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On Gay Science Fiction & Fantasy
We Gay men identify strongly with characters in Science Fiction & Fantasy stories, primarily because we are often leading double lives of our own. Like young Superboy we had to keep our "special" skills to ourselves, and like the Incredible Hulk, we couldn't reveal our identity for fear that society would label us a monster. The following thread further explores the depths of Gay Science Fiction & Fantasy. |
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Message 1: A message I posted on the khush-list and am reposting here in the hope that there are some gay Douglas Adams fans out there: ... I've been thinking on sci fi and fantasy, in both of which I have a minor interest (more fantasy than sci fi), at least partly because speculative fiction like this has long pioneered interesting takes on sexuality. Several well known writers in these genres have been gay/lesbian/bi themselves, and even those who weren't have often featured alternate sexualities sympathetically in their fiction (unfortunately not all, since there's a distinct strain of ultra-macho sci fi that can be quite homophobic). Reading sci fi and fantasy as a kid I was always keen to look out for these references, and its something I admit I still do. I was delighted, for example, while reading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (I've only read the first two books, but they are excellent and very highly recommended) to find a very interesting and revealing reference to homosexuality in the first book, The Golden Compass. Has anyone else read the book, and did they get it? Some of these examples excited me when I first read them, but I've started to find rather annoying over time, even though they are sympathetically meant. Its because the gay characters they include seem to be stuck in lesser, rather condescending roles. Like the green and blue dragonriders in Anne McCaffrey's admittedly somewhat trashy, but compulsively readable Dragonriders of Pern books. Homosexuality is seen as an outlet for a male fighting force to deal with the mating urges that the dragon riders pick up from their dragons and its always the lesser dragons who are like this, never the dominant bornze and queen dragons. Of course the ultimate would have been to see a queen on a queen. (I sincerely hope there are at least a few sci-fi & f enthusiasts on this list, or its going to look like I'm talking pure rubbish). One writer who generally does it well is Ursula K.Le Guin. The revelation in Tehanu, the wonderful conclusion to her Earthsea quartet, of the enforced celibacy of wizards lead to all sorts of interesting speculations! Finally, and here I admit I'm getting desperate, is the looking for hidden homosexual possibilities in texts that otherwise seemed to show none. Like the Harry Potter books (want to guess who my leading candidates for a gay couple are? Plus there was an interesting article, which I think I posted on this list about how the entire wizard world can be seen as a metaphor for gay culture). There are limits though. I haven't dared try it with ur-texts like The Lord of the Rings (no, I am NOT thinking about alternate explanations of the avuncular relations between Bildo and Frodo). One question, and this is the other reason for my thinking about sci fi and f. just now. Douglas Adams recent death is really sad since The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2) will always be one of the high points of the sci fi genre, even - sorry, especially because it satirised it so well (lets overlook the fact that the last two books in the quintet should never have been written). But I can't think of any gay characters in it. Any nominations? Ford Prefect (he never seems to actually link up with women in all the books)? Slartibartfast (he's artistic and won an award for the fjords in Norway)? Agrajag (hysterical, obsessive queen)? Please someone, come up with somebody else! --Vikram Message 2: From Vandana Singh, herself a writer of South Asian science fiction, including some with queer themes. Hi Ramki, please feel free to formard this to the list, if you think people will be interested -- if not, at least to Vikram. Thanks! Vandana I write science fiction and fantasy from a Third World/Feminist perspective so I was very interested in Vikram's post. SF&F is in my opinion one of the most revolutionary literatures we have, in that it posits alternative scenarios, whether they be technological, sociological, etc., and this includes, of course, alternate sexualities. Unfortunately this field has been so dominated by white-male-techno-fetishists that it has not realized its revolutionary potential just as yet (and we won't even talk about the issue of SF&F being treated as trash by the mainstream literary world rather than as a literature in its own right). I agree that Ursula Le Guin is one of SF&F's finest gender-benders (and a great stylist as well). Her novel The Left Hand of Darkness is set on a planet where the people are gender-neutral most of the time except during certain periods when they become sexually active and may exhibit either femaleness or maleness. While she didn't consider homosexual