On Thu, 11 Sep 1997, Nalo Hopkinson wrote:
> BTW, last evening I saw the indie sf film "Conceiving Ada" by Lynn
> Hershman Leeson. It's about a woman scientist who tries to recreate Ada
> Lovelace, daughter of poet Lord Byron, and the person who seems to have
> invented the first computer program in 1843 (this is from the program
> notes--from the film, I understood her to have invented the first
> computer programming language, inspired by Charles Babbage's 'calculating
> engine). Honourably intentioned film, but I found it to be really clunky
> science fiction. Seemed to have been written by someone who neither
> knows the genre, nor felt any responsibility to check her science. For
> instance, at one point a doctor forbids a perfectly healthy, active woman
> with a normal pregnancy from exercising until her pregnancy is over. I
> don't want this to turn into a spoiler so I'll stop here, but if anyone
> else sees it, I'd love to hear what you think. Ada Lovelace sounds like
> a great topic for a feminist sf treatment.
>
> -nalo
I believe Lovelace is a character in Gibson and Sterling's The Difference
Engine.
Wasn't it typical of Victorian medical idiocy (at least as applied to
women of the middle and upper classes) to treat even a healthy
pregnancy as if it were a severe illness and attempt to severely curtail
the woman's lifestyle?
Mike
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