Entry tags:
Not so much a book review as a request for conversation
After years of meaning to read Octavia Butler's work, I finished Lilith's Brood yesterday, and now I want to talk about it.
In the end, I'm not completely certain what to make of this book. For an author I have so often heard described as feminist and ground-breaking, I was surprised to find so much gender essentialism and heteronormativity, along with such strong "biology is destiny" themes. In a conversation with my friend S, she pointed out that feminism in the late 1980s (when these books were written) was quite gender essentialist and heteronormative, so it may be a product of its times, but the heteronormativity, especially, struck me right away and kept bothering me throughout. Also bothersome: the pervasiveness of sexual situations wherein the consent is dubious at best. This book features coerced sex, forced pregnancy, and all kinds of invasions of bodily autonomy. Unlike with the previous issues, the idea of questionable consent is raised throughout -- the reader is forced to notice it, and think about it. So I'm pretty sure I was meant to find it disturbing and uncomfortable, but I can't be 100% sure. I'll need to sit with it for awhile.
All that said, it was an impressive book, especially for a debut novel [edit: I was incorrect about this, not sure where I got that impression, thanks to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
firecat for the correction], and I'm glad to have read it. But more than anything, I'm left wanting to discuss it, and I'm sure at least some of you have read it. So, what are your thoughts?
Other topics for conversation: the social structure of the Oankali, the book's critiques of colonialism, the implications of an Earth left bereft of technology and repopulated almost entirely by people of color, and whether human nature is really as bleak and terrible as it's depicted here.
In the end, I'm not completely certain what to make of this book. For an author I have so often heard described as feminist and ground-breaking, I was surprised to find so much gender essentialism and heteronormativity, along with such strong "biology is destiny" themes. In a conversation with my friend S, she pointed out that feminism in the late 1980s (when these books were written) was quite gender essentialist and heteronormative, so it may be a product of its times, but the heteronormativity, especially, struck me right away and kept bothering me throughout. Also bothersome: the pervasiveness of sexual situations wherein the consent is dubious at best. This book features coerced sex, forced pregnancy, and all kinds of invasions of bodily autonomy. Unlike with the previous issues, the idea of questionable consent is raised throughout -- the reader is forced to notice it, and think about it. So I'm pretty sure I was meant to find it disturbing and uncomfortable, but I can't be 100% sure. I'll need to sit with it for awhile.
All that said, it was an impressive book
firecat for the correction], and I'm glad to have read it. But more than anything, I'm left wanting to discuss it, and I'm sure at least some of you have read it. So, what are your thoughts?Other topics for conversation: the social structure of the Oankali, the book's critiques of colonialism, the implications of an Earth left bereft of technology and repopulated almost entirely by people of color, and whether human nature is really as bleak and terrible as it's depicted here.
Addendum now that I have a laptop + internet for easier reply
First, the necessary identity statement: I am not a black american nor do I claim to fully understand the experiences of black american women but I have a lifetime of lived experience as a colonized & post-colonial person in a female presenting body, and I know damn well what intersectional prejudice looks like, ranging from daily micro-aggressions, direct prejudice, and a handful of very unsafe experiences where my life, property, and well being were at threat. In short, I don't see the world through the eyes of white anglo-american privilege. Regarding Butler, I was introduced to her fiction by another writer -- a person whom americans would classify as a POC -- and this person read my original fiction over a decade ago and said that my approach to creepily describing the colonized female body reminded her just a little of Butler's work which she then recommended with great enthusiasm.
Now for my list of frustrations:
1. I get that Butler's writings make you uncomfortable. Personally, I find the discomfort validating but I can imagine how white anglo-american women might find the discomfort hard to grapple with. That said, the entire thread of discussion here and on Tumblr reads from the Other's point of view like a white anglo-american woman is trying to receive validation for her discomfort by **discrediting* Butler's position. While this probably is NOT your intent given your verbal history of inclusive leanings, this threads of discussion have been, dare I say, very white, and not in a good way *nor* in a way that invites discussion from anyone with other experiences. (which may be why no one else from the Other category beyond myself has bitten, and even I don't know where to begin without mildly hyperventilating as I read).
2. Ignorance is okay. Really. We are all ignorant about many things. But some conversations might be better in places that aren't google-findable, especially given your small but wonderfully notable position in the SF/F world. Merely putting this entire discussion behind friends lock and never putting it on tumblr would have been, imho, a much better move because when this kind of discussion is made public like this and written in the tone you are using, your white priv is showing and it is sending very aggressive signals telling the rest of us that we don't see the world in the Right Way(tm). It is a mother of a tiring struggle for everyone who doesn't have full anglo-american white priv to come hang out in english speaking SF/F/Spec/Gaming fandom because much of this space wasn't built for us and we are reminded daily. Thus, whenever a white person posts publicly to dump on a fan or a creator who doesn't have white privs, I just gotta wonder WHY are they doing this publicly.
3. I am really annoyed whenever the liberal side of the anglo-american white world plays the double standard game. You(plural) claim you want diversity but not if those expressions of diverse experiences make you(plural) uncomfortable. And then you(plural) claim that it is too difficult to something that the rest of us understand without going to school for it. Well, if you(singular) want to understand it, you just need to go educate yourself and telling me that I'm forcing a graduate seminar on you is a big fat double standard.
...
I am only posting these things because I *trust* you (you personally) enough to read this without going nonlinear and starting yet another YT Jihad in SF/F/Spec just because I have probably said things here that have hurt your feelings (Despite you probably not realizing how racially loaded the language is in all the threads of convo here and on tumblr that make me toss my hands in the air).
Re: Addendum now that I have a laptop + internet for easier reply
Quickly, though: you are right that I did not mean to discredit Butler and her work, and I agree that I could have worded my initial comments and responses more clearly and carefully, and also that I should not have crossposted to Tumblr.
Re: Addendum now that I have a laptop + internet for easier reply
(No hurry on your reply- when I am not stuck mostly on cell phone for replies I can be more helpful with post colonial perspectives with respect to sff & spec.
Have fun.
Re: Addendum now that I have a laptop + internet for easier reply
Re: Addendum now that I have a laptop + internet for easier reply