That is indeed a brilliant story, and deeply disturbing. I will probably have nightmares tonight! It does make sad, though, how when there's only one woman in a story she is inevitably a representative of all women and becomes sexualized. Men never have to stand in for all men; there are enough of them in the story for diversity.
I agree that scifi suffers a lot from ineffectual female characters however I don't quite understand why we as a society have allowed sexualization to be synonymous with worthlessness. I don't think it makes any sense to look at someone as less valuable just because they are sexualized. In this story though I think that Ellison is using the female character to showcase the devolution of the humans that AM has subjected them to. I do totally see where you're coming from about the female character thing. I have a female friend who hates stranger in a strange land with a passion because of the way Heinlein treats women in his stories.
That is indeed a brilliant story, and deeply disturbing. I will probably have nightmares tonight! It does make sad, though, how when there's only one woman in a story she is inevitably a representative of all women and becomes sexualized. Men never have to stand in for all men; there are enough of them in the story for diversity.
ReplyDeleteI agree that scifi suffers a lot from ineffectual female characters however I don't quite understand why we as a society have allowed sexualization to be synonymous with worthlessness. I don't think it makes any sense to look at someone as less valuable just because they are sexualized. In this story though I think that Ellison is using the female character to showcase the devolution of the humans that AM has subjected them to. I do totally see where you're coming from about the female character thing. I have a female friend who hates stranger in a strange land with a passion because of the way Heinlein treats women in his stories.
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