Letters to the Editor
-
Nice, But Not New
It's nice that Newsweek is recognizing female sci-fi writers, but it's not exactly new. How about Anne McCaffrey, Ursula Le Guin, Lois McMaster Bujold, and many others who are quite well known and have been writing for years (or decades in some cases).
-
This is news?
This has been the case for ages. Anne McCaffrey started her Pern series in 1967, which has a predominantly female following. Then there was Mercedes Lackey on the fantasy side, overwhelmingly popular with young girls, and Sheri Tepper writing thoughtful *very* feminist science fiction, and hundreds of writers with thousands upon thousands of female fans. Even male writers get into the act--David Weber's got Honor Harrington heading a military ship. One of the protagonists of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Saga is a woman, which sounds like fairly little except that the time period is not one kind to women.
In other words, no, not all of us are reading chick-lit and watching Sex and the City.
And considering how many ideas Lois McMaster Bujold has about social issues like gay marriage and mental illness, maybe you shouldn't reduce her to a 'spaceman-dominated' cover.
-
Women and SF
Women have been involved in SF for a very long time. My mother introduced me to it when I was quite young as it was some of her favorite reading. If you go to any convention, the halls and panels are well stocked with women. In fact, the Guest of Honor at this years World Science Fiction Convention in Aneheim, CA is Connie Willis. Ms. Willis is one of the best writers alive today, in the SF field or indeed any field.
-
Sigh. How, uh, timely. Not.
In *1986*, for a school project I did an analysis of currently available science fiction and fantasy novels by author sex, by going down to Waldenbooks, counting up all the books, and assessing the sex of the author (male, female or unknown).
At that time, something like 70% of all fantasy fiction and 30% of all science fiction on the bookshelf that day was written by women. I suspect the stats now, if anything, have moved to favor more female-written sf.
It is not exactly news that women read, write and enjoy science fiction. For many years, the teen market has been dominated by science fiction and fantasy, and the majority of teens who read books at *all* are girls. I, personally, have never read the work of Lidda Bray, or any science fiction which features corsets (fantasy, yes, sf, no), but it is certainly true that science fiction and fantasy can (and do) portray societies that are sexually egalitarian, female-dominated, or simply have completely different assumptions about sex and gender than our society. (Mercedes Lackey's fantasies featured the Triad Goddess archetype -- Maiden, Mother and Crone -- as a Tetrad with "Warrior" added... in the early 1990's. And Mercedes Lackey has *never* been cutting edge.)
Here's a newsflash. Women like science fiction! Also, we watch Star Trek, and Farscape, and Battlestar Galactica! And (gasp) we READ COMIC BOOKS! And we've done these things since at *least* the mid-80's!
Newsweek being way behind the curve in an understanding of women and pop culture hardly surprises me, but the "golly gee whiz, us girls really like this stuff!" attitude from, of all people, a *Salon* writer is just plain ridiculous. I mean, where was Page Rockwell when Salon did critical analyses of Buffy, Xena or Battlestar Galactica? SF hasn't been a boys' world since the early 90's, fantasy hasn't been since the late *70's*, and the condescending "oh, sci-fi is for geeky boys" attitude from women is crap I thought I had gotten away from when I graduated high school.
Perhaps next we will be treated to another newsflash: Men like stories about women who kick butt! A brand new trend that's only been known about since Aliens and Terminator 2 came out! Or perhaps we'll hear about this brand new trend for women to fall for sexy smart men on TV, like perhaps Mr. Spock! That one's only about forty years old; surely if Newsweek doesn't devote an article to it Broadsheet could talk about it!
-
I'm reading Libba Bray's book right now!
I'm reading Libba Bray's "A Great and Terrible Beauty" right now. It is fairly good, and definately transcends being labeled "fantasy/sci-fi" with corsets.
One of the reasons I like the book is that it is so hard to classify. If anything, it's plot is most similar to Mean Girls only set in Victorian times and with a healthy dose of magic thrown in. Most of the book, concentrates on the competative nature of the girls' relationships with each other rather than on people running around pointing magic wands at each other.
-
As for the corsets
The reason the characters in the book have corsets is that they are Victorian age girls. The corsets are mostly used as a symbol of the societal restraint put upon the girls. It is not as if corsets are celebrated in Bray's book. Mostly they are mentioned as being horribly uncomfortable and a burden.
-
Science Fiction for Women
I liked science fiction, too, when I was too little to know better. "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madelne L'Engle was my first; I was in third grade. In my twenties I devoured anything by Robert Heinlein -- his spaceships were conned by women! But when I finished growing up, I began to notice something: Heinlein's spaceship captains were women with tiny waists and boucy breasts who couldn't wait to hump Lazarus Long. They weren't heroes or role models, they were sex objects with cool-sounding day jobs. So goes most of the genre. Nowadays I prefer fiction that treats half the population a little less dismisively.
-
Not new to girls
I starting reading science fiction along with the many other genres that interested me when I was about 15. I'm now 49.
-
WisCon celebrates its 30th year this spring
What I find very interesting is the growing number of novels and short stories that appear in the "literary" section of the bookstore that are obviously fantasy stories. The Time Taveler's Wife is one fine example, as well as just about everything by the "magical realist" schools.
Women reading, writing, and discussing speculative fiction isn't anything new. Every year since 1977, a convention called WisCon has been held in Madison, Wisconsin. WisCon was the first, and remains the leading Feminist science fiction and fantasy convention, although there are now similar conventions held around the world. Women and men get together every Memorial Day weekend to discuss issues of feminism, gender, race, and class. And just plain good writing from across the science fiction, fantasy, and horror fields.
This year is the 30th anniversary. Find out more information at the WisCon website: www.wiscon.info.