(no subject)

[asterroc]

Anne McCaffrey was my first introduction to Sci-Fan, or at least the first one that stuck in my memory. Lessa and the Rowen were role models for me, showing me strong women who didn't let men stand in their way. Damia working through her pregnancies instead of being forced into some protective feminine seclusion, continuing to work alongside her husband as they raised their children together, this was the norm. Even Menolly's situation was shown as being a throwback to an older and worse time when men didn't think girl children were worth anything, a backwards and backwater way of thinking. I didn't need to be a feminist in my youth because McCaffrey showed me that it was completely normal for women to work alongside men.

And I knew I had finally come of age as a feminist when Kristin Bjornsen's meek acquiescence, nay welcoming, of her own date rape disgusted me and made me turn away from McCaffrey's works.

For a short period of time. I cannot stay away from her works forever. She is -was- the product of a more backwards age, and like Menolly she was always struggling to leave it in her writing. I hope for her sake that she has found a better and fairer place.

Originally posted on Dreamwidth. comments there. Comment here or there.

Comments

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Anne McCaffrey wasn't (even close to) my first introduction to sci-fan, but hers were the first non-kids books I read--the first books that my mother gave me off her own bookshelves rather than the bookshelves full of books that she'd set aside for me when I was born. What bookshelf they came from was probably the main thing that set them apart for me, because the Pern books weren't harder or longer or more adult-themed than some of the kids' books I was reading (especially some of the 19th century ones, when standards for kids' books were really different). They were the first books I ever read that had sex scenes, though, which clearly made an impression because I still remember that. But certainly, reading Anne McCaffrey was a milestone in my reading as a kid, because there was something about her books that was clearly more adult, and it suddenly meant that all the books in the house were open and accessible to me.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear or the Pern series were my first non-kid books. Both were handed to me by my Mom. I think Auel's books were Mom's idea of sex ed. Both serieses came right off her rack of books that she was reading or had read.

I wonder how parents decide when it's okay to give kids books with sex in them.

[sildra.livejournal.com]

In my mom's case she'd forgotten the Pern books had sex in them (she'd read them when she was in college, I think). When I pointed it out to my mother a few years later, she just shrugged and said, clearly it didn't scar me so it wasn't a problem. I was in 3rd grade, though, almost- or barely-nine years old, so that was probably younger than my parents intended.

[meig.livejournal.com]

The first two? "Clan of the Cave Bear" books were on the shelves of the middle school (7 & 8 grades) I attended (the series had just started basically) and I remember reading the sex scenes in Science class. I actually worked in the library and remember telling the librarian that she might want to consider making them "behind the counter" books due to the graphic sex scenes.

My very first AM book was "Dragonsinger". It was an instant love affair, especially after I saw the name Lessa. My entire life people have mispronounced my name as "Lessa", and so that was a draw. So was Impression. I mean, what awkward, lonely 11/12 year old *wouldn't* want Impression with their very own soulmate/bestfriend who adored them and would never, ever hurt them or leave them?? I wrote to AM in 1983, she sent me a postcard in return. I still have it.

I used to write DoP fan fiction, and when I was in my 20's I was one of the first members (I had a green and then a Queen!) of one of the largest online Pern clubs around. My name is still listed there as the artist of the Queens' Quarters :) In my late 20's, I started to get pretty sick of her stuff. My tastes had really matured by then, and I never really got back into her writings. Once Todd started contributing, it was pretty much all over for me. But for a very, very long time, the Dragonlady and her works were a very large part of my life.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Wow, CotCB is *not* a book I'd use to teach anyone about sex, unless I was trying to teach them about people who use sex as a means of having power over another, with a *lot* of conversation around it. (the later books are less awful, although they still have things that make me cringe)

Granted, Pern had its own problems regarding consent. . . yeesh, what was your mom trying to teach you?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

FWIW it was a step up from her own childhood sex ed, which started something like this: "Mom, I'm bleeding between my legs, am I dying?"

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

Oh no! That's terrible :-(