Epiphanies

[rhienelleth]

sandramcdonald posted today about reading Joe Haldeman's The Forever War. A Hugo and Nebula winning military SF book, written in 1974, it is on most of the SF recommended reading lists I see around the blogosphere, and John Scalzi's more recent Old Man's War is often compared to it.

Having recently read and enjoyed Scalzi, I am no longer sure the comparison is a Good Thing. Sandra points out a couple of problems she had with Haldeman's book, which have guaranteed I will personally never be picking it up to read.

I send you to her journal to read in detail, but suffice it to say, my biggest issue after reading her thoughts and the bits she quotes: female soldiers being forced, by law, to sexually service their male counterparts. Uh, W. T. F.

I used to read a lot of "classic" SF authors. I still love Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Robert Heinlein's Friday, and Frank Herbert's Dune, to name a few. But there are others, many, many others, that seem to embrace the Gor philosophy for female characters - their main function being to submit, most often sexually.

Now, I don't consider myself a feminist, but come on. In my teenage years, I used to read SF. It fell into four basic categories:

~ the books I actually really, really enjoyed, like the three listed above, among others

~ those so technically inclined, I didn't make it past the first few chapters. (I like character driven fiction.)

~ those that, though technically SF, read more like fantasy, ie, Anne McCaffrey's Pern books.

~ and those in which the heroine(s) at some point submit to rape and/or slavery (which often included sex) - indeed, it seemed that the entire point of these scenes was to prove that the woman was somehow "for the better" after submitting to this treatment. I don't remember the title or author anymore, but the last one of these I ever read was written by a woman. I was so enraged and disgusted, it turned me off of SF for a very long time.

I didn't realize that until reading Sandra's post today. At the time, I just gravitated more toward fantasy than the SF end of things. That went on for years.

Which brings me to my epiphany.

When I started writing Nemesis, I knew I was taking on something I never thought I'd do - writing SF. At the time, I'd just finished a dark fantasy, and had already begun another. But the characters for Nemesis wouldn't go away, be quiet, and leave me alone. I acquiesced.

I was definitely intimidated. I barely even read SF anymore, and I'd never written it before. I'm an english girl - math and science, not so much. But I pushed forward, reread some of my favorite novels, and wrote down some new authors to try. I consulted people more scientifically minded than I, and wrote the book.

The sexual politics of the book got a lot of comment from my female beta readers. And they don't just comment on it, this seems to be their favorite part. Some background:

See, my MC is female. Her name is Mercy. In the beginning, she's a soldier fighting a war. She's got some pretty un-military independent leanings (though she does not see this in herself), a bit of personal baggage, and a really big secret. She's also promiscuous. She's a single gal fighting a war that may see her dead tomorrow - and her one serious relationship left her pretty phobic about them. She enjoys casual sex, not letting people in enough to trust them.

At no point, do her fellow soldiers call her "slut" or assume her promiscuity means "free to anyone who wants some". (There is an ugly incident later in the book, but it is extremely specific to one character, not a generalized feeling.) She's a respected member of the team, and any ribbing stems from other issues and rivalries within the ranks. This wasn't something I consciously chose at the time, to clarify. I wasn't attempting to make a statement for feminism or whatever. But several of my beta readers really like Mercy, and I think this is part of why. Added to that, she's not perfect. Not physically, not intellectually, or personality-wise. She makes mistakes, everyone around her could probably beat her up - she's a combat pilot, not infantry - and she tends to jump to incorrect conclusions and get really pissed off about them before finding out how wrong she was.

As the book progresses, Mercy finds herself immersed in a society totally foreign to her. Anyone who read this journal at all during the writing phase of Nemesis knows the phrase 'telepathic space pirates'. My psychic pirates are a dying race. The victims of chemical warfare, they're trying to rebuild with a population ratio of less than 20% women.

Now, in one of those classic SF novels I mention, this society would no doubt enslave all women they came across, keep them chained up for regular "breeding" etc, etc.

Certainly, I don't call them pirates for nothing. They take whatever they need from the Commonwealth to survive. And since the depletion of their female population, yes, that includes women. But not as slaves! I've created my own scenario for how the pirates have changed, culturally, to deal with what's happened. Women hold a lot of power in their society. Mercy eventually comes to believe too much power, in some cases.

Are they expected to have babies? Absolutely! If they don't, their race will die out in a few generations. In this regard, the women hold all the power. A child is the most prized, most treasured, most sought after thing in their entire society. Children are protected above all else, and a woman who can promise a man a child, or has a man's child, holds all the cards. She can control him very easily. Mercy finds a couple of cases where this has been abused, where a woman has used this to force a man to do things to help her politically or personally, to eliminate grudges or otherwise commit acts of violence, theft, or any number of other things, on her behalf.

A woman may take a single husband, or, if she prefers, several 'consorts'. Either way, the men are expected to protect and take care of her, to provide and anticipate for anything she might want or need. Rape is a capital crime. This is no gilded cage - women aren't sequestered away for their own 'protection' - though in general, the men are understandably protective. A woman may choose whatever life she wants, even the dangerous life of a pilot, for example, though if they do, they are expected to freeze eggs and/or embryo, in case they die in the performance of their duties before contributing to their race's future.

Rather than being flattered by the attention she receives, Mercy finds many of the pirate men high handed and presumptive. Being telepaths, the pirates expect people to shield whatever thoughts they don't want known, but not knowing how to shield at first, Mercy finds their casual reading of her to be invasive and rude. There is definitely a period of adjustment as Mercy deals with this completely foreign society.

It should come as no surprise that she eventually chooses to take consorts, rather than a husband. This entire concept is what a few of my beta readers seemed particularly thrilled with. Apparently, the idea of one woman allowed to have multiple male partners in a society, indeed somewhat expected to, was a big hit. Obviously, all is not sunshine and roses. Mercy herself is not always the easiest person to get a long with. The men she chooses tend to be, well, very alpha, for lack of a better word. And alphas in general, don't like to share. The first book only introduces the concept and Mercy's relationship with her first Consort. The second book (the aptly titled Consort) delves into it in detail. Parts of the plot will especially focus on how the consort system works, and the dynamic that must develop between those involved if the relationships are to be successful.

I suppose you could draw some parallels to LKH's books. But I see one woman + multiple male partners as being where the similarities end. For one thing, I have no intention of adding more and more men to my poor MC's plate. (The three she already has are more than enough, trust me.) For another, the complexities of male/female relationships in the society will also be seen with other female characters, not just through Mercy's experience.

I guess what this all comes down to is - I see Mercy as a very sexually free female SF character, who is not subjugated, humiliated, or otherwise made submissive to the extremely dominant men in her life. I think some part of me has been wanting to write a book like this since I threw aside that long ago SF book in complete disgust. I just didn't realize it until I read Sandra's blog post this morning.