Just Because It’s Impossible to Identify with Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner Doesn’t Mean Women Don’t Like Science Fiction
Annalee Newitz’s rant about women and sci-fi just made my whole office explode, in a good way. A sample:
If there’s something keeping women away from enjoying science fiction, it’s not spaceships. It’s not “aliens on some far-off planet.” It’s the fact that people on our very own planet keep telling us that women aren’t supposed to like science fiction. It’s a self-confirming prophesy, because the more that scifi creators are told this, the more they imagine that their audience is all boys. So they write rich, believable male characters and boring, cookie-cutter lady characters. They organize conventions with panels devoted to shit like “the hottest women of science fiction” and nothing devoted to female heroes — or the kinds of hotties that straight women might want to see (i.e., men).
HELL YES. This is why Snow Crash is my favorite sci-fi novel ever: Because I can identify with Y.T. in the same way I imagine boys the world over identify with Luke Skywalker. I’m totally wisecracking and I totally drive a hoverboard! Or will, you know, in the coming dystopia.
Also, Y.T. could kick Luke Skywalker’s ass. And probably would, since he’s kind of a prat.
