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| Sister Time |
This is old.
This is new.
Sometime, June-ish, the science fiction and fantasy world blew up over a chain-mail bikini and a couple of old guys talking about science fiction publishing over 60 years ago in which they spoke admiringly of "lady writers" and "lady editors" and mentioned that someone or other was particularly good looking.
The. World. Ended.
This ancient June history is important because World Con just happened and the call for inclusive science fiction is continuing to gain strength with the article from the Guardian stating the dire state of modern science fiction. Both articles are extremely short and informative concerning events, though I'm having trouble finding something pithy to quote from them. Mostly, though, it's assertions of fact that are easily disputable.
Science fiction loves a good paradox. Here's one for you: how can a genre that dreams up alien cultures and mythic races in such minute detail seemingly ignore the ethnic, religious, gender and sexual diversity right here on the home planet, here in the real world?Science fiction also likes a good Fantasy, and this is one of them. It's such a NICE fantasy. So CONVENIENT for our science fiction Church Ladies.
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| Wolf in Shadow |
I'm a girl. Right? Well, who do I want to imagine I look like? When I design my toons in a fantasy computer game, what do I prefer to look like? Sure, chain mail bikinis are pretty darn silly, but so what? So is Mr. Mad Men there to the left. So is Conan. What am I supposed to do? Take my escapism dollars and pretend to be fat and dumpy?
And bitter? Lets not forget bitter.
(Just wanted to add: It was hard to find examples of such classically "sexist" covers on modern books. There were a few more from Ringo and several meant to be "retro" on new releases of Golden Age authors. But without going into paranormal romance even my "yes, we still have covers with bikini clad women and men in astronaut suits" concession is a bit difficult to support. What the heck... everyone link your favorite sexist sci-fi book covers, it'll be fun.)
From a comment from RES over at According to Hoyt where they're also talking about this.
Some people appear to think that people in unlocked cells need to spend their time rattling the bars rather than walking out the door.
21 comments:
I'm an old-school sci-fi reader (Charter member of Galaxy Sci-Fi mag) from the 50s/early 60s so know nothing of these PC wars of which you speak..
Let's hear it for Frank Frazetta.
Boris Vallejo is also very good.
... and diverse.
;)
Anyhow, speaking of Frazetta:
Don't you guys just hate being objectified? All those violent awful covers showing an unrealistic musclebound warrior you can never live up to?
Lord knows when I see this movie poster http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816462/
the only thing in my head is "I bet he's got a great personality and is bright as a tack."
Jason Momoa as Conan
(me, attempting to not be too lazy to do the link thing)
I admire the whole concept of a chain mail bikini. If women ever take up bull fighting they should wear chain mail bikinis. Couldn't be any dumber than that suit of lights thing that bullfighters already wear. It might even offer some protection. There's got to be a use for a chain mail bikini.
This got an award for being an awful cover at our Con a couple weeks ago. Other than the funny blue lady in the back (she is in the book and she is a dancer) it's actually growing on me. Ivan (the fellow on the cover) has spent his entire life cultivating a reputation for being a pleasure seeking ne'er-do-well so it sort of fits. I can't say I think this cover person looks like Ivan, but I was convinced Ivan was blond for at least half the series anyhow. I'm tempted to buy this in hard-cover so I get the cover. I have it in e-book already but the e-book shows the paper-back cover which is a flying car over a city-scape. Boring!
Someone said, of academic politics, that they're as vicious as they are precisely because there is so little at stake. Ditto science fiction politics, apparently.
Althouse has a post on Supreme Ruth Bader's use of the word "embracive".
I made a comment as to why she avoided using the more common word inclusive and used "embracive" instead.
Funny how, in the context of this post, the use of the word "embracive" might not point in the direction where, how should we say, the "inclusiveness" paratroopers want the embracing to go.
knowwhatimean? knowwhatimean? nudge nudge, wicked.
Of course my comment might not appear until sometime tomorrow.
Liberal notions of progress is really funny sometimes.
ok, maybe that was too harsh.
"Someone said, of academic politics, that they're as vicious as they are precisely because there is so little at stake. Ditto science fiction politics, apparently."
I wouldn't be surprised.
At the moment it seems to be all about growing the ranks by kicking people out.
No doubt sales will go through the roof just as soon as the authors aren't white and the covers aren't fun.
