Fred Pohl, in a 1978 discussion with Alfred Bester (transcribed and posted recently here):
“No woman writer has been in any way handicapped by being female in science fiction in the last 10 to 15 years, with one single exception.”
Pohl, with his career as writer, agent, and editor, was in a better position to have an opinion than most people. On the other hand, as a male insider, he was in a better position to harbor self-serving delusions than most people.  Also, his statement doesn’t address any possible prejudices harbored by the readers; even if the publishing chain was completely sex-blind, it would take account of how things sold, and so if the readers cared, it would end up being reflected in publishing.
Olympus EPL-2 with Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens
This is going to replace my Panasonic DMC-LX3. The LX3 has a 24-60mm-equiv. lens, which is good (the 20mm is 40mm-equiv. on the new camera). But the LX3 is fixed lens, whereas the EPL-2 is a Micro Four-Thirds camera, which takes interchangeable lenses made by at least 4 companies (plus almost anything else via adapters for manual operation).
And the EPL-2 has a much bigger sensor, and is much better in low light, where I take so many of my snapshots. In good light the LX3 is great, I even made a 20×30 print of one of my LX3 photos for the decor project at work. But working with the files from Minn-StF meetings or sitting around at home in the evening was no fun at all. I could get snapshots, but little more, usually.
Plus the EPL-2 has extreme toy potential. Micro Four-Thirds has about the shortest flange distance of any lens mount for still cameras; so it’s easy to make mechanical adapters that put the lens the right distance from the sensor.
So…
With 75mm f/1.4 video lens adapted
That’s an effective angle of view matching a 150mm lens on 35mm, a moderate telephoto (Micro Four-Thirds has a 2x crop factor). At f/1.4. At least in preliminary testing, this one covers the whole format, too, there’s no major vignetting in the corners or anything. This is a “C-mount” lens, a common mount for old Bolex 16mm cameras and video cameras.  (This is the Pentax/Cosmicar 75mm f/1.4).
And the EPL-2 has in-body image stabilization, so I can hand-hold at rather slow shutter speeds.
I’ve also used it with my old Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AIS lens. I’ll try the 70-200/2.8 some day when I’m feeling really evil. Or maybe the 500/8.
This isn’t aimed at replacing the Nikon DSLR; that’s far superior in low light, and faster at focusing, and more accurate at focus tracking. Quite possibly better dynamic range, haven’t checked.
With the pancake lens, it’s maybe 1/8″ thicker than the LX3, and it’s much nicer in a lot of ways. If you’re looking for a used LX3, keep your eye on Ebay, I’ve got a few things I need to find all the parts of, photograph, and get listed, including the LX3.
I think it’s happened. For the first time ever (since I’ve had PC-level computers at work), I actually have a more powerful computer at work than at home.
Note dust mats over air ventsClean!
The new one is pretty much just this year’s model; very little difference visible from the outside.
But it has 3 times the memory and twice the processors. And 15000 RPM enterprise SAS drives, in RAID0 for high performance.