relations in this novel (she apologized for it later, pleading a lack of consciousness of alternate sexualities when she wrote the novel) several subsequent short stories set in the same universe do have same-sex interactions. Her latest novel is The Telling, which features a woman protagonist of Indian origin who is lesbian. Although her lesbianism does not figure prominently in the book it does enter into the main theme of the novel, which is the destruction (sometimes self-destruction) of a native culture (which, in her novel, includes alternate sexualities) due to the influence, direct or indirect, of a technologically advanced civilization. As a third-worlder I found myself able to relate to some of the issues of cultural survival in the book. Incidentally if you liked the Earthsea series, you will enjoy Ursula's latest collection of stories from that world, called Tales of Earthsea. There is a stunning story there called Dragonfly which is worth the price of the entire book. Also she is writing another Earthsea novel, The Other Wind, due to come out later this year. Ursula Le Guin is one of the winners of the annual James Tiptree Jr. Award for gender-bending SF&F fiction. I don't have the Tiptree site's URL handy but it should be easily found through any of the search engines. It's a good place to look for SF&F writers of this kind. You may also be interested in a two-volume collection of science fiction that specifically features gender and alternative sexuality. It's called Bending the Landscape and one of the editors is Nicola Griffith, who is lesbian and the author of acclaimed books like Ammonite (I admit I have not read her yet, though). Unfortunately there are not too many South Asian SF&F writers around (someone correct me if I am wrong, Amitav Ghosh's Calcutta Chromosome is the only one I can think of) much less those who write on alternative sexualities, and I know from experience how hard it is to break into the field, bringing an alien (no pun intended) alternative, third-world perspective. The only Indian SF I have come across (and I believe there is a fair amount in regional languages) seems to be at the stage of trying to present science and scientific ideas in an interesting way. --Vandana Singh Message 3:
Subject: scifi and sexuality (more) I'm also posting the specific passage: "Which brings me to an intriguing point in your letter. I owe you a silver sickle, since it seems plain to me that the homosexual themes are already there, and treated with the sublimation and symbolism you predict. Well, not homosexual themes per se, since whatever sexuality there is in the books is conventionally and safely infantile. What I mean is that being a wizard is very much like being gay: You grow up in a hostile world governed by codes and norms that seem nonsensical to you, and you discover at a certain age that there are people like you--what's more, there's a whole subculture with its own codes and norms right alongside the straight (muggle) one, yet strangely invisible to it. In out-of-the-way spots in the middle of large cities are secret places--bars, bookshops--that cater to this special clientele, and suddenly, one day, you find your way to them.The reaction of many straights (muggles) is hostility and denial, on the order of the Dursleys. But some muggle parents, like Hermione's, love their wizard children and support them. (Hermione reciprocates by taking a course at Hogwarts in muggle studies, the one moment in the series that made me laugh out loud.) Consider too that there are wizards born of muggles and muggles born of wizards, so that having magical power (like being gay, at least according to some schools of thought) is, while not hereditary, clearly innate. Your use of the phrase "a place for us" was especially suggestive (though by "us" you meant the muggles), since that's the title of a fascinating book by D.A. Miller (published last year by Harvard) about the role of the Broadway musical in forming, at once in secret and out in plain view, modern gay male cultural identity. The process of acculturation he describes (which involves playing the cast album from Gypsy in your parents' suburban basement), is not unlike what Harry undergoes in the early chapters of Sorcerer's Stone." What I liked about the passage was that the writer wasn't doing the hidden subtexts game, but using the text to make an interesting and illuminating parallel. In general I'd agree with Martin that searching for subtexts can be very wearisome. At best it can be a harmless sort of game to play between people form a specific community (the spirit it was meant in my mail), but if carried to extremes it becomes a sign of insecurity. (At its worst it ends up in docotoral dissertations). Message 4: From Martin (on the sindar@yahoogroups.com) Also sprach vikram doctor... <snip> "What I mean is that being a wizard is very much like being gay: You grow up in a hostile world governed by codes and norms that seem nonsensical to you, and you discover at a certain age that there are people like you--what's more, there's a whole subculture with its own codes and norms right alongside the straight (muggle) one, yet strangely invisible to it. In out-of-the-way spots in the middle of large cities are secret places--bars, bookshops--that cater to this special clientele, and suddenly, one day, you find your way to them. The reaction of many straights (muggles) is hostility and denial, on the order of the Dursleys. But some muggle parents, like Hermione's, love their wizard children and support them. " This actually holds not just for homosexuality, but for any of the myriad subcultures that are fractally embedded in society-at-large. The wizard world (and here I refer not just to HP, but to the underlying treatment of wizards in sf/f as a whole, which shows many recurrent similarities across books) seems to be more a reflection of the geek/fannish subculture, and for tolerably obvious reasons. