Huh. I don't remember any real friendships in the handmaid's tale. But I really disliked that book, so maybe that's why.


A lot of what my closest female friends and I did when we were kids was play make-believe. Whether you do that with barbies or with wizards staffs out in the woods, it's fun (of course, I prefered to do it with lincoln logs and star wars figurines because then I could build cities to play in -- playing with the props wasn't as much fun as makeing them to me, it's true). Dress-up is fun too, as long as it's about being silly and pretty (or ghastly) instead of what the current fashion is and how important it is to fit in. I think one of the fascinating things about fandom is that it promotes an image of strong intelligent women who can also have fun dressing up.

Seems to me you'd have to be pretty confident to even try writing women in the context of other women.

Yeah, I think so. But that's part of why I'd like to see it done.