rsingle@bbncc-washington (10/31/85)
From: Ron Singleton <rsingle@bbncc-washington> I apologize! I'm sorry! Because I could not remember ever having read such a story, I (shortsightedly) assumed there were none. This message is being sent prior to seeing any of the flames that are sure to follow my posting. I'll try to keep my flying fingers in check in the future (I promise). Ron S.
CURRY@SRI-NIC.ARPA (11/10/85)
From: Julie Curry <CURRY@SRI-NIC.ARPA> >>I know I have read a short story like this. Some colony got hit by >>a plague which killed all of the men. The women figured out a way >>to fertilize each other. A long time later, a "rescue team" shows >>up, consisting of some men. They knew that there were only women >>left, and expected to be jumped all over by the women. They showed >>up making snide remarks about how the women must be really lonely, >>etc. But the women had no idea what they were talking about. > >"When It Changed", by Joanna Russ, a real consciousness-raiser in >'Again, Dangerous Visions'.... In 1915, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a leading figure in the women's movement around the turn of the century, wrote a novel entitled _Herland_. This book has many interesting similarities to the short story described above. *** MILD SPOILER *** The story begins on the eve of World War I, as three male explorers come across an all-female society which has been isolated from the rest of the world for about 2000 years, since their men were killed off by a combination of warfare and natural disasters. The women have long since learned to reproduce on their own; in essence, they have willed themselves to reproduce (no further explanation is given). Herland is a utopian society: violence, disease, and hunger have been eliminated; work is viewed as an enjoyable pursuit; and the entire society enjoys a uniformly high standard of living. The three explorers insist that a society so advanced must have men; they waste a good deal of energy trying to find where the men are hidden. But there are no men. The women keep the men for a while, not exactly as prisoners (although the men are not free to move about on their own for a few months), but rather as exchange students of a sort. The women want to learn about the rest of the world; in exchange, they want to teach the men about their society. Underlying the exchange of views is a satirical indictment of society and sex roles in industrial America. Gilman's own socialist interpretation of Darwin's ideas is a major force in _Herland_. Rejecting the view that there was no way to interfere with the struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest, Gilman embraced the idea that humans could determine their own destiny and use evolutionary theory as a tool for social change. _Herland_ is more social theory than science fiction, but I think the book is worth mentioning for its ideas and subject matter. Besides being excellent historical source material, _Herland_ is a good read. _Herland_ originally appeared in serial form in Gilman's monthly magazine, _The Forerunner_. It was published as a book for the first time by Pantheon Books in 1979. --Julie -------