Forwarded by moderator. (posting bounced - Mary Ann, do you know why two
of your postings might have bounced to me?)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mary Ann Beavis, IUS" <mary@CONED.UWINNIPEG.CA>
Organization: The University of Winnipeg
To: FEMINISTSF@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 15:46:01 CDT
Subject: Re: Susan Calvin
> Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 15:56:51 -0400
> Reply-to: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature"
> <FEMINISTSF@listserv.uic.edu>
> From: Anny Middon <AnnyMiddon@aol.com>
> Subject: Susan Calvin
> To: FEMINISTSF@listserv.uic.edu
> Since this is my first post to the list, I'll introduce myself. My name is
> Anny Middon. I have absolutely no qualifications to participate in this
> list, save a love of science fiction and a strong feminist philosophy.
> (Query: How many on this list are old enough to remember when Feminism was
> more commonly known as Women's Liberation?)
>
> Actually, I ask that for a reason. I'd like opinions on Susan Calvin, Isaac
> Asimov's recurring robopsychologist character. When I first read most of the
> stories, back in the late 60's and early 70's, I loved them. I think this
> was largely because I was so happy to see at last a strong female character
> (and a scientist, to boot!) in an sf story. But if I read them now, the
> blatant sexism in them makes me a little queasy.
>
> Although Dr. Calvin held an extremely important position at US Robots and
> Mechanical Men, she was the only woman to do so. Even the middle management
> ranks were staffed entirely with men, and when she retired she was replaced
> by a man.
>
> The defining characteristic of Dr. Calvin, mentioned at least once in every
> story in which she appears, is her unattractiveness. At some level (and I
> think this may be directly stated in at least one story) Asimov seems to be
> saying that the only reason Dr. Calvin is a success in her field is because
> she couldn't attract a man.
>
> The other characters (all male) typically react to her in an intimidated and
> scared manner, but also pity her. The only characters she seems to connect
> with are the robots, and this is often remarked on in the stories. (There's
> a big part of me that feels that, given the people she had to deal with, who
> can blame her?)
>
> OK, in the years since these stories were written, I've changed, times have
> changed, ideas about women have changed. If we view these stories in the
> light of the times in which they were written, do they seem so sexist? Did
> Asimov have to make Calvin unattractive and acerbic so that a woman in such a
> high position would be believable to his readers?
>
> On a broader scale, why did it take science fiction so long to embrace a view
> of the future in which women and men were equals? It seems that most science
> fiction written throughout the 60's and well into the 70's presented futures
> that included the same old same old, with men in the active and powerful
> roles and women as helpmeets. _The Feminine Mystique_ was published in 1963,
> the National Organization for Women was formed in 1966. How come it took so
> long for science fiction to regularly see the future in nonsexist terms?
>
> (Apologies to those who have heard me rant on Dr. Calvin on another list
> [SF-LIT]. But I admit to a fascination with this character.)
>
> Anny Middon
> AnnyMiddon@aol.com
>
Dear Anny:
Your comments on Dr. Calvin remind me of a pretty obscure (I think)
science fiction novel of the '60s called _Tenth Planet_ by the
astronomer Fred Hoyle (and another Hoyle whose name I don't recall).
I don't remember the story all that well, as I read it when I was a
young teenager, but what did strike me was the two female characters.
One was the wife of a scientist, who was having an affair with an
astronaut. At one point, the narrator makes a remark to the effect
that the only functions for a woman in her society are to eat (?) and
fornicate. She eventually becomes a true companion to her
husband (who, of course, she truly loves but cheats on because of
insecurity arising out of her intellectual inferiority) when her body
is taken over by an alien!
The other woman character is a blonde Russian astronaut, combining
both "brains and beauty," whom the authors introduce as a
mind-boggling plot twist (I recall that they describe the choice of
a woman to join in a space mission as "poetic").
Does anyone else remember this book? Any recollections of
particularly sexist sf/fantasy stories? (a book called _Conjure
Wife_ by somebody-or-other way-back-when is another one that springs
to mind . . .)
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