========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 15:11:13 -0400 Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Janet Dowling Subject: Re: Fat SF In a message dated 23/05/97 21:44:22, you write: << You might also show them the Williamsdorf Venus (spelling?), the original "Earth Mother," and point out that through most of human life on Earth, a fat person would have been a thing of wonder... I know that until contact and colonization here in Hawaii, the only fat people were the chiefs and their wives, and fatness was greatly admired. Technological civilization, and the millenia-long drop in food prices that accompanied it, are responsible for making fatness an option for everybody in the developed world and thus making *thinness* the marker for high status... >> I have had the most disconcerting expereince of being in Indonesia /Java, where they regard people with a tendency to rotundness as an object of beauty, and expression of wealth and good fortune.. So much so, that at a social gathering people wanted to sit next to me because it would bring them good luck. I shall return to lurking on the list - and by the way my first exposure to SF was the Narnia Books which inspired me at the age of 10 to write similar other world expereinces, and spent quite a bit of my pre adolesence checking the backs of wardrobes and swinging on lamp posts "just in case". Janet D ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 15:46:00 CST Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Gabrielle Bate Subject: Meg's character (Wrinkle in Time, etc.) Someone a while ago commented that Meg in a Wrinkle in Time is a really cool character because she is a sympathetically portrayed nerd. I agree completely. However, I have major problems with the way L'Engle portrays her as an adult. In _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_, she is still sufficiently human to be the POV character, though she has somehow grown up to be beautiful and has gotten rid of her glasses, the ultimate symbol of geekiness. (I say as I adjust my glasses.) In the later books (those that I have read, far from all) she is completely reduced to a generic mom character who gives out hugs and brownies. Calvin, on the other hand, gets to stay somewhat interesting. The message seems to me to be that it's okay to be a nerdy girl, but you damn well better conform when you grow up. Gabby Bate bate@macc.wisc.edu ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 14:37:43 -0400 Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Ruth Ann Jones Subject: Clarion Workshop - Readings & Book Signings Hi folks-- Anybody in Michigan interested in a little road trip? I just found the schedule for readings and book signings by the SF writers who will be teaching at the Clarion Writers Workshop here at Michigan State University this summer: http://pilot.msu.edu/~richar51/clarion/writerinfo/writerinfo.html Octavia Butler, Joan Vinge, and Karen Joy Fowler are among the Clarion instructors this year. Readings are held at local bookstores: Archives Book Shop in East Lansing and Schuler Books in Okemos. If anyone decides to drive in for one of these events, email me privately and I'll be happy to send directions. Ruth Ann ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 14:57:31 -0400 Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Ruth Ann Jones Subject: Clarion Workshop follow-up >Anybody in Michigan interested in a little road trip? I just found the schedule for >readings and book signings by the SF writers who will be teaching at the Clarion >Writers Workshop here at Michigan State University this summer: > >http://pilot.msu.edu/~richar51/clarion/writerinfo/writerinfo.html And, when I went to write these down in my own calendar, I discovered that the dates and days of the week for the July readings don't match. I just emailed the person who maintains the web site and hopefully it will be fixed soon --- Ruth Ann ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 19:48:08 EDT Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Anne V Stuecker Subject: Re: Meg's character (Wrinkle in Time, etc.) >In the later books (those that I have read, far >from all) she is completely reduced to a generic mom character who gives >out hugs and brownies. Calvin, on the other hand, gets to stay somewhat >interesting. The message seems to me to be that it's okay to be a >nerdy girl, but you damn well better conform when you grow up. Either that's the message, or it is that the only choice for women when they reach adulthood is to be this sort of generic mom, regardless of how nerdy/intellectual/unfeminine they were in their reckless youth. I guess this means that until adulthood soon-to-be-women are "allowed" to behave in a less-than-feminine way, but once they become sexually active adults they must conform to a traditional role. Anne Stuecker Washington, DC, USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anal is just short for analytical. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 10:32:17 -0400 Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Pamela Bedore Subject: All-Female Societies Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi! I'm fairly new to this list, (and enjoying it greatly) and I hope I'm not repeating material. I just read Leona Gom's -The Y Chromosome- and found it fascinating. I'm interested in reading other novels or papers (not necessarily sci fi) dealing with all-female societies. Any ideas? Pamela Bedore Queen's University ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 10:15:27 -0700 Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: "Lindy S. L. Lovvik" Subject: Re: All-Female Societies MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Pamela Bedore wrote: > > Hi! > > I'm fairly new to this list, (and enjoying it greatly) and I hope I'm not > repeating material. > > I just read Leona Gom's -The Y Chromosome- and found it fascinating. I'm > interested in reading other novels or papers (not necessarily sci fi) > dealing with all-female societies. > > Any ideas? > > Pamela Bedore > Queen's University Sally Gearhart's *The Wanderground* is one of my favorite books about an all-women society. Last I heard, Ms. Gearhart was working as a professsor at SF State University. I saw her at a women's studies conference in Fresno in the early 90's sharing a discussion with Sonia Johnson, who is laboring to build the culture Ms. Gearhart portrays in *The Wanderground.* It was a fascinating talk. BTW, I've been lurking on and enjoying this list for some time, without having anything to contribute (until now). I have been collecting titles for my ever-growing reading list from suggestions included my other list participants. Thanks! Gearhart, Sally. 1979. *The Wanderground.* Boston: Alyson. ISBN 0-932870-55-4. Lindy Lovvik laorka@best.com http://www.best.com/~laorka ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 13:22:25 -0400 Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Susan Marie Groppi Subject: Re: All-Female Societies In-Reply-To: <199705311432.KAA20127@mercury> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > I just read Leona Gom's -The Y Chromosome- and found it fascinating. I'm > interested in reading other novels or papers (not necessarily sci fi) > dealing with all-female societies. > > Any ideas? The first thing that comes to mind is "Herland" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman... -- Susan groppi@hcs.harvard.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ i found god in myself and i loved her i loved her fiercely -- n.shange ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 11:14:20 -0700 Reply-To: ltimmel@halcyon.com Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: "L. Timmel Duchamp" Subject: Re: All-Female Societies Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Pamela Bedore wrote: > > I just read Leona Gom's -The Y Chromosome- and found it fascinating. I'm > interested in reading other novels or papers (not necessarily sci fi) > dealing with all-female societies. > Try Nicola Griffith's _Ammonite_ , James Tiptree Jr.'s "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" and Joanna Russ's Whileaway stories.