--- In [email protected], turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "salyavin808" <fintlewoodlewix@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "salyavin808" <fintlewoodlewix@> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > It's interesting why there are so few female philosophers, > > > > same reason there are so few top women chess players perhaps. > > > > A simplistic view would be the old Mars/Venus thing. But I > > > > think it's less a "women are more touchy-feely" than that > > > > men are more prone to excessive nerdiness, and sometimes > > > > to the exclusion of successful relationships or career. > > > > > > > > Women are maybe more likely to be responsible about their > > > > future and more successfully goal directed because of the > > > > possibility of having children, there is a nerve in the > > > > female brain that judges everything for long term value, > > > > whereas a lot of guys can wander about completely clueless > > > > except for a top degree in physics or philosophy. I know > > > > quite a few of them and a lot of *very* focussed > > > > women. > > > > > > Did you notice the lack of women on the list of > > > The Materworks Of Science Fiction list you sent > > > yetsterday? I did, so I counted. There were more > > > citations for works by Philip K. Dick than there > > > were for all women writers combined. > > > > Oh yes, when I meet a woman into sci-fi I always say Wow! > > Most just hate it no matter how much I try and extol > > it's virtues. The only girl I currently know into SF > > has a physics degree. > > > > What is it that turns women off it generally? I leant the > > hitchhikers guide to the galaxy to a girl I knew who was top > > at English literature at uni and she said it was great until > > they left Earth, and then she lost interest. Dislike of > > abstraction? > > Back in the day, I used to hang at the A Change Of > Hobbit bookstore in L.A., which specialized in SF > and fantasy. Over the years I got to meet many of > the best writers of these niche works, and also > met a lot of SF groupies. As you say, most of them > were men, but NOT so much so that women writers > should be so underrepresented on this list. There > are a LOT of women SF and fantasy freaks. > > Then again, a lot of SF is not limited to the cold, > stainless steel environments of space. Much of the > best of it is easier to identify and empathize with, > in ways that appeal to women as much as men. > > IMO, if I were to dash out a personal Top Ten List > of my favorite SF/fantasy writers, at least a few > of them would be women. Certainly two that made the > list would be Mary Shelley and Ursula K. Le Guin. > Some of Doris Lessing's work verged into the realms > of SF/fantasy, so I think she deserves to be on > that list. As does Margaret Atwood. Madeleine > L'Engle, a shoe-in. I would include Anne Rice, > who more or less single-handedly reinvented > vampire lore. And of course Marion Zimmer > Bradley.
Mary Shelley should definitely be on the list but that would cause uproar from literary types who hate SF. Frankenstein is a great book by any standard but it's the basis of most SF because it's about man's scientific creations running out of control. This fear that we are unleashing something we can't control when we manipulate nature or give our power to our creations must be the biggest theme in the genre. I might go through that list and tick off the ones that fit.
