A dramatic turn of events unfolded at the Planeta Literary Awards in Spain when female crime writer Carmen Mola was revealed not to be a woman after all. The acclaimed author is actually three men who chose the award ceremony in front of King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, to disclose that they were the collective pseudonym behind Mola. The trio’s identities are Antonio Mercero, Agustín Martínez, and Jorge Díaz — three screenwriter friends who came up with the Carmen Mola persona. Novels written under the Mola name are classified as dark and graphic. The violence against women in the Mola writings is often hailed as an accurate depiction of the trauma of women’s collective experience. This writing style is in stark contrast to the “life” and fake online profile presented of Mola that identified her as a loving mother and college math professor. Reactions in the literary world have been mixed, with some being highly critical of the deception and others calling it an elaborate publicity stunt. Given that the use of pseudonyms is very common in the literary world, one is left wondering whether the backlash is about the use of the pen name or the fact that three men were behind the ruse that won them the million-euro prize. Regardless of which it is, this revelation gives us an opening to discuss sex and gender and the broader expectations associated with these concepts from a sociological perspective.
The term sex refers to the anatomical variances between males and females. On the other hand, gender is the socially learned expectations and behaviors associated with being male or female. Even though both of these terms are used in everyday parlance, our understanding of these concepts in the 21st century is much broader than it was in the past. While historically, many assumed that these concepts were binary or about extremes, we now know that peoples’ lived experiences are more nuanced. For example, people who are intersex are born with a combination of male and female sexual organs. Additionally, someone’s gender identity, inner sense and identification of being a male or female, is not the same as their gender roles or public expression of one’s gender identity. The Mola deception involves elements of both sex and gender. The three writers identify as male as opposed to the female they presented to the world. On the other hand, the Mola writing style is considered ultra-violent and effectively challenges traditional stereotypes and gender norms, behaviors or traits that society attributes to a particular sex, society has about women. In fact, the Mola writings garnered her acclaim as a feminist, a person who believes in the legal, political, social, and economic equality between the sexes, whose works were on par with those of Margaret Atwood, author of the blockbuster The Handmaid’s Tale.
The backlash against the three writers behind Mola can be better understood by considering the broader social impact of gender stratification, the unequal access and distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between women and men. Men in the publishing industry are often paid more and receive larger bonuses than women receive. Additionally, books written by women are frequently priced around 45% lower than those of men. The Planeta Award win of “Carmen Mola” gave many people hope that women had finally broken through the literary glass ceiling, social and legal barriers designed to prevent minorities and women from advancing in the workplace. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed on the tiny shards of glass littering the ground below the cracked, but still unbroken ceiling.
While the deception perpetrated by Antonio Mercero, Agustín Martínez, and Jorge Díaz may have been based on a simple desire to collaborate, their actions effectively laid bare the broader sexism or the prejudice, devaluation, and discrimination based on an individual’s sex that exists in the publishing industry and the larger society.