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of semi-autobiographical details get slipped in; the fannish subculture has the same misunderstood but supercilious attitude towards mundania that wizards have towards non-magical people. (The specific reaction of the Dursleys towards Potter can, indeed, be seen as an analogue of parental reaction to a gay kid, but it can equally (albeit toned down a bit) apply to the kind of parent who continually exhorts his/her kid to live in the 'real' world for a change. The worship of normalcy runs strongly in the veins of the normal.) What I liked about the passage was that the writer wasn't doing the hidden subtexts game, but using the text to make an interesting and illuminating parallel. In general I'd agree with Martin that searching for subtexts can be very wearisome. At best it can be a harmless sort of game to play between people form a specific community (the spirit it was meant in my mail), but if carried to extremes it becomes a sign of insecurity. (At its worst it ends up in docotoral dissertations). LOL. Very true about the dissertations :) wouldn't have. Or awareness of this hidden culture opened their minds to different possibilities in general. But with the mainstreaming of gay culture that's vanishing and that's all to the best, even with the unfortunate side effect of the gay world becoming dead boring! Nice point. Hadn't thought about that aspect of it. Vandana's mail also touched upon sci fi/fantasy in South Asian literature. Has anyone on this list read any (or wouldn't they admit to it)? The only example that comes to mind is Manjula Padmanabhan's award winning play Harvest, which is about to be released as a film by Govind Nihalani. I thought it was pretty good, but must admit I'm not objective on this since Manjula is my aunt. Any others? No, I haven't read any South Asian sf/f. I find, though, that S.Asian lit tends to be highly introspective; it'd be interesting to see how this translates to sf. m. Message 5: From Siddharth Jaggi (on sindar@yahoogroups.com) Another book that nobody seems to have mentioned - "The Forver War", Joe Haldeman. A pretty central theme for the latter half of the novel. Homosexuality in most Iain Banks' Culture novels tends to be... interesting :), seeing as how people change their sex at the drop of a hat. --Sidharth Jaggi. Message 6: From Martin (on sindar@yahoogroups.com) Also sprach vikram doctor... Apologies for this cross posting, but its from another area of interest for me, which intersected with sindar's. I thought parts of it might interest people on this list, especially the news about the new Le Guin books, which has got me all excited. Definitely :) Can't wait to see the new Earthsea books, though I think I'll be good and wait for the paperback.... I've been thinking on sci fi and fantasy, in both of which I have a minor interest (more fantasy than sci fi), at least partly because speculative fiction like this has long pioneered interesting takes on sexuality. Several well known writers in these genres have been gay/lesbian/bi themselves, and even those who weren't have often featured alternate sexualities sympathetically in their fiction (unfortunately not all, since there's a distinct strain of ultra-macho sci fi that can be quite homophobic). And which is pretty much on the decline, I'd say. I can't think of a recent example. Some of these examples excited me when I first read them, but I've started to find rather annoying over time, even though they are sympathetically meant. Its because the gay characters they include seem to be stuck in lesser, rather condescending roles. Like the green and blue dragonriders in Anne McCaffrey's admittedly somewhat trashy, but compulsively readable Dragonriders of Pern books. As good a summary of the books as any I've seen :) Very easy reads, which I think is a large part of their appeal - I'd compare them to the 'lazy-medieval treasure hunt' genre of text adventures, which time has passed by, but which are still very playable. One writer who generally does it well is Ursula K.Le Guin. The revelation in Tehanu, the wonderful conclusion to her Earthsea quartet, of the enforced celibacy of wizards lead to all sorts of interesting speculations! This particular idea is way older than LeGuin, though. It's a fairly common meme, stemming from the perception that sex drains whatever creative principle would otherwise be available to fuel magical power. It's an extension of what Pinker (rightly and very satisfyingly, IMO) dismissed