/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.7521384]

So...when the hell did this novel go from charming and interesting to straight up insulting and over-the-top? The first half is extremely enjoyable to read, and the sexism and the racism are subtle enough to laugh off. About mid way through, however, the sexism is notched up to a whole new level. I find it really funny and rather presumptuous when male writers "speak through" their female characters; i.e. as long as it is Jill and not Jubal saying "nine out of ten times it is the girl's fault for getting raped," it is somehow "okay." The shift in this book from "innocent" sexuality to hippy-esque promiscuity just reeks of the whole [patriarchal] neo-liberal discourse surrounding the so-called "sexual liberation of women" in the 1960's. "Sexual liberation" is not - contrary to what Heinlein seems to think - self-exploitation and promiscuity. Funny how the image of sexual liberation we get here is entirely a product of male fantasies rather than a thoughtful interrogation into female sexual desire produced outside the sphere of the male gaze.
Another problem with this book - despite "queer" possibilities, Heinlein quickly re-entrenches a heterosexist discourse. Heaven forbid Mike kiss or f*ck a male water brother. Instead, he must be "warned" of the dangers of homosexuality and accept that his male water brothers are too "masculine" to accept such advances. Oh, and of course, the female water brothers are just "too female" to resist his advances. At several points in the book, lesbianism is dismissed as un-feminine (except, of course, when Mike - the big strong sexually virile man - acts as a conduit in the sexual exchange between women, for example, Patricia and Jill).
The sheer hypocrisy of the whole thing is tough - I feel like Heinlein wrote this thinking 'oh, how high-minded and sexually open I am' and what we're given instead is an Ayn Rand-esque moral banging-over-the-head that is thoroughly old-fashioned.

[Anonymous No.7521397]

>>7521384
It was a good book you faggot get over it.

[Anonymous No.7521637]

Heinlein is Heinlein. Nitpicking Heinlein's views is stupid, his sci fi is fantastic regardless.