Dear Mala, Sounds interesting! Might I add Tiptree's "Houston, Houston Do
You Read" to the List?? Has anyone read the Charnas book "The Furies"-
I believe it is the third in the "Motherlines" trilogy. I remember that
she took a very long time indeed to write it and she aimed to reconcile
the horsewomen and the society of Holdfast in this book. The fact that it
is called 'The Furies" and features a furious looking female
warrior on the cover might indicate that it has failed in her aim of
heterosexual reconciliation.
You might try Dorothy Byrant's "The Kin of Alta are Waiting for You" which
I think recognised two sexes, but I can't remember whether technology was
involved in reproduction (actually, I don't think so). A book which tries
to reconcile the two sexes is J.C. Carr's Leviathan's Deep- although
admittedly it is about an alien matriarchy which is in the process of being
colonised by the evil earthlings. One breakaway hero from the evil
colonisers is called Neill and he eventually persuades the heroine
Kilmassu (?) that companionate heterosexuality is the way to go.The
matriarchy despises its males, which it considers stupid, weak etc- and
(surprise, surprise) they are stupid and weak.This has obvious
applications to the position of women in our culture. However,
companionate
heterosexuality has a number of drawbacks in the book (and I don't think
the book quite intended this)- first of all Neill takes over
leadership and dominates Kilmassu, and is a patronising swine.Secondly,
the book is very hostile
towards homosexuality, with a particularly evil earthling being gay.The
book does involve reproduction, and there is a suggestion that Kilmassu
and Neill have produced a son, but the how of it is left vague. This
matriarchial society is very hostile towards technology in general, but
Kilmassu has embraced it as a means of removing the evil earthlings from
the planet. So there may be something in reproduction and technology here.
But Levianthan's Deep does show how difficult it is once heterosexuality
enters the mix to create equitable relationships. Maybe I'm just cynical!
You might also like to look at Delany's "Triton", where reproduction and
family structure are treated in a very interesting way.And men are
included in this society, or should I say "men" as one can change one's
sex via technology at will.
Tanya.
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