The panel was not has interesting has it should be. The discussion has sidetracked on reproduction choices and gender. The gender issue is evident when we read more on science-fiction. There is a triumvirate relation about reproduction based on the three following items : availability, money and technology. The pill is a good example of this relation. The pill was invented using technology, it was available later in every drug store and the cost is now very low. Only then the full impact of the pill was realized.
Only some remarks were worthy of notes. We have listed some of them.
We may separate one day gender and the concept of gender. When it will happen, the society will change.
The concept of gender is useful because having an easily identifiable gender helps a lot to function in society. Its a kind of social structure defining the shape of society.
The bigger change in the 20th century is having a choice like the reproductive pills. Now its almost impossible to remember exactly how it was before the change. It was a king of breaking change in the continuity of the society.
The reproduction choices are shifting the current power base. Many projects like the sports for girls in the UK and all education (any kind of education) are given the girls much more power over their life.
Also a panelist has prepared a list of book on reproduction variants. They seem to be very interesting. I used OCR to compile the list some errors may have crept in.
- Amason, Eleanor Ring of Swords, A Woman ofthe Iron People
- Brin, David Glory Season
- Bujold, Lois Ethan of Athos, Falling Free and Miles Vorkosigan series
- Butler, Octavia Dawn and sequels (Xenogenesis trilogy)
- Chamas, Suzy Motherlines & three others in series
- Cherryh, C. J. Cyteen and other novels
- Claibome, Sybil In the Garden of Dead Cars
- DuChamp, Timmel “Motherhood“
- Farmer, Nancy House ofthe Scorpion
- Gearhart, Sally The Wanderground
- Gilman, Charlotte Herland
- Givner, Joan Half Known Lives
- Gritiith, Nicola Ammonite
- Hall, Sarah Daughters ofthe North
- Jones, Gwyneth Life
- Kelly, James “Lovestory”
- LeGuin, Ursula K. “Nine Lives”
- MacLeod , lan “Grownups”
- McIntyre, Vonda Dreamsnake
- Piercy, Marge Woman on the Edge of Time
- Ryman, Geoff Air, The Unconquered Country, “Birthdays”
- Russ, Joana The Female Mart “When It Changed”’
- Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
- Singer, Shelley Demeter Flower
- Slonczewski, Joan A Door Into Ocean
- Tepper, Sheri Gate to Women’s Country
- Tiptree, James “Houston, Houston, Do You Read7″
- Vonarburg, Elizabeth Silent City, In the Mothers’ Land
- Wilhelm, Kate Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
- Wyndham, John “Consider Her Ways”
A Few of the Many SF Books Dealing with Over-Population, Pollution, etc,
- Brunner, John Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up
- Clee, Mona Overshoot
- Kress, Nancy Maximum Light
- Pohl, Fred & Kombluth, C. The Space Merchants
- Wilhelm, Kate Juniper Time
Science Fiction with Novel Methods of Pregnancy or Reproduction
(compiled by Margaret McBride, University of Oregon)
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