I'm not certain this was discussed in those other threads, although I appreciate your linking them. This is because the stories I exclusively mentioned as being problematic didn't appear on Podcastle until after those threads were finished. To clarify, the stories I gave at the end were counterexamples to the newer ones.
It's an important distinction that too many people still don't understand-- feminism isn't misandry. I think that's why there's still such resistance in many segments of the population to the notion that, indeed, "Women are People" because misandry marches under the banner of female empowerment. From a feminist perspective, as a male at least, it's a lot more interesting storywise to how a woman overcomes obstacles that don't involve stereotypical jackass men. To use "Song of the Sparrow" as an example, the males in the story were background characters at best-- passive-- but that's not a negative portrayal. "Goosegirl" and "The Run of the Fiery Horse" featured both good and evil male characters, just as you would expect.
No, I'm not trying to say that x or y editor necessarily has some kind of agenda that's causing what I perceive to be a trend. I'm pointing out what I perceive to be a trend. I don't care who picked which stories-- the trend is the problem.
If you're still having trouble seeing it, imagine a story where a handful of female characters stumble around being stupid while serving to make the male protagonist look clever for taking advantage of their weaknesses. I don't doubt that you've actually already read such a story so it won't be a stretch of the imagination-- fantasy, science fiction, and horror started long before liberal ideals really took root in the broader population, and so we're left with unfortunate pairings of great imagination and backwards attitudes like H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote of unspeakable horrors to match his racism, and Fred Saberhagen, whose amazing planet-sized beserker robots shared stories with women who were always simpering in a corner or twisting their ankle as they tried to escape or falling in love with whoever was the strongest man in the room at the time.
For their faults, they're not bad stories, and I extend that to "Hallah Iron Thighs," "What Dragons Prefer," and "Goblin Lullaby." But if you picked up a modern anthology and the first three stories you read featured the same negative portrayal of women, I believe you'd either think that the editors had made a mistake or you'd put the book down. That's an imperfect comparison to Podcastle, of course, because it's not an anthology and I know full well that the other stories aren't like this. Consider it an anthology in progress and I think the comparison sticks well enough.
Finally, I don't want to see ungrateful for the good work that the editors of Podcastle and Escape Artists as a whole are doing. Digging into the Pseudopod and Escape Pod archives got me through thesis writing, and I've never been able to adequately put words together to express how good that is to you lot. If I didn't enjoy these podcasts, I wouldn't bother posting a criticism.
