V. S. Naipaul Stirs Up Male Chauvinistic Controversy with His Sexist Remarks V. S. Naipaul Stirs Up Male Chauvinistic Controversy with His Sexist Remarks

Humility and integrity are traits one finds frequently among the greatest names that either ever lived or are still alive in our world today. However, sometimes, fame & fortune – both combined – can lead a person to come out of their humility shell and splatter other individuals with either allegations or simply opinionated stereotypes.

Such was the case recently witnessed in an interview by the well known V. S. Naipaul. While being interviewed by the Royal Geographic Society, V. S. Naipaul – a winner of both the Noble Prize and Booker Prize said,

“…he could smell after reading a couple of paragraphs from any text if it had been written by a male or a female”.

The quote from the acclaimed novelist came across with a degrading tone to it even though he also said in the interview,

“I don’t mean this in any unkind way”.

His latest pick for looking down upon was Jane Austen – a master writer of her times. With a chauvinistic grin, he even went on to say that he considered his publisher, a female, to be an excellent editor till the day she decided to become an author herself.

This isn’t the first time that male writer has been quoted uttering sexist remarks. But then again, there are examples of female journalists the like of Melanie McDonagh who have been quoted supporting the same opinion that women writers don’t match men writers.

However, Melanie was smart – being a journalist – in her approach and left the reader to decide what the criterion of inequality was she trying to get at. Never the less, despite the fact that everyone is entitled to their opinion and it is a person’s greatness to be tolerant of another person’s opinion & belief, the contribution of female writers to the literary world cannot be undermined.

Yes we all agree that the world has yet to hear of a female Tolstoy or Shakespeare. But we also agree that the world has yet to see a male writer reap the popularity & acceptance among the masses that female authors such as J. K. Rowling, Willa Carther, Harriet Tubman and Edith Wharton have been able to win. You cannot compare apples to mangoes, and you can’t compare female authors to male writers; both have their distinct set of sentiments and the manner in which they reveal them.