photo by John Le
When asked why women should read science fiction and fantasy, Ursula K. LeGuin replied:
Because it offers alternatives. What any group that is socially oppressed, or marginalized, or not in control, needs is to know that there are other ways to run a society, that the way this society is being run is not ordained by God from the beginning of time, that things can change. Which gives hope—any social movement of betterment has got to have some hope that things can be changed. And science fiction’s really good at actually imagining other societies: How would they run? What are the costs and what are the benefits? And so on. You can actually do a dry run of what would it be like if … men and women were equal—or, like I did in The Left Hand of Darkness, what if basically there was no gender? Stuff like that. So you can do thought experiments which I think is a really important human activity.
Reason enough, I think, for people of all races, genders and cultures to read speculative fiction. And something for all writers of speculative fiction to consider: is my world patriarchal, misogynistic, racist? It is certainly a different story when magic or future technology are introduced. After all, one would hesitate to raise his hand to a woman if he feared magical retaliation. It is merely the unfortunate events of our world’s past that have subjugated women. Not every fictional world should necessarily follow suit…
The full interview with Room Magazine can be found here.
or marginalized, or not in control, needs is to know that there are other ways
to run a society, that the way this society is being run is not ordained by God
from the beginning of time, that things can change. Which gives hope—any
social movement of betterment has got to have some hope that things can be
changed. And science fiction’s really good at actually imagining other societies:
How would they run? What are the costs and what are the benefits? And so on.
You can actually do a dry run of what would it be like if … men and women were
equal—or, like I did in The Left Hand of Darkness, what if basically there was no
gender? Stuff like that. So you can do thought experiments which I think is a
really important human activity.
I think The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is also indispensable in any discussion regarding speculative fiction with regard to feminist issues.
I’d also throw The Blind Assassin into that discussion. It’s not strictly science fiction although it uses a science fiction sub-plot to reveal components of the main plot. It won the Booker in 2000.