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The Unholy Consult / Re: The Unholy Consult Giveaway
« on: May 25, 2017, 07:20:53 pm »
Legolas kills Paul Atreides with the sled G W F Hegel used as a child.
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General Earwa / Re: Bakker and Feminism
« on: January 02, 2015, 08:29:24 pm »
Feminazis and their revisionist history are so ridiculous.
If feminists are 'feminazis' does that make you a 'man-jew'? If so, good luck with that!
Feminists want to paint a picture of ladies being tough and in charge but guess what, this is a medieval type setting.
Yeah, thanks, I get that. Although it seems a little bit weird that the books are filled with aliens and magicians and demons and gods, but treatment of women MUST be historically accurate, or that would ruin the realism.
Putting that aside, it is possible - and many, many other writers have done this, GRRM being the most notable - to write fantasy in a medieval setting without being super-creepy about it. Like, not specifically structuring the metaphysics of your world to make females literally inferior, not making almost every female character a whore, and not raping and degrading them over and over again.
This stuff has a long history in fantasy writing - I suspect one of Bakker's main influences are the Gor books - and that's mostly for commercial reasons: lots of guys like reading books in which women are raped and beaten. But pretending that these pornographic elements are historical realism, or whatever - is pretty silly.
If feminists are 'feminazis' does that make you a 'man-jew'? If so, good luck with that!
Feminists want to paint a picture of ladies being tough and in charge but guess what, this is a medieval type setting.
Yeah, thanks, I get that. Although it seems a little bit weird that the books are filled with aliens and magicians and demons and gods, but treatment of women MUST be historically accurate, or that would ruin the realism.
Putting that aside, it is possible - and many, many other writers have done this, GRRM being the most notable - to write fantasy in a medieval setting without being super-creepy about it. Like, not specifically structuring the metaphysics of your world to make females literally inferior, not making almost every female character a whore, and not raping and degrading them over and over again.
This stuff has a long history in fantasy writing - I suspect one of Bakker's main influences are the Gor books - and that's mostly for commercial reasons: lots of guys like reading books in which women are raped and beaten. But pretending that these pornographic elements are historical realism, or whatever - is pretty silly.
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General Earwa / Bakker and Feminism
« on: December 04, 2014, 12:54:33 am »
[EDIT Madness: Moved from an intro thread where a reader asked about rumours of misogyny.]
I'm starting to hear rumors about R. Scott Bakker being anti-woman.
I wouldn't say Bakker is 'anti-woman', but he clearly has issues. The Second Apocalypse is a series set in a world in which women are - literally - spiritually inferior to men, most of the female characters are whores or sex slaves, and most of them get repeatedly raped, which is described in pornographic detail. So if you're interested in issues around gender and the fantasy genre, or just feminism in general then Bakker's work could be very challenging.
Part of this is intentional. Bakker points out that there's a paradox in most conventional fantasy in which the antagonist is utterly evil but also completely non-sexual, whereas in our world evil is heavily sexualised. Thus Bakker's black semen gushing serial rapist bad guys. But part of Bakker's treatment of female characters seems unintentional. Feminist critics complain that bad male writers compartmentalise women as either whores or crones, and pretty much all of Bakker's female characters fall into those archetypes.
I always think its weird when people say they 'don't notice' the treatment of women in Bakker's work. It's a big part of the books and a very big deal for the author who insists that he's writing a feminist text. So if you don't see it then you're missing a lot.
I'm starting to hear rumors about R. Scott Bakker being anti-woman.
I wouldn't say Bakker is 'anti-woman', but he clearly has issues. The Second Apocalypse is a series set in a world in which women are - literally - spiritually inferior to men, most of the female characters are whores or sex slaves, and most of them get repeatedly raped, which is described in pornographic detail. So if you're interested in issues around gender and the fantasy genre, or just feminism in general then Bakker's work could be very challenging.
Part of this is intentional. Bakker points out that there's a paradox in most conventional fantasy in which the antagonist is utterly evil but also completely non-sexual, whereas in our world evil is heavily sexualised. Thus Bakker's black semen gushing serial rapist bad guys. But part of Bakker's treatment of female characters seems unintentional. Feminist critics complain that bad male writers compartmentalise women as either whores or crones, and pretty much all of Bakker's female characters fall into those archetypes.
I always think its weird when people say they 'don't notice' the treatment of women in Bakker's work. It's a big part of the books and a very big deal for the author who insists that he's writing a feminist text. So if you don't see it then you're missing a lot.
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