Feminist Ca

38 / The Secret Feminist Cabal
He also, notes Larbalestier, assumes “the position of the male under
attack, when in fact the debate began with Turnball’s attack on women
in science fiction” (123). An attempt by a female reader to separate
“that which is represented from the manner of their representation
[was] to Asimov absurd and impossible to enforce” (125). Criticizing
the usual stereotypes of “swooning damsels” that figure for “women”
in sf, Asimov placed responsibility not on the (male) writers, but on
women themselves: “Which is another complaint I have against women.
They’re always getting into trouble and having to be rescued. It’s
very boring indeed for us men” (Asimov 1939: 160). In Larbalestier’s
words, “Asimov conflates women with the way they are represented in
science fiction and then makes them responsible for that representation”
(126).
Larbalestier notes connections between the issues raised in this
debate and later feminist analyses, for example in a letter from Mary
Byers countering Asimov’s arguments:
To begin, he [Asimov] has made the grave error of confusing
the feminine interest with the sex theme… He probably
still cherishes the outdated theory that a girl’s brain is used
expressly to fill up what would otherwise be a vacuum in the
cranium.
To his plea for less hooey I give my wholehearted support,
but less hooey does not mean less women; it means a difference
in the way they are introduced into the story and the
part they play. (Byers 1939: 160) 1
As Larbalestier comments, “Byers’ argument here is almost identical
to some of those of Russ, Badami and Wood more than thirty years
later” (122).
The resistance of female readers to the notion that women were
incompatible with “anything scientific” (and thus with sf) did not just
express the attitude of a few enlightened, brave individuals, but actually
reflected cultural shifts evident, if not dominant, in US society of
the 1930s-40s. During and post-WWII women had, of course, moved
in significant numbers into various technical and engineering roles,
and some had begun to make visible careers in science. As Eric Drown
reminds us, successful female scientists such as Marie Curie and
1 Reproduced in Larbalestier (2002: facing 121).