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Forwarded message:
From: tawney@juno.com (Kate M Bledsoe)
To: AWhee47354@aol.com
Date: 97-04-27 13:08:56 EDT
Hello all~
I have been lurking here for a few weeks, but I think now it is time to
introduce myself. My name is Kate, and I am a senior in high school.
Because I use Juno for e-mail and not an ISP like AOL or Compuserve, I
cannot officially be a part of this list. However, AWhee (also a lurker)
*is* on the list, and she is also a nice lady, so she has been forwarding
to me all the mail from this list, and is posting this message for me. I
have enjoyed all the discussions so far, but this is the first one I
think I can really contribute to.
lissa bloomer asked:
>what have you read? and what did you think about those works?
I have always enjoyed science fiction, but I just discovered the field of
feminist science fiction through an independent study I am taking this
year. I've had just enough time (and money) to get my footing in the
field, but not much more. I've read every story in the Norton Anthology
of Science Fiction (ed. Ursula K. Le Guin--a great anthology); all the
stories in _Women of Wonder:Feminist Science Fiction_(?--I forget the
exact title and editor's name--awful cover art but another wonderful
anthology); Butler's _Bloodchild_, _Kindred_, and _Wild Seed_; Le Guin's
_The Left Hand of Darkness_; Melissa Scott's _Trouble and Her Friends_;
and I'm in the middle of Griffith's _Ammonite_. I won't bore you with
what I thought of each and every one of these, but they all made me think
about issues I never had before. I had never consciously thought of
myself as feminist, but the independent study and the above books made me
aware that I am.
lissa also asked:
>AND why do you think you and your friends don't read sf? or at all?
I have to agree with Laura here. Of my friends who read often, I'd say
most of them don't give science fiction a shot because they either think
it is nerdy or it is stupid and not worth their time. Of my friends who
don't read, I think most of them would blame it on not having enough
time.
then lissa asked:
>do you feel that the females read more or less--and why?
This is a difficult generalization. I was going to decide I couldn't
answer it, but then I thought of the composition of my AP English class:
if I'm not forgetting any females, there are 11 females and 2 males.
Last semester, in a class of comparable size, there was one male. This
is not to say males don't read or don't like English; there are some who
are taking two sections of English, just not AP. Still, a ratio of 11
to 2 in the highest level english course my school offers is *way* out of
proportion with the senior class--I'd say it's 40 to 50 percent male.
Anyway, even though this is interesting, it has not answered Lissa's
question about reading. Most of my friends, male and female, enjoy
reading (regardless of what english class they are in). The males are
more likely to read science fiction, which is no surprise, but I have
good female friends who like science fiction too.
(--Later--Interested in the number of females and males in the
higher-level senior *math* courses, I discovered males make up 1/3 of the
AP Calculus class (5 males, 11 females), and exactly 1/4 of my regular
calculus class (4 males, 12 females). Hmmm. The rest of the senior
class takes precalc, algebra II, or no math. I don't know the numbers in
those classes, but the males must be hiding in there somewhere!)
lastly, lissa asked:
>what is going on in the high schools and around younger people today
that makes them think that >feminism is so terrible? i'd love to get your
perspective.
I may not be a good person to ask about this. My high school has a
reputation for being 'liberal', and I've never heard anyone criticized
for expressing feminist ideas. We have a Womyn's Issues Club which has
male and female members, and I went to a couple meetings, but it was so
crowded that I had to sit in the back and I couldn't hear, so it wasn't
interesting and I stopped going. Obviously, the club has support from
the high school community, and I've never heard it called a group of
man-haters or lesbians. It actively invites males and tries to make them
feel comfortable, and I don't think the word lesbian has much of a
negative connotation since a *lot* of people in the high school are gay,
and it's sort of accepted. This is not to say everything is fine and
dandy; this is just my perception and the impression I get from the
people I hang out with, who tend to think like I do and have the same
values. I know there are some homophobic people in the high school, and
people who don't like feminism, but in my experience they tend to stay
quiet. (They are probably afraid of 300 crusading PC teenagers
descending upon them and pummeling them until they agree to change their
ideas or be quiet... ;)
I hope this has been informative and not too boring. I will now return
to lurking, and I look forward to more thought-provoking discussions and
books to add to my reading list.
~Kate
PS: While I was visiting the biology department at Kenyon, I briefly met
Joan Slonczewski, the author of _Door Into Ocean_ (unfortunately, at the
time I had no idea who she was). She said that Octavia Butler was coming
to Kenyon to get an honorary degree, which I found immensely exciting,
because *I* was at Kenyon, and later *Octavia Butler* would be at Kenyon.
Wow! Just thought I'd share.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:06 PDT