You know, I think a lot of modern internet culture war shit goes back to the \u201860s-\u201870s (counter)cultural refoundation that both sides claim lineage from. ‘cause there\u2019s a sense it was sold as something for everyone - women, racial, and gender/sexual minorities would get their civil rights and inclusionary movements recognized, in return straight white guys got the consensus that Cool People agree: sexualization is Correct, being offended is Incorrect. And there\u2019s a growing sense (from all sides) that the terms have not been upheld.
Sad Puppies and the Hugos. Because that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about now, apparently.
Both sides claim to be the true heirs of SFF. The antis sniff that it\u2019s obviously them because the genre has always been committed to a progressive vision, especially starting with the '60s-'70s and the New Wave.
And that\u2019s not wrong, but there\u2019s a lot of stuff under that aegis. You have Left Hand of Darkness, with LeGuin all \u201cgender fluidity would be great; we could experience our true selves independent of mutilatory social structures, and it would give rise to meaningful new cultural practices oriented around the beauty of self-discovery and self-crafting\u201d.
And then there\u2019s Varley\u2019s Eight Worlds, which is like \u201cJust imagine, if perfect sex changes were consumer services like haircuts, you could experience banging-hot hetero sex from both sides!\u201d
Or Marion Zimmer Bradley all \u201cadding strong female characters to fantasy allows us to escape tedious military epics towards an exploration of the importance of emotional labor, correctly identifying life-creation, not -destruction as the fundamental force of history\u201d.
And meanwhile, \u201cRed Sonja, DAAAAMN. She could force herself on you, how hot is that?\u201d
(Joss Whedon postures like he\u2019s from the Bradley tradition, but he\u2019s toooootaly from the Red Sonja tradition.)
And then you have stuff like Stranger in a Strange Land, which is about interspecies tolerance, peace, love, and understanding, as enabled by author-insert dirty old man Jubal, attended poolside by his harem of buxom secretaries, including the one trained to totally suppress her personality so to better serve.
Like I said, something for everyone.
(Modern equivalent being Kim Stanley Robinson, recurring theme being \u201cIf scientists ran the world, there would be peaceful, multicultural, inclusionary socialism. And also collective nude bathing, where young female students seduce their mentors.\u201d)
And you know, I\u2019m still waiting on the WisCon panel on \u201cRecovering the Promise of Teenage Groupies\u201d.
Honestly I\u2019m not much in the fandom these days but I do get Gardner Dozois\u2019 \u201cWorld\u2019s Best\u201d anthology every year, and I have noticed an increase in stories where nothing happens, but at least it\u2019s brown and queer folks it\u2019s not happening to.
One story a bit back that stuck with me, the message seemed to be \u201cworking in a Foxconn plant would suck\u201d, which okay but I couldn\u2019t even tell what was SF about it. Another that started promising - in an Islamic country (bcuz good point, the future won\u2019t just come for white Anglophones), polygamy and semi-arranged marriage coexist with social media (ditto), and men hire Cyranos to polish their appeal, under the pressure that not every man can win even one wife. That\u2019s a solid premise! But once this is established, the protagonist just throws up his hands and experiences a wave of relief as he realizes he could just be gay instead.
And it\u2019s like\u2026 wut.jpg
In a proper world an editor would\u2019ve returned that with a note saying \u201cgreat story, can\u2019t wait to see it when it\u2019s done\u201d. But that\u2019s exactly the issue, isn\u2019t it, that box-ticking and message Correctness are being accepted in lieu of quality.
Actually, you know what that really reminds me of? Christian rock.
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