as the 'hydraulic' theory of mind, the theory that emotions, thoughts etc can be modelled as a fluid ('bottling up one's anger', for one example of the fallacy). Silverberg has explored the same idea by speculating that frustrated sex drives can be rechannelled into psi powers. Finally, and here I admit I'm getting desperate, is the looking for hidden homosexual possibilities in texts that otherwise seemed to show none. Like the Harry Potter books (want to guess who my leading candidates for a gay couple are? No, and I suspect my reaction when you do reveal it will be 'bah' :) I'm not a big fan of the obligatory subtext. Plus there was an interesting article, which I think I posted on this list about how the entire wizard world can be seen as a metaphor for gay culture). No, you didn't, but I'd love to see it. (Metaphors be with you). There are limits though. I haven't dared try it with ur-texts like the Lord of the Rings (no, I am NOT thinking about alternate explanations of the avuncular relations between Bildo and Frodo). If I had to insert a homosexual couple smoothly into tLotR, I'd pick on either the elves or the Rohirrim. Don't ask me why - they just seem, on a gut level, like the least dissonant possibilities. One question, and this is the other reason for my thinking about sci fi and f. just now. Douglas Adams death is really sad since the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2) will always be one of the high points of the sci fi genre, even - sorry, especially because it satirised it so well (lets overlook the fact that the last two books in the quintet should never have been written). But I can't think of any gay characters in it. Any nominations? Ford Prefect (he never seems to actually link up with women in all the books)? Bzzzzt! You forget the Golgafrinchans in book 2, chapter 34 Agda and Mella exchanged glances. ``Look,'' said Agda, ``there's a party after the committee meeting tonight. You can come along if you like.'' ``Yeah, OK,'' said Ford. ``I'd like to,'' said Arthur. Many hours later Arthur and Mella sat and watched the moon rise over the dull red glow of the trees. And where, one may ask, were Ford and Agda the while? Slartibartfast (he's artistic and won an award for the fjords in Norway)? Shame on you for perpetuating stereotypes :) Though an interesting thought strikes me - in times and places where gay people were not allowed to openly express their sexuality, might the impulse have been sublimated into art? Or is it a case of gay artists being noted and the other three categories being ignored because they didn't bolster the conclusion? I find it really hard to believe that homosexuals are intrinsically more artistic than the rest of the population. Agrajag (hysterical, obsessive queen)? Please someone, come up with somebody else! Well, a pot of petunias is pretty gay :) - Vikram From Vandana Singh, herself a writer of South Asian science fiction, including some with queer themes. I write science fiction and fantasy from a Third World/Feminist perspective so I was very interested in Vikram's post. SF&F is in my opinion one of the most revolutionary literatures we have, in that it posits alternative scenarios, whether they be technological, sociological, etc., and this includes, of course, alternate sexualities. Unfortunately this field has been so dominated by white-male-techno-fetishists that it has not realized its revolutionary potential just as yet (and we won't even talk about the issue of SF&F being treated as trash by the mainstream literary world rather than as a literature in its own right). Would you include Heinlein in your list of white male techno-fetishists? He's probably the most influential writer-of-alternative-sexualities I can think of, not just gay but polyamorous. Since I have, by happy coincidence, just finished rereading 'Time Enough for Love', here's an excerpt: 'Certainly. But I had more in mind. What would you say to "Seven Hours of Ecstasy"?' There was a short pause. The Master Chief Technician said 'Colleague, hat sex are you?' 'Does it matter?' 'I suppose not. I accept.' Not a very good excerpt, admittedly, but TEFL doesn't really explore gender-bending issues in any great depth, given that the protagonist is a man whose attitudes were shaped by growing up in the early 1900s. "I Will Fear No Evil", about a man whose brain gets transplanted into a female body, goes, unsurprisingly enough, into greater depth on the issues. I agree that Ursula Le Guin is one of SF&F's finest gender-benders (and a great stylist as well). Her novel The Left Hand of Darkness is set on a planet where the people are gender-neutral most of the time except during certain periods when they become sexually active and may exhibit either femaleness or maleness. While she didn't consider homosexual relations in this novel (she apologized for it later, pleading a lack of consciousness of alternate sexualities when she wrote the novel) several subsequent short stories set in the same universe do have same-sex interactions. See also Varley's 'Steel Beach', about a society in which people can (and do) trivially undergo gender-switching surgery whenever they feel like a change. Also, *the* best sf story I have read