From LISTSERV@listserv.uic.edu Fri Jan 26 13:38:26 2001 Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 14:58:49 -0600 From: "L-Soft list server at UIC (1.8d)" To: Laura Quilter Subject: File: "FEMINISTSF LOG0004E" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 21:58:21 EDT Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Joanie Bassler Subject: Re: Intro. & Request MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In a message dated 04/15/2000 6:39:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, barclaya@TELUSPLANET.NET writes: << My research questions are: 1. What prompts members to join this group? (What prompted you to join and stay? Describe your history with and participation in the group, if you choose.) I am fairly new to the group, but I joined because I am a reader of fantasy & SF. I enjoy the tales that have strong female characters. I am writing a fantasy novel for my Creative Project/Thesis, and some of the faculty members thought fantasy was not a genre fit for a Master's Thesis. I soon discovered there were critical essays written about the genre and about feminist SF & Fantasy. I was drawn to the list... I wanted to know what was happening in the realms of feminist SF & Fantasy. I have learned about books, authors, reading groups, and Wiscon! Wahoo! 2. Are there barriers to joining and participating in this group? None that I can think of...none that I have witnessed. 3. How do members of this female-friendly virtual book discussion group benefit personally and/or professionally? I find it interesting that you would say specifically "female friendly," I hadn't thought of that at all. I was looking for a Feminist SF and Fantasy discussion group, not a "female-friendly" discussion group. I think the subject matter tends to promote a respect for the female gender (more likely an all gender equality -- Judith Butler would say we each have our own gender --thus the numbers are equivalent to the population itself). We are here discussing a topic, and the genders of the members don't come into account. I do like the fact that I see women scholars and published authors out there, because it gives me hope for myself. However, I don't think gender of the participants is an issue. 4. Are there benefits (to yourself . . . other members and agencies . . . society as a whole) that extend beyond the boundaries of the discussion group? Please explain. YES. I often notify my friends of various things being discussed -- books, issues, conventions. I am hoping that my involvement here will help my little state college become more aware. Also, the more I am exposed to, the more knowledge I can share, and the more I share...the more I can change the world (at least my little corner of it). 5. What constitutes a ³virtual community² and can this group be classified as such? >> I think that a community is a group that communicates and shares ideas, takes on projects, and moves to action. I think that this is a community. We share ideas and knowledge. We discuss projects or make the list aware of projects going on. In terms of "action," I think the discussions do that and the conventions do that -- we may not be having a rally down mainstreet to make people aware of feminist SF and Fantasy, but we are here, chatting and floating about on the web. I think that communities like this one, give the "feminist SF & F" a place in the real world and nurtures that place. We may be a "safe house" (Mary Louise Pratt) because we all share this commonality, but we are also a "contact zone" because we each bring with us our individual cultures, specialties, and innovations. It is groups like this one that take us beyond what we think we know, continually we add to our knowledge base...continually we have new voices adding to the discussion. Yes, we are a community..."virtual" only because we are in cyberspace, but physical too...when we come together at meetings or conventions. This is more of a community than most neighborhoods and workplaces today. Sorry about the long response...I lost myself there. -- joanie bassler