Women, violence and Ian Rankin

In Edinburgh this week, Scottish crime writer Val McDermid was talking about sexism in the publishing industry.

To furnish her argument, she quoted an author - who she did not name - who had the year before made a surprising comment: "The people writing the most graphic violence today are women ... they are mostly lesbians as well".

Val McDermid said: "Have you ever heard a male crime writer being asked, 'As a man, how do you feel about writing about violence?'"

"There's a profound disassociation, it seems to me, as if somehow it's wrong for us to be writing about violence against women, as though somehow we need permission to write about violence against women."

No sooner had her mouth opened than the identity of the author was revealed to be Inspector Rebus author Ian Rankin.

Rankin says he was misquoted, and had a chance to defend himself during Ruth Rendell's questions session at the festival.

According to one blogger in the audience, Rankin redeemed himself and even Rendell herself said that, given his explanation, she would tend to agree with what he had said the year before.

Nonetheless, the whole brouhaha has raised the temperature of the blogosphere, here's what the online chatterers had to say on the issue.

What the bloggers say

Stuff-Em-Up the hill backwards believes that Rankin has done nothing wrong: "You've got to love today's politically correct sensitivities and wonder how easy it would be for even the most 'right-on' amongst us to put our feet firmly in our mouths if subjected to the scrutiny and selective filtering of the popular media."

And the Flying Dutchman in the Scotsman debate thinks the issue has become overblown, and blames the journalist who allegedly misquoted Ian Rankin in the first place: "A typical case of an over reaction full of self serving hypocrisy & bluster. Big mouth trumpeting contentious comment = lines of print in lightweight newspapers short of journalistic talent/journalists."

But, in a Times forum, Dr Dean, Sacramento pleas for the equal treatment of male and female authors, and believes the debate has been diverted away from what really matters: "Words on the page are what matters and they are all the same regardless of who wrote them. Judge them by their words and ideas - nothing more."

Freedom From The Mundane thinks that strong feelings are stirred up by the issue of violence: "Really I think there is nothing in it. I think if what was said was true, it would be offensive - if it were true.

"It's one of those things about crime fiction; you write a violent scene and it stirs up all sorts of issues and passions that people would prefer not to talk about, so they blame the author instead."

And Lara comments to say we shouldn't really be surprised by all of this: "People are getting "misquoted" all the time. Why? Controversy sells papers, bottom line. If you had a dime for every celebrity who was "quoted out of context" you could buy a small island in the Bahamas."

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