Concluding Observations on the Mainstream Embrace of Gor

[bellatrys]

or, Get up on your pedestal, girl, so I can worship you - don't make me smack your ass back to Terra!Having had the chance to see and judge for themselves, many readers are now asking questions concerning the judgment - nay, sanity - not just of Dark Horse's editors but also the editors of the past big name publishing companies which saw fit to

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someone needs to tell Pat Oliphant and Universal that

[bellatrys]

at least in public.

So I thought before the Don Imus scandal. I wish I'd thought to save them when I had the chance, but Oliphant had some of THE most insulting, stereotyped pro-Imus cartoons nationally-syndicated, I really couldn't believe it - but he was just expressing the views of so many young "ironic hipster liberals" I heard IRL and saw on general boards, like FARK - pity the poor white man, artistry strangled by the iron grip of Political Correctness.

I agree that I don't think that Dark Horse would dare, partly because fandom *does* see itself as more progressive than the mainstream (snort) and also because it turns out that some other comics publisher got themselves in deep shit with fans for putting out a collection of some early 20th c cartoonist with the cover image they chose...a horribly-stereotyped black cannibal, exactly what you'd expect - they apologized, but that they would not have any clue why this was inadvisable, much less wrong, for all the people who had to handle it to get it to print - says *volumes. I wish I could remember which outfit it was, but I didn't recognize the cartoonist and it didn't stick.

Re: someone needs to tell Pat Oliphant and Universal that

[violaswamp]

Hmm, true about Imus. But what Norman's doing isn't implicitly supporting a stereotype--he's explicitly espousing an ideology that flat-out says women are natural slaves. I can't think of any currently-popular ideology that explicitly says this about any other social group---though plenty imply it. Implicit stereotypes are as pernicious, or even more so, than explicitly articulated ideologies--which is why Imus was so god-awful--but they are a bit different in how they work.

On the other hand, there are Steve Sailer and the VDare types (white supremacists). Of course, these people would be sympathetic to Gor too, but they've also got an explicitly racist agenda backed up by their view of "nature," and they've wormed this agenda into the mainstream through such works as the Bell Curve. They don't come right out and say that certain people are "natural slaves"--but the implications are so strong they might as well just say it.

As for fandom being more progressive--ironically, in this case it's the mainstream that's probably more progressive.

it gets interesting too where you get these intersections

[bellatrys]

and conflicts, like between the Ladies against Feminism/CWA talking about the need for female submission *and public, erzatz-19th-c modesty* - because that's Godly, but except for that it sounds just exactly like Gor. And they'd be all "fetch me my smelling salts!" for public consumption at least, over the "kinky" aspects. And I *so* want to be there with popcorn when the Godless Atheist Old-Fashioned Social/Fiscal Conservatives and the Bible-Thumping Conservatives and the Godless Atheist Pot'n'Porn Libertarians all turn on each other in melee combat. The alliances that will form and disintegrate in the course of it, like Risk only much, much more personal...

If course, these people would be sympathetic to Gor too, but they've also got an explicitly racist agenda backed up by their view of "nature,"

There's this wierd little throwaway line in Book II, Outlaw of Gor, where he says something like "we don't fight about race on Gor, we find other things to fight about" and it's all the more odd because we don't even meet *one* person this time who isn't plain vanilla through and through, so you're left thinking, "Duh, this is the Planet Of All White People, what race issues are you going to fight about - brunettes vs. blonds vs. redheads? That's not gonna work very well!" I'll have to find it again.

As for fandom being more progressive--ironically, in this case it's the mainstream that's probably more progressive.

Sometimes I think that, and sometimes I'm not sure - maybe it's just that the fanboys are a little more gauche and obvious about it, because the blogs and books that investigate mainstream culture are full of more of the same old sexism with a smirk (likewise RL.) It just doesn't come out wearing a Bronze Bikini™ so its harder to spot I think...

Re: it gets interesting too where you get these intersections

[voxwoman]

OK, I have to ask you what "CWA" is... oh. Conservative Women of America? (I work for the telecommuncations industry, and CWA is "Communication Workers of America" - the big union for all the phone techs. That was some double-take. LOL)

Concerned Women of America

[bellatrys]

a conservative "think tank" type outfit, dedicated to telling women that they don't need feminism, which has been the subject of mockery on feminist blogs in the past on account of how their leaders are mostly all men.

I doubt there's much overlap!