Science Fiction Purges its Problematic Past

Quillette ^ | 11/05/2019 | Craig DeLancey

[tbw2]

Since 1991, the James Tiptree Junior Award has been given annually to a work of “science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender.” The award was founded by two women science fiction writers, Pat Murphy and Karen Jay Fowler. From next year, it will be called the Otherwise Award.

Because social justice warriors decided to find it problematic.

[EEGator]

Vintage book stores as well.

Here’s one I frequent:
https://www.bookbarn.com/heritage/heritage.html

[Skooz]

Klinefelter's (XXY), Trisomy X (XXX), XYY Syndrome, and Turner Syndrome (XO). That is point .2% of the population, but they do exist.

True, but those anomalies and therefore aberrations.

[Vince Ferrer]

This is just another angle to why comic book movies are all becoming female dominated.

[tbw2]

They can’t even denounce convicted pedophiles like Walter Breen and his wife Marion Zimmer Bradley. But a de facto euthanasia ... is an excuse to tear down a feminist icon so they can promote someone more “diverse”.

[BohDaThone]

Is the problem that “James Tiptree Junior” is actually a quite fine WOMAN sci-fi writer. So naming it for a woman’s
prominent pseudonym is somehow wrong?? Or something?

[BohDaThone]

And quite a complicated figure. Intelligence analyst in WW 2,CIA afterwards. Happily married for decades. Shot herself and hubby in an apparent suicide pact in their old age. Was a reclusive figure, seldom seen, and essentially kept up a male persona in correspondence, and was accepted as such, until near the end of her life.

Some said her military background gave verisimilitude to her writing as a male author, though her writing had many feminist themes that somewhat confounded readers and fans as coming from a male! Maybe sometimes a writer is just a writer?

[yesthatjallen]

The comments at the link are largely encouraging.

[tbw2]

I’d call Quillette a moderate, classic liberal site. Andy Ngo works/worked for them. He was beaten to the point of brain bleed by Antifa bullies. His story only made the news because he was homosexual and Asian. And liberals still smeared him as “right wing”.

I’ll say Quillette and many of their contributors are proof that NOT ALL liberals side with authoritarian liberalism, social justice.

[tbw2]

I know some of the authors involved.

They’re facing false flagging of content as explicit (Moira Greyland).

They’re getting books banned or flagged on Amazon, such as Declan Finn and Jon Del Arroz’s new books being temporarily taken down. Writing Christian science fiction was apparently an issue, though their books were restored.

Another issue was Amazon taking down EBOOKS while leaving print books up for some of those authors.

[tbw2]

I’ve donated some to Operation Paperback.

[tbw2]

John C. Wright’s books are modern but deliberately written to mirror the classic era style. He even wrote a sequel to “Null A”.

[tbw2]

Biological mistakes that prevent a full male or female do NOT invalidate the male/female dichotomy for the species.

[tbw2]

I think that’s 1990s Saturday Night Live.

[tbw2]

Liberals are using the murder-suicide-euthanasia as an excuse to justify taking her name off the award ... and rename for someone more SJW.

This also builds on the trend of multiple “diverse” authors winning the award and saying that’s not good enough, rename the award per my prejudices.

[buckalfa]

Thanks for the insight. I am not familiar with Mr. Wright’s work but I will give him a read.

[Dr. Sivana]

Biological mistakes that prevent a full male or female do NOT invalidate the male/female dichotomy for the species.

Of course not. But the radicals deny these are mistakes, so they at least need a footnote. Even in these cases, there is usually a determinable sex. (e.g. XX, XO are clearly female, XYY is definitely male, and XXY still has male anatomy). The most difficulty comes with traits like complete androgen insensitivity, which is an XY body that does not respond to male hormones, and therefore male parts don't descend and there are no visible external male organs, and no male puberty. Some poor souls with this afflication have been born, lived and died without knowing they were biologically male.

[subterfuge]

Hey, someone does read my posts! Nice!

[Drumbo]

I try to reread the entire Heinlein library at least once every five years. Tolkien, Lovecraft and Dean Koontz also stay in the perpetual to reread pile, but really Heinlein is all I need - the new stuff bores me.

Heinlein had broken the all the gender-bender ground by 1987 (in a very satirical/Libertarian style - now called misogynist/sexist/fascist/white supremacist/et.al.) The entire Lazarus Long cycle including Methuselah's Children (1958), Time Enough for Love (1973), The Number of the Beast (1980), The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985) and To Sail Beyond Sunset (1987) turned Sci Fi women into strong-independent heroes and at least two men into women who struggle with the transition. His more popular peripheral novels (particularity in the 60's) included stereotype-busting, sexual satire gender breakthroughs like Stranger In A Strange Land, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and his classic '—All You Zombies—' ;(1958) which chronicles a young man (later revealed to be intersex) taken back in time and tricked into impregnating his younger, female self (before he underwent sexual reassignment surgery); he thus turns out to be the offspring of that union, with the paradoxical result that he is his own mother and father. As the story unfolds, all the major characters are revealed to be the same person, at different stages of her/his life. "Zombies" was the inspiration for the niche "I Am My Own Grandpa" paradox genre in SF (not to mention the Hooters song). In the late 50s and 60s this stuff really was Science Fiction! Nowadays it's just the 24-hour news cycle, status quo and predictable despite the genre (The Anne Rice Lestat novels of the 80s for example). Heinlein coined the phrase "a paradox can be para-doctored" and he was the science fiction grand master predicting "The Crazy Years" we are now living in.

If Heinlein never won this "award", it's not worth winning imho. Just my ¢

[tbw2]

A movie they couldn’t make today would be based on his novel “Friday”. Sexually liberated and mostly heterosexual female ... whose victory is having a child and settling down with a mixed human / genetically engineered family.

[tbw2]

“Time Enough for Love” is now startlingly prescient. Let’s encourage homosexuality for the sake of population control, you heterosexuals are irrational/crazy.