�: Bernhard Krieger; [email protected] Objet: RE: Science fiction?
Hi, > -----Message d'origine----- > De : [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] la part de > Bernhard Krieger > Envoy� : mercredi 25 mai 2005 15:43 > � : [email protected] > Objet : Re: Science fiction? > > > Hi Hanna, everyone, > > Thank you Hanna for posting this question. I am actually one of the two > researchers. I am working on a European Commission funded project called > FLOSSPOLS (http://flosspols.org/) which in part looks at the question of > gender and free / open source software. I am mainly using Windows and > Gentoo, but hope not to be kicked off the list for that ;) > > During my research I found that a lot of people I met read or have read > science fiction. When I asked for authors I often got names such as > Asimov, Herbert, Clarke or Adams. Only lately I arrived at Gibson and > Stevenson. So I started reading stuff like the Foundation Series, Dune, > Rendevous with Rama, Neuromancer, etc. I also got back to the Star Trek > and Star Wars films and series or film s like Blade Runner. I quite > liked some of the SF stuff, especially some of the language used in the > books to paint wonderful images. However I wondered how appealing this > literature would be for women, especially women of younger age, often > the age group in which my male informants started to get involved into > computing. Very often women in this genre of literature do simply not > appear in the stories at all. Or if they do, they get roles and > positions so distinct of the male heroes. I am not at all an expert on > that, but for some reason I got the impression that despite the > possibilities of creativity which is used in many other aspects of > imagining realities in SF the representation of the relationship > between the two genders often is very conservative, meaning men being > responsible for discovery and advancement (geographically, > technologically, etc.) whereas women often get the role of being a > supporter of to the male heroes. Also women are often described as > essentially emotional, wild, sexual (i.e. natural) whereas men are > rational, logic, creative (i.e. cultural). For instance look at the Star > Trek New Generation series. One of the two most important female roles > is of course an emotionally emphatic counselor who constantly runs > around in some kind of tight rampers (which seems to be her uniform!) > whereas the incarnation of logic, rationality and technology - the robot > - is of course a representation of a man. The other female main actor is > the doctor who takes care of the crew, but is not responsible fro the > decision making. This is the function of the captain, who is of course > male. > > I am aware of other SF authors, often women, who create female heroes > that do not reproduce the current and conservative ideas about man/women > relationships. Ursula Le Guin is certainly one of them who leaves gender > mutual and open. There is also this story of Joanna Russ in which she > describes a planet of women who do not define themselves in relation to > men, meaning not in difference. I personally think that the genre is > quite a good one to experiment within and to be creative - by > definition. You speak about women who do not define themselves in relation to men. Can you quickly explain theory/hypothesis behind your studies ? Is your work relied to psychosocial gender/group studies ? Thanks, Greg >However up until this threat I have rarely encountered > people referring to this kind of literature. It rather becomes a > sub-genre, feminist SF, which is separated and not read by many > interested in SF. > > Does this make sense? > > Bernhard > > > Hanna M. Wallach schrieb: > > >On Friday I met with two researchers working on "understanding gender > >issues in open source" as part of the FLOSSpols project. One of the > >(many) things we discussed was whether the women involved in free > >software projects tend to read as much science fiction as the > >men. (They're interested in this from a point of view of "entry into > >the free software world" and "identifying with the free software > >community and culture.") I thought it'd be interesting to ask on here > >-- do you read science fiction? > > > > > > > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
