Man, I haven't flung a book across the room in forever!

[solarbird]

A. E. van Vogt's The Changeling is almost like a parody of sexism, except for the part where it's not!

Everybody who feels like criticising Heinlein for that should probably breeze through the first 20 pages or so of this thing to see what some contemporaries were writing. Or just, I dunno, punch yourself in the face a few times. Either would work.

I mean, damn.

(Caviat: I could only read 20 pages. Then I managed to skim about 20 more before t3h fl1ng. Maybe it was sekrit parody. But I'm pretty sure not.)

gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Actually, I can't think of any who do.

Friday comes to mind.

[banner.livejournal.com]

Friday? You have got to be kidding. Did you read the book? She had no interest in having or raising children, could care less. Wasn't looking to settle down and be anyone's cook or housewife. She liked being a combat courier and wanted to continue being that. She only stopped because it was that or die.

[avram]

Wow. It’s been years, but this doesn’t match my memory of the book at all. The Friday I remember had big issues about being an artificial person, was looking for a family who’d accept her, and eventually settles down and marries a guy who’d raped her at the beginning of the book.

[banner.livejournal.com]

She was looking for a group marriage, and I don't seem to recall the 'artificial' person (her genes were engineered) being an issue in that, because I don't think she even knew it at the time of her entering that marriage. Which really disovled for other reasons, that was just what they threw in her face if I recall correctly. I think they were more upset with her inability to be cowed and be the type of wife as described above.

As for the rape thing, remember he had been ordered to. And I've seen people forgive far worse sins

[avram]

Aren’t there lots of references to her being a “creche baby” (“My mother was a test tube, my father was a knife”), even from pretty early on?