Oh, dear, I can see I may start spending too much time responding to this list!
Marina wrote:
>
>I'm just curious. What are the ideals of feminism? Any definitions?
This is a hotly debated point--I like bell hooks' use of the phrase
"feminist movement" instead of "the feminist movement" to emphasize
plurality and movement, and the possibility that there are different ideals.
In relation to SF (which I use to mean speculative fiction), this question
relates to the earlier posting on whether or not Baird's novels are
"feminist." I make a distinction myself: there are the the seventies
feminist utopias which foregrounded feminist theory of the time and often
speculated on the possibilities of lesbian separatism in various forms as
well as experimenting with narrative structure and conventions. These works
were written by feminists who published feminist theory as well. Examples:
Joanna Russ, Dorothy Bryant, Ursula K. LeGuin. Many of these works
reflected the feminist philosophy of that time that women are "naturally"
less aggressive, more cooperative than men, and that a society of women
would be less warlike than a patriarchal culture.
Then there are books published in the eighties in much more mainstream
narratives (and through more mainstream publishers) by younger women writers
who may or may not be feminists (I haven't read any interviews or
non-fiction work by them, and I never like to assume anything these days); I
would argue that these writers make use of feminist ideas that had moved
from the "radical" to the "mainstream" (like, women working in formerly male
dominated professions) without using any experimental forms or narrative
structures. One interesting example of Lois McMaster Bujold who has
published widely in ANALOG (not a magazine that prints many women), but has
created the only all-male utopia I know of, in _Ethan of Athos_ where she
postulates that an all male society (depends upon technological methods for
reproduction, using female ovarian tissue and artificial wombs, that she
also uses in her other fiction) would in fact be LESS warlike than men in a
patriarchal society (more resources need to be given over to having and
raising sons). I'd recommend people take a look at that book: it's
fascinating in its implications, and yet it hasn't raised a blip for the
feminist scholars of SF (as far as I know--I'm a bit behind these days).
So--Bujold is using a feminist theory or idea for a plot device, yet isn't
necessarily writing overtly feminist stuff. In her popular Mile Vorkosigan
series, she presents a male who in no way fits the gender expectations for
male heroes, as well as a variety of strong and indendent women.
What about the women presenting stories about women in military or mercenary
companies--Elizabeth Moon for one--some feminists are horrified at women
wanting to join the military, but some of the women in the military claim
the feminist philosophy of individual choice and want to break down the idea
that women are not suited for combat (which is what the patriarchy says!).
I'm very interested in the issue of women and violence and self defense and
the military as presented in some contemporary SF novels.
What is surprising me these days is the publication of books by some more
recent women writers (Esther Friesner and Nancy Springer) who previously
published fun and female centered fantasy--these new books (Friesner's
especially) recreate in tone and detail and everything some of the most
dystopian visions of the earlier feminist work. Are these feminist or
not--depends on definition of feminism.
Two other writers whose work I enjoy seem to fall between these
categories--because they were a bit older when they started publishing,
perhaps--Suzette Haden Elgin and Sherri S. Tepper--but even so, some of
their work relies on fairly straightforward narrative structures to present
their feminist ideals and ideas..
Robin
Robin_Reid@tamu-commerce.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:52 PDT