How is my pseudonym different from White Dude's? A question that I think must be asked. Because White Dude is a member of the dominant white culture and as such enjoys all the privileges of being the dominant class thereof. The conquering class thereof, one might even say. Let's consider: he only puts out poems under an alternate, underprivileged identity when his own, that of an established writer and seemingly-white man, doesn't do it - when he can't get poems published under his real name and identity, when his existing advantages aren't enough, he assumes another identity and reaps what few 'advantages' it might have in the context of poetry, When he chooses to masquerade as an Asian woman, he is stepping into that identity when he chooses, and leaving that identity when it no longer becomes convenient. I am unable to leave the identity of being a woman, which means it gets used against me when I don't want it to. When I de-gender my publication name, I'm preventing things like what happened a month ago over at B O D Y - where editors thought it was cool to factor in their personal opinions of a poet's bio photo when it came to making their accept/decline decision. Read it and weep. I'm not taking advantage of whatever cultural and gendered options lie in front of me until one of them fools an editor into accepting my work. I'm literally hiding myself because I think that's favorable. Because I'd rather not think that editors are judging my photo instead of my poems.

I personally subscribe to the more mundane explanation that your gender-neutral pseudonym is a way for you to disassociate from your identity while some white dude pretending to be some Asian chick is someone masquerading as something that he is not. You are merely withholding information about yourself that you don't find relevant to the enjoyment of your poems while this dude is actively deceiving the audience by pretending to be something he is not. I don't find the fact that the white dude has white/male privilege particularly relevant as I would feel the same way if it were a black woman pretending to be a white man. I suppose it's understandable if a female poet lives in some backwards shithole country where only males can publish poems or something, but this obviously isn't the case. Why the lies and the deception? Why do they hide behind a fake identity? Can I trust what they say in their art is something they truly believe in and not something that just pander to my preconceived notions of the world? This deception renders their work inauthentic in my eyes.