If you look forward to Women in Horror Month like we do, then you probably got excited that you were seeing tweets pop up with folks starting to celebrate. But you also might have seen some replies to those tweets with folks saying “It’s in March now.” It is? When did that happen? Well, the story behind it is interesting and worth a look.
In the Women in Horror Facebook Group (which is public so there is nothing to hide) Filmmaker Lisa Ovies posted a thread about the month officially (my use of the word official, not hers) moving to March. The reasoning for the suggestion was, and is, pretty simple. February is Black History Month and really shouldn’t be doubled up like it is. Now, I think it is important at this time to point out that the fact that this discussion was even being had was a big deal. Here are some other things that claim February as their “Official Month” who don’t seem to be having this conversation.
- National Snack Food Month
- Great American Pies Month
- Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
- National Heart Month
- National Bird Feeding Month
- Free and Open Source Software Month
I am not really sure why pie needs a month, especially weird, jingoistic pie. I mean who doesn’t like pie? My point being that every month has a bunch of things hanging off of it, but WiHM and Black History Month share a common purpose: focus on a group that deserves focus. So it made a ton of sense to me that a group that knows what it feels like to be marginalized would not want to do it to another group.
So the thread got some discussion and it was “decided” (the quotes are there because of what comes next) that there would essentially be two months this year and it would start being in March next year. Easy peasy, yes? And as you see, people who asked about the relative officialness (again, my word) of the move were referred to the fact that this has been an ongoing discussion for a long time. But, from a practical sense, there was no way to stop what was happening for February as it was very last minute.
We here at the Gallery can change because whatever. It’s not like we make any money off any of this anyway (we are terrible business people) and we need the time to work on the new season of Strangeful Things anyway. So that is where things stood until I saw this Twitter thread this morning. Apparently, the powers that be at WiHM are saying that they have never heard anyone ask about moving the date and never go to their Facebook group. Whether ignoring your official Facebook Group is a good idea or not is very debatable, but the organizers saying that they have never ever heard of the suggestion before seems like news.
So what is going to happen? Based on what I have seen so far, people are going to be confused. We at the Gallery are all for moving it in 2022 and for celebrating two months this year. But, in my opinion, the organizers need to put out a statement on moving the date before this week is over. Even if it is just that they are going to “look into it” or whatever. Will it happen? Hard tellin’, not knowin’. But we will keep looking out for news and would be happy to discuss it with anyone from the community who wants to weigh in. You can talk to me on Twitter or use our contact page. In the meantime, happy Women In Horror Month(s)!
