> On Tue, 23 Sep 1997, Joel VanLaven wrote:
>
> > And yet... I did not see it as very feminist.
>
> NH: I didn't mean to imply that _Dune_ was a particularly
> feminist book (didn't feel anti-feminist, just not written from a
> feminist place). But I think we were talking about taking our role
> models where we could best find them, and I found even the slimiest of
> the Bene Gesserit wonderfully appealing.
lg: Yes, I was talking about role models for young women... when I read
Dune
we were in the midst of the so-called sexual revolution of the late 60s
early
70s. I certainly did not yet have a "feminist analysis" -- although I
had a
feminist gut :). Women in mainstream media at the time were basically
sex-
objects (Barbarella!!, James Bond's girls) (although Coffy Brown kicked
butt)
or repackaged traditional wives (Bewitched).
Jessica, St. Alia, Chani -- they may have been in a sexist society
fulfilling
some traditional roles, but they had partnerships with the men in their
lives,
and they had personal power, and they had inner lives that included
their
own involvement in their education, evolution, growth. THAT was
somethning
for a young girl/woman to want to emulate.
luz
"dear sisters, we know what our job is, let us sow together the
subversive seed of unity." lea guido
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