Heinlein's Female Troubles (original) (raw)
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ESSAY
- Oct. 2, 2005
Preparations are underway for a huge celebration to commemorate the centennial of Robert A. Heinlein, the legendary science-fiction author who in 1975 was named the first ever Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. The celebration, set for July 7, 2007, Heinlein's birthday, will consist of three separate sections: one for fans, one for academics and a third for a group not usually associated with fiction, genre or otherwise -- aerospace professionals. But Heinlein holds a unique place in this world; many scientists and engineers who built the first United States spacecraft (as well as today's space-tourism entrepreneurs) cite his novels as their inspiration. Larry Niven, a sci-fi writer, spoofs this in "The Return of William Proxmire," a time-travel yarn written in 1988. In Niven's tale, Senator Proxmire, a notorious critic of the American space program, journeys back to the 1930's, carrying present-day antibiotics. Proxmire aims to cure Heinlein of the tuberculosis that ended his Navy career and inaugurated his literary one. If Heinlein never writes a story, Proxmire reasons, the money-wasting space program can be scrubbed before it launches.
Although the Navy did indeed discharge Heinlein, Heinlein never quite discharged the Navy. His nostalgia for military values emerged most memorably in "Starship Troopers" (1959), a young-adult novel whose glamorization of combat caused some critics to view him as a fascist. Among the critics was Scribner, his longtime publisher, which refused to issue the novel. Heinlein has also been attacked for being a misogynist -- in large part for his 1982 novel, "Friday," whose eponymous woman narrator enjoys being raped.
The Heinlein at the center of these storms, however, was a far cry from the Heinlein whose work I loved in elementary school. I credit this Heinlein with making me a feminist, never mind that "feminist" didn't enter my vocabulary until at least junior high.
At 8, when I first read "Starship Troopers," its controversial aspects went right over my head. I did, however, notice something remarkable in it -- something that moved and inspired me. Something that, given the values in my arch-Republican, Roman Catholic aerospace family, seemed as preposterous as time travel: Heinlein's portrayal of women. Unlike the female characters in other science fiction of the time, such as the stories of Arthur C. Clarke, Heinlein's women were not invisible or grossly subservient to men. Nor were they less technologically competent. The hero of "Starship Troopers" follows a woman he admires into the military. But because she is sharper than he, she gains admission to the prestigious pilot corps, and he winds up stuck in the infantry.
"Have Spacesuit -- Will Travel" (1958), another of his young-adult novels, sealed my feminist conversion. It featured Peewee, an 11-year-old girl who was smarter and braver than Kip, its 18-year-old male central character. It also featured a creature called "The Mother Thing," a fuzzy, portable being of indeterminate gender that provided the cuddling and support associated with mothering. The Mother Thing blew me away. Heinlein advanced the thought that motherhood was a job, not a biological destiny, and men could nurture, too.
Heinlein also created terrific women role models in his early short stories. They included G. B. McNye, a radio engineer who coeducates an all-male space station in "Delilah and the Space Rigger," and M. L. Martin, a world-famous scientist in "Let There Be Light." Often these women used their initials instead of their full names -- Gloria Brooks and Mary Lou for instance -- a practice that, on the eve of fourth grade, inspired me to abridge Mary Grace to M. G.
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