I have a hard time with RW SF

[SheilaT]

5. How true, how true.

I'm old enough that I used to be thrilled every time a new Heinlein novel came out. Then, I was young enough not to question, or even notice the underlying assumptions of his novels. As I got older, and as a woman, I got so I wanted to strangle him.

I've had some interesting arguments with males about his take on females. He does an incredibly insulting thing of seeming to praise women for their strong points, and yet every single major female character wants only to get pregnant and have babies, lots of babies as soon as possible.

Now, I happily had a couple of kids and even more happily was a stay-at-home mom while they were growing up, but I get totally crazed at the idea that that's the ONLY thing a woman wants. Heck, I even get why some women want nothing at all with that scenario.

He also pre-loads all of his right wing arguments so that his take on things is the only logical or possible take on those things.

Maybe the question we should be asking is: If RAH were still alive today, who would he be campaigning for.

Oh, and on another note: in 2007 I attended the Heinlein Centennial thing in Kansas City. Fascinating on many levels. The most interesting was one workshop I attended (can no longer recall the topic) in which one attendee talked at the end of meeting RAH and Virginia and talking about what right-wing nut-cases they were. There was absolutely NO response from the panel. It was as if he'd spoken into a literal vacuum (no sound there). After, I went to him and gave him sympathy and support.

What bothered me the most about that entire thing was that RAH was being absolutely deified, and it simply wasn't right. I think I'm just as glad that I won't be around for the RAH bicentennial.