It may well be possible (as Anny Middon asserts) that you _can_
avoid gender in SF, but it think it much more difficult than she implies.
Consider the following hypothetical scenario:
A man cooks a dinner for a woman, and the woman asks, "Where did
you get this steak?" Who would think it odd for the man to answer, "Oh, at
such&such a meat market."?
But imagine the woman cooking a dinner for a man, and the man asks,
"Where did you get this steak?" Who would think it odd for the woman to
answer, "Why? What's wrong with it?"?
Whether it is right or wrong, genetic or cultural, fortunate or
unfortunate, women and men (IMNSHO) just _don't_ see things from the same
prospective--something that I find to be generally satisfying in both fact
and fiction.
Marion K. Smith
Brigham Young University
(801) 378-2456
|