reproduction and childrearing

From: Mala Ghoshal (NC) (ghoshal@VIRTU.SAR.USF.EDU)
Date: Fri May 16 1997 - 11:59:56 PDT


i've also been enjoying the discussion of childhood favorites--i miss the
intensity with which i used to completely lose myself in books. among my
favorites were a bunch of fantasies by edgar (or maybe edward)
eager--Half-Magic and Knight's Castle are the titles i remember.
        on an unrelated note--i've narrowed the topic of my thesis to
reproduction and childreaing in feminist science fiction. in The
Dialectic of Sex (which had a strong influence on feminist sf writers in
the seventies) Shulamith Firestone argued that peace and equality between
the sexes were impossible as long as one sex was solely responsible for
childbearing. I realized that Herland, Venus Plus X, The Left Hand of
Darkness, Motherlines, Woman on the Edge of Time, and Russ's Whileaway all
do away with the system in which one sex bears children and one
doesn't--they describe societies in which there is one sex or there are
two but babies bloom in bottles. It seems a bit discouraging to me
because I'd like to think that we could reach equality and peace without
radically altering the nature of reproduction (cause I don't see that
happening anytime soon). what do you all think about the link between
reproduction and women's oppression? are there other books that you think
would be particularly helpful? thanks,
                                       mala



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:12 PDT