Quote:
Originally Posted by EatingPie
I submit as evidence a quote from Stranger in a Strange Land.
"...But I was coping with wolves when you were still on Mars. Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's at least partly her own fault. That tenth time - well, all right. Give him your best heave-ho to the bottomless pit. But you aren't going to find it necessary."
I am ashamed to say I read right over this, and it was not until a girl in my SF class expressed her anger at such a statement. Justifiably so. This is delivered in all seriousness, and it's difficult to conclude that RAH didn't really believe this was true.
Having read several Heinlein books, I cannot conclude anything but is an old-school scumbag. "That tenth time"? Give me a freakin' break.
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The expressed anger by the girl in your class over words written about a half a century ago is equivalent to someone taking offense to the language of Huckleberry Finn and labeling the book racist even though the book for its time was clearly anything but racist.
She certainly could have been disappointed and given what we know today confused that large parts of society may have believed that statement in the past. But her anger was not justified and should have been abated quickly in the ensuing discussion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EatingPie
I agree here. However, there's that little bit that says, and I quote, "it's at least partly her own fault." A very, very dangerous suggestion (fortunately, while much of SiaSL was revered by the '60s culture, this particular aspect was not).
Even in the context of personal responsibility being important, this is a totally irresponsible statement. Because the personal responsibility is that the rape is partly the woman's fault!
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This novel was written in the 50s and like it or not this was mainstream ignorance in the 50s. Today we can easily say that we would drop 9 out of 10 offenders down the bottomless pit and the other 1 might be questionable for many reasons.
Times change, society learns. This quote from one book of fiction is not "A very, very dangerous suggestion" for its time. In hindsight this statement was wrong, but not "a totally irresponsible statement."
Old-school scumbag? Maybe. But I don't think so and would recommend any of his books to fans of science fiction.
Next thing I know someone (not you) might suggest that Huckleberry Finn (racist as it is) shouldn't be allowed read in any school.
