On Mon, 21 Apr 1997, Robin Gordon wrote:
> The question of whether "hard sf" can be feminist, or is it oxymoronic,
> all depends on what you mean by "hard sf", of course. Everything is a
> question of language. If you mean highly technological sf, then there are
> some feminist hard sf around.
And it depends on what you mean by "feminist" too. What about C.J.
Cherryh, for instance? Her sf is undoubtedly "hard" by usual definitions
(there's a lot of space hardware and lots of technology, for instance).
Her concerns are often the same as those of male "hard sf" writers: she
writes a lot about power, and about violence, and, like many male hard sf
writers, seems to come from the political right (which to a European looks
rather like the far right). Yet many of her leading characters are women
-- usually tough, ambitious women, succeeding in a future world in which
women _can_ succeed. Does this make her feminist?
Edward James
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Professor Edward James, Dept of History, Faculty of Letters and Social
Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, READING RG6 6AA, UK
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/~lhsjamse/home.htm
Editor: FOUNDATION: THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION
Joint Editor: EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE
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