- Alan Petrillo Actually, Kevin, I think that is true of at least 90% of the characters in all of SF. But again, I disagree. Do you have any specific examples in mind?
- Alan Petrillo Another criticism is that all of Heinlein's characters are white. Again, not so. In addition to the aforementioned Elizabeth Andrew Jackson Libby, who is of mixed race, there is Rod Walker, who is black, Juan Rico is hispanic, as is Dorcas. Dr. Mahmoud is an Arab. And then there is Friday, who is a synthetic of indeterminate race. Now, granted, these are isolated characters in a large body of work, but the fact remains, not all of RAH's characters were North American white people.
- Charlie Martin Actually Juan Rico is Filipino, said the copy editor.
- Charlie Martin Eunice what's her name is black
- Alan Petrillo I stand corrected.
- Charlie Martin the people in Moon is a harsh mistress are uniformly mixed after the first generation
- Alan Petrillo Joan Eunice Smith Solomon, from /I Will Fear No Evil/.
- Charlie Martin thanks, yeah
- Charlie Martin although you're missing a couple of other names :-)
- Alan Petrillo And as I understand it, RAH did not really go into detailed exposition of his characters' appearance, most of the time, because he wanted his readers to see themselves in his characters, especially in his lead characters.
- Charlie Martin I think the missing key here is that this isn't actually a realistic criticism, it's a shibboleth for admission into a social group. A little like the insistence that GWB is an idiot and John Kerry brilliant, even though their school records go the other way.
- Alan Petrillo And I think that is true both of the female characters issue and the race issue, with respect to RAH.
- Alan Petrillo In my experience, the people speaking these criticisms are doing so on the basis of having read one or two of RAH's books, usually some combination of Stranger, Mistress, or Troopers.
- Charlie Martin if they've read any at all.
- Alan Petrillo There is that.
- Jay Ashworth Indeed: you don't learn that Rod is black, or that Friday is quite dark, until quite late in their respective stories; you certainly don't learn it from Friday's cover art...
I
don't understand the criticisms I hear about Robert A. Heinlein's
female characters. How are they not good role models? They are, almost
without exception, highly intelligent, highly educated, highly driven,
and highly competent. They tend to like sex, enjoy being married, and
they even like having babies.
Maureen Johnson Long spent a large chunk of her life, while married in the late 19th and early 20th Century, "changing diapers and wiping noses", even though she put herself through higher education at a time when fleetingly few women did so.
In case the detractors missed it, there are some notable modern highly educated women who did exactly the same thing. Among others, Ann Dunham, and Michelle Obama. Of course, maybe these detractors don't consider President Obama's mother and his wife to be role models.
Podkayne Fries aspired to be a commercial spaceliner captain.
Dejah Thoris "Deety" Burroughs Carter is a highly skilled computer scientist.
Hazel Meade Davis Stone started her life as an orphan living in a creche, fought in a revolutionary war, and later became competent enough to run the engine room of a space ship, and became the matriarch of the Stone family.
Elizabeth Andrew Jackson Libby Long was not
only female, not only of mixed race, but she was trans-gender. She
chose to be female. She was also the most gifted mathematician in
several universes.
The list goes on and on. Highly intelligent, highly educated, highly driven, and highly competent women.
If
you disagree, fine. If you want to debate the characters themselves
then I'm willing. And I will admit I am not the world's best expert on
Heinlein's characters, but I have read substantially all of his body of
work. But I will also warn you that if you only make a blanket
statement about Heinlein's female characters without the ability to
discuss the individual characters themselves then I will require you to
educate yourself before engaging in the debate.
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