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All Men Are Pigs
Apr. 14th, 2006 08:37 amI'm re-reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's Thendara House. MZB wrote some good stuff; I have quite a few of her books.
But I have to say, some of her books are pretty painful to read, in places. I consider myself a feminist, but in too many of Bradley's books, ALL men1 are stupid, sexist pigs, needing only the slightest excuse to start beating and suppressing the wonderful, beautiful nearly-perfect women who made the tragic mistake of loving them.
Bradley sets up ridiculous straw men1, and pretty much beats the reader to death with them. At first I was inclined to be sympathetic; I figured that Thendara House had been written in the early 1970s, in the first flush of feminism. Bradley was just going overboard a bit, that was all.
Or maybe she was a bit ahead of her time, and wrote the book in the late 1960s. Hell, maybe even in the early 60s, although that seemed unlikely.
But when I checked the flyleaf, I found to my amazement that Thendara House was published in 1983.
In 1983 I was 19 years old. I remember very well what things were like then. And a large percentage of men1 were NOTHING like what Bradley portrayed. Okay, she was portraying men1 in a far-future interstellar empire; but why did they have to act like bad caricatures of the most unredeemable, sexist 1920s males1?
One of the two protagonists is the Renunciate (in that she has "renounced" the traditional role of a woman in the sexist, male1-dominated society of Darkover, and declared her autonomy and unwillingness to bow to any man1, because all men1 only want one thing from women - sex - or maybe two things, sex and cooking, wait, make that three things, sex, cooking, and children -preferably boys - wait, I forgot, Darkover has a telepathic nobility, so they want sex, cooking, and telepathic male1 heirs that they can corrupt with their own vile male1 sexist attitudes - plus, something else, all men1 love to beat the shit out of their women apparently as the only kind of stress relief that actually works for them, so make it FIVE things, except men1 also like to have yet ANOTHER deluded woman on the side for additional sex and beatings, so make that SIX things - )2
Where was I? Oh yeah.
One of the heroines is the Renunciate Jaelle n'ha Melora, a wonderful, nearly perfect native Darkover woman whose sole error was in thinking that she'd fallen in love with the devilishly handsome but utterly exploitative and abusive Terran intelligence officer Peter Haldane. Jaelle SHOULD, of course, have realized that her true soulmate was the other female heroine (because, just in case you didn't know it, ALL MEN ARE PIGS, goddamn it, get that through your stupid male1 head), but if she'd realized that in the beginning, there wouldn't be a book. So she marries him.
You know, for some reason I'm getting really stressed out.
Early on I hit a painful spot, and my brain started adding on new dialog. Feel free to figure out where I started improvising; it isn't hard to guess. I'll condense the original text a bit, if you don't mind.
Jaelle has just started working in the Terran embassy, where her husband also works. She's finding it difficult to adjust to Terran ways.
I'll stop now.3
1 - All men are pigs.
2 - If you made it through that paragraph, I congratulate you. And I apologize.
3 - ...and always remember, all men are pigs.
But I have to say, some of her books are pretty painful to read, in places. I consider myself a feminist, but in too many of Bradley's books, ALL men1 are stupid, sexist pigs, needing only the slightest excuse to start beating and suppressing the wonderful, beautiful nearly-perfect women who made the tragic mistake of loving them.
Bradley sets up ridiculous straw men1, and pretty much beats the reader to death with them. At first I was inclined to be sympathetic; I figured that Thendara House had been written in the early 1970s, in the first flush of feminism. Bradley was just going overboard a bit, that was all.
Or maybe she was a bit ahead of her time, and wrote the book in the late 1960s. Hell, maybe even in the early 60s, although that seemed unlikely.
But when I checked the flyleaf, I found to my amazement that Thendara House was published in 1983.
In 1983 I was 19 years old. I remember very well what things were like then. And a large percentage of men1 were NOTHING like what Bradley portrayed. Okay, she was portraying men1 in a far-future interstellar empire; but why did they have to act like bad caricatures of the most unredeemable, sexist 1920s males1?
One of the two protagonists is the Renunciate (in that she has "renounced" the traditional role of a woman in the sexist, male1-dominated society of Darkover, and declared her autonomy and unwillingness to bow to any man1, because all men1 only want one thing from women - sex - or maybe two things, sex and cooking, wait, make that three things, sex, cooking, and children -preferably boys - wait, I forgot, Darkover has a telepathic nobility, so they want sex, cooking, and telepathic male1 heirs that they can corrupt with their own vile male1 sexist attitudes - plus, something else, all men1 love to beat the shit out of their women apparently as the only kind of stress relief that actually works for them, so make it FIVE things, except men1 also like to have yet ANOTHER deluded woman on the side for additional sex and beatings, so make that SIX things - )2
Where was I? Oh yeah.
One of the heroines is the Renunciate Jaelle n'ha Melora, a wonderful, nearly perfect native Darkover woman whose sole error was in thinking that she'd fallen in love with the devilishly handsome but utterly exploitative and abusive Terran intelligence officer Peter Haldane. Jaelle SHOULD, of course, have realized that her true soulmate was the other female heroine (because, just in case you didn't know it, ALL MEN ARE PIGS, goddamn it, get that through your stupid male1 head), but if she'd realized that in the beginning, there wouldn't be a book. So she marries him.
You know, for some reason I'm getting really stressed out.
Early on I hit a painful spot, and my brain started adding on new dialog. Feel free to figure out where I started improvising; it isn't hard to guess. I'll condense the original text a bit, if you don't mind.
Jaelle has just started working in the Terran embassy, where her husband also works. She's finding it difficult to adjust to Terran ways.
"...she presented herself before a man stationed there. She said, "My name is Jaelle n'ha Melora," and proferred her pass.
He glanced at it and at the screen. He frowned and said "You're out of uniform, and the scanners don't recognize you from the picture - see? And the name you said doesn't match the name on the pass, Miss." He pointed patiently to the name on the pass and said "You have to repeat the name in the form it's on the pass. See? Haldane, Mrs. Peter. Try saying it like that."
She started to protest that her name was Jaelle, that it was forbidden by Oath to a Renunciate to take a man's name, but quickly stopped herself. Meekly she repeated "Haldane, Mrs. Peter, slave and sex object. Please degrade me," before the screen, and the door slid back and let her in.
I'll stop now.3
1 - All men are pigs.
2 - If you made it through that paragraph, I congratulate you. And I apologize.
3 - ...and always remember, all men are pigs.
