Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!shelby!portia!Belarius
From: alderson@Belarius (Rich Alderson)
Newsgroups: alt.sex
Subject: Re: R. A. Heinlein
Message-ID: <8289@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 16 Jan 90 23:16:42 GMT
References: <1989Dec20.084239.15805@athena.mit.edu> <89361.131209KJCOLE@AUVM.BITNET> <1989Dec28.051700.19960@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>
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Reply-To: alderson@jessica.stanford.edu (Rich Alderson)
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Lines: 33
In-reply-to: apippin@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Pinhead@Spikes.slo.ca.EDU)

In article <1989Dec28.051700.19960@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>, apippin@polyslo (Pinhead@Spikes.slo.ca.EDU) writes:
>KJCOLE@AUVM.BITNET writes:
>~The problem with Heinlein is that, even when he tries, he only ends up being
>~condesending.  I mean, his attitude towards his female characters always
>~seems to be "Gosh! She's beutiful AND bright!!!  What an unusual phenomenon!"
>~It is taken for granted that his male characters are all super-heroes and
>~God's gift to women.  But the women in his books always come across as
>~rarities.

>Hmmm.  If you are thinking about 'Friday!', perhaps you are right.  But what
>about the females in 'Time Enough For Love'?  Yes they are gorgeous (sp?), but
>that is not stressed too much.  And what about the older lady in 'Number of
>the Beast'?
>
>Could you point out some instances where you get this impression, perhaps you
>are right....

Well, in RAH's early work--all that really counts, in my not-so-damn-humble
opinion--his attitude was generally one of women as the superior bunch, with
most men too blind/oversexed/stupid/male to notice.

Some folks find this to be condescending towards women; I always thought that
he was celebrating the joys of being a two-sexed species.  He and I are doubt-
less the children of our (respective) times.

NB: I have never forgiven the Panshin's for their comments about his inability
to write about sex, because they just made him prove it.  The explicit sex in
_I Will Fear No Evil_, _Time Enough for Love_, et al., is pretty pedestrian;
the romance of the honeymoon scenes in _The Puppet Masters_ is much to be
preferred.

Rich Alderson
alderson@jessica.stanford.edu