Don't you guys just hate being objectified? All those violent awful covers showing an unrealistic musclebound warrior you can never live up to?
Heh, exactly.
And what's wrong with black leather bodysuits? Nothing, nothing at all.
I think "the science fiction Church Ladies"-- and specifically the feminist Church Ladies-- spoil women's fun as much as men's.
William posits: There's got to be a use for a chain mail bikini.
Wasn't it called a chastity belt? (belt in the same sense as a feminine hygiene product)?
[The lower part of the bikini]
I don't read a lot of SciFi or fantasy, but I love Brandon Sanderson. And he does women characters very, very well. He just won a Hugo for a novel featuring a woman main character. But he's just a white guy, so I guess he can't really count.
Someone should really write a story about a left handed lesbian albino Eskimo. Takes care of everything.
I've been watching reruns of the original Star Trek, lately, and it's interesting to see that there are some episodes that don't feature a hot chick of some kind or another.
Star Trek itself was ground-breaking, having black actors and females in position of authority, kinda. They doubled up with Uhura :)
But by The Next Generation, they had female commanders, etc., but STILL Troi had to appear in her sexed up outfit. No big deal, though, really.
(Pulaski>Crusher)
A chain mail bikini top would be for whipping someone with.
Down, William.
Star Trek did a lot of good. The pilot was more WASP-y and then they recast the crew with Uhura and the ethnic men (should that be Ethnic Men TM?) Sure, the mini-skirts were very mini, but the crew actually had females and I believe it was important for a whole lot of children to watch television and see a representation of themselves on a spaceship in the far future when they saw Uhura. Next Gen and stuff continued with that.
But Star Trek faltered at times, too. Or did no one else notice that although DS9 had the famous lesbian episode, they didn't dare pair Cisco up with anyone who wasn't black.
Anyhow, yes, it's important and valuable (and marketable) to have stories readers can see themselves in. But there *are* people of all ethnicities, genders, and orientations in most mainstream science fiction, unless there is a good reason to need a homogeneous population for something (which is most often an examination of prejudice!), the general assumption is that old conflicts have been replaced by new conflicts. Else why use the frame of speculative fiction at all? Just write a story about today and be done.
When Heinlein wrote _Friday_ he was writing about prejudice and about what happens when a class of people are defined as property or less than human. That Friday herself (at least on book covers) is usually shown as Caucasian is beside the point. It's been nearly 30 years since I read that book and for all I know she's never actually described. If not, the book covers could be replaced by pictures of a dark skinned person and the story itself would be the same. The *story* would still be about a society that defines some people as persons and other people as unpersons.
Aliens are also often stand-ins for current prejudice. They also work well to frame gender issues (so many possibilities) or the unfairness of arbitrary cultural constraints.
In the end, complaining, "...how can a genre that dreams up alien cultures and mythic races in such minute detail seemingly ignore the ethnic, religious, gender and sexual diversity right here on the home planet, here in the real world?" ignores the purpose of the creation of those things and even the purpose of the genre itself.
Also... my biggest disappointment (or maybe not, there were so many) in the Star Trek franchise was the choice of Captain Janeway (sp?) for Voyager. There had been an episode with Gordie's mother as a starship captain and her ship was lost. They could have easily had the crew for Voyager be her crew. The actress that played Gordie's mom was terrific, she sold the part of starship captain. Thing is, she wasn't young, she was crusty (as I said, she sold the role), and Hollywood did the thing that Hollywood does and found a pretty, young (but not too young), blond lady.
And apparently the "science fiction Chruch Ladies" don't bother to read the genre enough to know what's actually in it and simply go with what they "know" to be true.
Synova, the Lord Vorpatril's Alliance cover - good god, it's bad. Makes the dancer look like a blue Grace Jones, and the bountiful-figured heroine like a young clone of David Bowie.
The covers of the books back during the height of the worst, most sexist years barely had any human figures at all in them, let alone exploitative chainmail bikini type figures. It was all Pollock knockoffs and tailfinned rocketships on moonscapes. The later usually on books without the slightest space content, like this classic for A Canticle for Leibowitz.
I think Janeway was the right, choice for sure, and they had already had a black captain...
They've even had a cross-species/cross-race joining :) Worf and K'Ehleyr...hottest scene in all of Trek was their pledge.
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