Go, read Kari Sperring about living as a woman in a science fiction future
But I kept reading, and, at around 15, I found Samuel R Delany’s Babel 17. I had wanted to be Uhura, because she got to help Kirk and Spock in their adventures. I *really* wanted to be Rydra Wong. The book was all about her: every character, every situation, every concept revolved around her and her talents and skills and actions. Rydra Wong saved the world because she was who she was. She wasn’t in the right place at the right time, she wasn’t an assistant or a prop to be rescued. She didn’t take time to stop and nurture her crew or sympathise with her man. She was the centre of her own story. Until I met her, I hadn’t realised how unusual that was. Women and girls in the books I read were forever interrupted by their gender. They had to be good and do their chores, they had to stop what they were doing to help others, they had to put food on the table and teach children and clean up even in the middle of their adventures. They were never just heroes. They always had to take time out to live up to their social, female role. The only alternative was to behave like a man and expect another woman to look after you, too. The life of a female hero was full of giving up, being good, surrendering, giving way, giving in. Even in their own stories, their lives were already compartmentalised and full of duties that involved always putting others’ interests and needs ahead of their own.
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