See above - first comment is a link to me finding her admitting that George is stalkerish :-) And, you know, if she ends up going "... holy shit that was really fucking racist of me" when Mark gets to the Bazhir, then my respect for her will shoot RIGHT back up - after all, we all fuck up, it's just some of us are unlucky enough to do so in ways that remain public for 30 years.
What I won't forgive - as I said to Josh, above - is the entirely uncritical reviews published in Bitch magazine in 2010, and every other person I've seen in the realms of social justice in the last 3-4 years recommend Songs of the Lioness without a "btw it's really racist and stalkery" every time people have asked for fantasy that actually features female characters.
Re trans* narrative - I agree that she isn't a boy, and doesn't want to be a boy - but as per Self-Made Man, people put in that situation do tend to experience pretty severe dysphoria, and that doesn't seem to be dealt with at all. And, again, book written however many decades ago - and honestly that's a pretty mild grump and if it were all that was wrong with the book I would sulk slightly but not think too much of it. However, given that this post is basically a catalogue of "WOW THIS IS FUCKED UP", I didn't feel like leaving it out ;)
Thanks for your detailed comment - I know it can be really hard to engage thoughtfully rather than defensively with critical readings of things we love, and I think you've done a fantastic job of it.
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regna
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Date: 2012-10-21 12:50 am (UTC)What I won't forgive - as I said to Josh, above - is the entirely uncritical reviews published in Bitch magazine in 2010, and every other person I've seen in the realms of social justice in the last 3-4 years recommend Songs of the Lioness without a "btw it's really racist and stalkery" every time people have asked for fantasy that actually features female characters.
Re trans* narrative - I agree that she isn't a boy, and doesn't want to be a boy - but as per Self-Made Man, people put in that situation do tend to experience pretty severe dysphoria, and that doesn't seem to be dealt with at all. And, again, book written however many decades ago - and honestly that's a pretty mild grump and if it were all that was wrong with the book I would sulk slightly but not think too much of it. However, given that this post is basically a catalogue of "WOW THIS IS FUCKED UP", I didn't feel like leaving it out ;)
Thanks for your detailed comment - I know it can be really hard to engage thoughtfully rather than defensively with critical readings of things we love, and I think you've done a fantastic job of it.