At 12:33 PM 6/29/01 -0300 Alberto Monteiro wrote:
>>> Love is only acceptable between two women.
>>> Notice how Leie
>>> mocks Maia when she thinks about heterosexual love!
O.k., but after rereading the passage (pg 161) I am left unconvinced.
Mocking heterosexual love does not imply homosexual love. The absence of
one does not presume the other. Also, Maia's thoughts about "sex" are
clearly in the heterosexual context. If both forms of sex were prevalent,
there presumably be a need to differentiate one from the other.
It seems much more likely to me that sexual drive for all practical
purposes simply does not exist "out-of-season." Moreover, when the
sexual drive is released homosexually, due to the inavailability of mates
during "in-season" - these cases would seem to be regarded as simply the
equivalent of high-powered masturbation.
>I guess [notice how uncertain I am! I guess, I interpreted,
>etc] that, like in that classic stories where Black Men
>are the dominant race and White Man are slaves or
>serfs, the message here is that heterosexual behaviour
>is considered by the majority of Stratoins as aberrant
>and worth discriminating - so that we can see how
>horrible it must be to discriminate homosexual behaviour
>in the here/now situation.
I don't think so. The mocking of Leie didn't seem sever. Rather, to me,
it just seemed to be like a message in blinking lights "Hey, Maia is
*special*." Clearly, Maia's thoughts are unusual - but that's to be
expected from the heroine of a novel. Her thoughts, don't, however, seem
to rise to the level of making her an outcast. Moreover, I don't think
that Maia's thoughts necessarily resonate with the TwenCen Earthling
reader. The people whom I most associate as being in the mainstream of
American sexual thought have repeatedly dismissed my spiritual view of sex
(which Maia seems to share), and instead, *do* regard it as "a mere rubbing
and release" (pg 161). Thus, DB can't be setting up a role-reversal,
without first providing a role that will resonate with his reader.
JDG
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John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
We are products of the same history, reaching from Jerusalem and
Athens to Warsaw and Washington. We share more than an alliance.
We share a civilization. - George W. Bush, Warsaw, 06/15/01
