My Harsh Mistress

[lydamorehouse]

In the 90s, there was this shoe commercial that used to make my eyes well up with tears every time I watched it. It had a “girl power” theme, and the ending image showed a young woman staring out at the camera as the narrator said, “One day, _you_ will walk on Mars.”

As a grrl who always wanted to walk on Mars, this worked for me. If the shoes were Converse (which they may have been), I’m wearing them.

Watching the space program slowly die has been very rough on me. I’ve been reading “You Will Go To the Moon” to Mason. It was published circa 1953 and is completely sexist – mom waves her son into space and when the boys achieve escape velocity and go weightless the text reads, “You are a space_man_ now!” But, it shows a functional L5 colony (complete with a diner and a jaded chef) and a moon base. There a moon buggies and jet packs and radio coms. The very end scene is a small red planet and the words, “You may go THERE some day, too.” Mason likes the book well enough, but Shawn and I read it a lot. In fact, Shawn and I occasionally call Mason “Commander Rounds, the astronaut,” just to kind of keep our own space dreams alive. I’d been kind of sad thinking that some day we’d have to explain to Mason that if he really, really wanted to go to space, he’d have to go to China because his country had given up on the dream of space exploration.

Now NASA has announced its plan for a moon base by 2025. Mason and I will be watching its development eagerly.

After all, this means Mason actually could go to the moon. How awesome is that?

Comments

[allochthon.livejournal.com]

Mason on the Moon.

Yup.

[aenodia.livejournal.com]

When my son and daughter were 8 & 10 their job ambition was to work in space. A friend thought it was an unusual delusion. I did not explain that it seemed reasonable to me. My children have been raised on SF & F. Perhaps my grandchildren can go to the moon base.

From jpj

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, I think I have the sequel to this book! It is called, YOU WILL LIVE UNDER THE SEA. A typical late 1950s/early 1960s young boy goes to something like "Sea Camp" where a man, who from the perspective of the 21st century is clearly a creepy pedophile initiates our protagonist to living under the sea. I loved this book as a kid and my kids liked to too despite the obvious sexism.

How do you read these great stories that have nasty politics? Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote some great adventure stories but do I want my kids reading the racism of Tarzan or the sexism of the Mars books? No. but do I want them to enjoy these great stories? yes. What to do?

jpj