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Racism and Sexism in Early Sci-Fi

Writer's picture: Carla RaCarla Ra

Updated: Jan 11


There is an old interview with Carl Sagan on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson where he talked about the lack of diversity in Star Wars, Episode IV.


Sagan says, “It’s extremely unlikely that there would be creatures as similar to us as the dominant ones in ‘Star Wars.’ And there’s a whole bunch of other things; they’re all white. The skin of all the humans in Star Wars, oddly enough, is sort of like this [points to own hand]. And not even the other colors represented on the Earth are present, much less greens and blues and purples and oranges.”


To which Carson replies, “They did have a scene in Star Wars with a lot of strange characters.”


And Sagan points out, “Yeah, but none of them seem to be in charge of the galaxy. Everyone in charge of the galaxy seemed to look like us [himself and Carson]. I thought there was a large amount of human chauvinism in it.”


It was the inspiration for this blog post. Have you seen it?


The interview was held in 1978, and Mr. Sagan’s opinion greatly departed from the norm.


Most of the last century’s science fiction is notoriously a tale of white male humans—no matter how far in the future or how distant a planet it is set.


Otherworldly stories of strong, white, human-like aliens rescuing a beautiful damsel in distress set an unfair standard for both males and females while ignoring non-binary people. Not to mention that other alien races were generally portrayed as a threat, or corrupt in some way, or even less intelligent.


Unfortunately, racism and sexism are common in early works of literature, no matter the genre. Hell, one can make a good case by pointing out that it is still the case! But we can recognize that we, as a society, have come a long way in this matter, even though the path ahead remains endless.


Yet, it is striking that many of the futuristic science fiction of the early 20th century failed to predict the lessening of those prejudices.


Let’s talk about racism and sexism in early works of science fiction. This is the Science of Fiction.


Planet Stories 1946.
Click the cover to read this issue.

How early is “early Sci-fi?”


Science fiction never shied away from discussing social issues. Last month, for example, I talked about the portrayal of class disparity in the classic The Time Machine and the movie Demolition Man.


However, discussing the portrayal of race or gender in classics can be really exasperating. Not by chance, the scene of a bulky man rescuing the weak princess, or the trope of the white savior singlehandedly defending an oppressed individual (or even a whole society) are typical clichés, even within the sci-fi genre.


When I say early sci-fi, I mean the pulp era. Sci-fi’s popularity grew with the peak of the pulp magazines in the first half of the last century (around 1920-1950). Amazing Stories, Startling Stories, Planet Stories, and many others were the cribs of many renowned sci-fi authors. It takes only a quick scam through their cover gallery (that you can find here) to find the occasional racist and sexist stereotypes.


Several cover art from pulp magazines.
Cover gallery of pulp magazines.

Of course, the issue was not limited to the pulp mags. Fahrenheit 451 is often cited as the origin of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, where a young woman is introduced only to move the male protagonist’s plot forward. Not to mention her fridging, which Bradbury himself expressed regret years later.


(Speaking of sexist, I once compared the MPDG to the Prince-Charming type of character, if you want to check it out.)


There is also the case of Robert A. Heinlein, who was accused of being extremely sexist and racist. He wrote, among other things, the acclaimed The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers and was named the first-ever Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1975. I personally haven’t read one of his books yet, but here is a glimpse into the accusations.



Recognizing the issue


We can look at it now and recognize the racism, and sexism, and all kinds of phobias in these old stories. And once you’ve noticed it, it is in the least cringy. In many cases, plainly revolting. But should we hold those stories and their authors to today’s standards?

 

Although tempting, we can learn more about ourselves and our society if we answer no.

 

I like to think that history plays a significant role as a case study for societal conduct. We cannot change the past (yet), but we can analyze it, see what went wrong and when, and learn from it. If we try to understand the mistakes made, there’s a greater chance we can avoid repeating them.

 

On an individual level, it is harder to forgive an author. They should have known better!


But, again, it can be challenging to recognize a systemic issue. We are a product of our society, and if history teaches us something, it is that it’s difficult to self-assess our actions within our culture.


And even if one succeeds in recognizing errors, they may be restrained from acting against them. For example, can you blame Galileo for retracting his statement that the Earth revolves around the Sun?

 

Naturally, some broke free from the cycle of bigotry of the time. And I cannot talk about the subject without mentioning the amazing Octavia E. Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin. Their works have discussed race and gender norms in an impactful way since the sixties.



Taking action


“So,” you may ask, “should I overlook the racism and sexism of classics?”


Also no.


It goes without saying, but you are allowed not to like racist or sexist content. And I encourage you not to enjoy it.


It is not because it was written in the past or that we can understand the contextual biases that you must force yourself to consume this shit.


The list of classics I dislike because I could not overlook the sexism is growing each year (I’m looking at you two, Flowers to Algernon and End of Eternity).


But it is also ok if a person can admit that something in the story did not age well, acknowledge the troublesome parts, and still enjoy the overall story. The author of my favorite manga series growing up is super problematic, and I still have an emotional connection to the story. Sigh.


I am, tho, totally discouraged to give Heinlein a try. But, for those who like his stories, I hope you can notice the troublesome parts as something that we should, as a society, reject and get over.

 

###


Even though we cannot change the past, we can change our future by taking action in the present.


Let’s be better than our collective past.


That’s if for today, folks.


See you next post,

Ra.


 

Carla Ra is a scientist by day, sci-fi writer by night.

You can check out her anthology ARTIFICIAL REBELLION here.



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3 Comments


Alan R Paine
Alan R Paine
Oct 06, 2021

In Friday (1982) Heinlein writes in the first person as a strong and capable woman. You would probably say that the cover picture on the edition I have was sexist. I would have to read it again to see if the contents were sexist. But I might read something sexist and not realize. In 'The Currents of Space' (1952) Asimov challenges racism and discriminating against people based on their appearance. At least that's how I read it.

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Alan R Paine
Alan R Paine
Oct 07, 2021
Replying to

Heinlein wrote a wide range of science fiction starting in the late 30s until the late 80s and his death in 1988. Some of it is very good but some is not so good in my opinion.

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