about homosexual issues, or at anyrate the one that really made me think, was Greg Egan's 'Cocoon' From the invaluable Locus index, here are the places it appears: Cocoon, (nv) Asimov's May '94 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twelfth Annual Collection, ed.Gardner Dozois, St. Martin's, 1995 Isaac Asimov's Detectives, ed. Gardner Dozois & Sheila Williams, Ace, 1998 Luminous, Orion/Millennium, 1998 Premise after a spoiler space (post ends here otherwise): What if homosexuality were caused by a specific chemical concentration at a certain stage of development? And what if someone developed a simple molecular filter that allowed parents to ensure that their children were straight? m. Message 7: From: "William Courson" Subject: Re: sci fi & sexuality Hi, all: I too love UKL and try to reread her "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" every couple of years - they keep me inspired. Have any among you read anything by Lois M. Boujold (sp?) - especially "Etan of Athos?" -Bill Message 8: From: Martin Julian DeMello <mdemello@ruf.rice.edu> Subject: Re: scifi and sexuality (more) Also sprach vikram doctor... suddenly, one day, you find your way to them. The reaction of many straights (muggles) is hostility and denial, on the order of the Dursleys. But some muggle. I was discussing this with a friend, and she reminded me that Potter did, after all, live in a closet. Can't believe we all missed that :) m. Message 9: From: vikram The elves in LotR seem somewhat asexual, though I suppose the loves of Arwen, Tinuviel, etc. prove they aren't. But you're perfectly right about the Rohirrim who would probably fit perfectly into gay muscle culture! (I also think there's evidence of male same sex traditions in the Northern cultures that inspired them). I had forgotten the Golgafrinchans, but after posting the message I remembered Ford making sundry salivating references to Eccentrica Galumbits, or however its spelt, the triple breasted whore of Eroticon. So count him out, I guess. Damn! "I find it really hard to believe that homosexuals are intrinsically more artistic than the rest of the population." Oh absolutely! Its a myth that tends to be used by gay people seeking some sort of ego boosting, or straight people who want to be patronisingly supportive. Sublimating one's instincts when one is in the closet is one explanation. It could also be something on the lines that being ostracised or marginalised gave many queer people the chance to take risks that others wouldn't have. Or awareness of this hidden culture opened their minds to different possibilities in general. But with the mainstreaming of gay culture that's vanishing and that's all to the best, even with the unfortunate side effect of the gay world becoming dead boring! Vandana's mail also touched upon sci fi/fantasy in South Asian literature. Has anyone on this list read any (or wouldn't they admit to it)? The only example that comes to mind is Manjula Padmanabhan's award winning play Harvest, which is about to be released as a film by Govind Nihalani. I thought it was pretty good, but must admit I'm not objective on this since Manjula is my aunt. Any others? -Vikram Message 10: From: Abraham Thomas Subject: RE: scifi and sexuality (more) Argh! Missed the best thread on sindar in ages. Anyway. One quick point: how how HOW can you talk about sf [1] and sexuality without mentioning Samuel R.Delany? He's bisexual, and his work constantly explores themes of sex and gender. Consider: - "The Einstein Intersection", about a race with three sentient sexes (btw, it predates Le Guin's tLHoD by 2 years) - "Tales of Neveryon", (which includes) an explicitly feminist creation myth - "Trouble on Triton", which includes and explores the consequences of a sex-change operation in a space colony - "Stars in My Pocket like Grains of Sand", a far-future gay love affair And non-fiction: - "The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village", which is semi-autobiographical. Not very semi, actually. - "Shorter Views: Queer Thoughts and the Politics of the Paraliterary", where by 'paraliterary' he means sf, comics, pornography etc. (Note: I've only read Neveryon, bits of Light in Water, and a coupla essays from Shorter Views. Oh, and the blurbs to Einstein and Pocket. Oh, and a Nebula-winning short called "Aye and Gomorrah", which again is about sex practices in the age of spaceflight). Incidentally, Delany is second only to Harlan Ellison (and not by much, at that) when it comes to lovely titles. "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones", anyone? (My hands-down favourite sf title of all time). Also incidentally, I just picked up Delany's "Nova" as part of a haul that included: - "Star Maker" and "First Men, Last Men", Stapledon - "The Fifth Head of Cerberus", Wolfe, which I've read but didn't own - "Behold the Man", Moorcock, which I ditto - "The Book of Skulls", Silverberg - "Stand on Zanzibar", Brunner - "A Case of Conscience", Blish - "Martian Time-Slip", Dick (all part of the SF masterworks series, which has been recommended on this list before but which I'll recommend again - a _brilliant_ series). Reviews will occur eventually. One lives in hope. t. -- Compiled by Vikram |