October 23, 2018

One of My Issues with Science Fiction

I’m a fan of Science Fiction

a BIG fan, been one for a LONG time

I love how a good story can take my mind

away from the hum-drum tedium of life

to a place where dreams know no limit

and all the worst parts of who we were

could be thrown on history’s ash-heap

where it belongs (where, in reality,

another One had long ago consigned it)

but one problem with these stories

(among others, some equally glaring)

was the totally ridiculous sexuality which

for some obscure (or lack of) reason

not having anything to do with the story

would clothe the manly heroes

in space-armour of every description

and unclothe their female counterparts

in bits leaving nothing to be described

(I mean REALLY!?!? The man gets armour

and the woman next to him next-to-nothing

or something so nonsensically form-fitting

as to be completely impractical?

How does this even begin to make sense?)

men and women in this glorious future

doing the same work, in the same place

and yet painted entirely inequitably

this and those other problems

tended to dull much of the gloss

leaving me very glad that long ago

this One dealt more completely

with the worst of who we are