like initials.

And, I can't believe I have to say this, but if you're a man, under no circumstances should you hit on queer women while pretending to be a lesbian.

Fin.