Smash All the Things

I don't know that I've ever consciously set out to smash patriarchy in my fiction. I'd rather smash everything I can reach - the definition of family. The definition of worthy and even of human. For that reason, most of  my focus has instead been on what I wish the world could be. Now don't get me wrong. I am no fan of the patriarchy and if I thought I could do it lasting, meaningful damage, I'd sign right up. But I'd rather write about a world where gender or lack thereof matters not in the least. Your limits are your own - not imposed by external forces. 

If there's any patriarchy smashing going on it's in the fact that so many women and nonbinary people of all colors are writing. We may be mocked and our stories made fun of, but we're encroaching on what used to be the purview of white guys and white guys only. Think it's old news? How long ago was it that science fiction was rocked by a bunch of cranky dudes complaining that we'd 'ruined' the genre (I think they said *their* genre) by bringing our perspectives and stories to it? When the women and nonbinary people of all colors started winning awards, the cranky dudes' tiny minds exploded. THAT'S real patriarchy smashing, right there. And I am utterly delighted by it.

Hulk Smash! (the patriarchy)

     

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This week at the SFF Seven we're discussing what we do in our stories to smash the patriarchy. 

My favorite way to crack up patriarchal thinking? Model other kinds of worlds and societies!

See, the insidious thing about living in a patriarchal society is that we absorb that kind of thinking as part of "normal." We are programmed from the time we are small children to assume that given rules imposed by our society are fundamental truths. Stuff like that females aren't as physically strong as males and therefore cannot be fighters. Or that females are in sexual peril from males and that this is part of the natural course of life, that females must be protected and observe safety rules to avoid that sexual peril. Or that females are responsible for pregnancy and its consequences.

One of the great aspects of writing alternate world fantasy is that the worldbuilding is an excellent tool for changing up these programmed "truths." We can create worlds and societies that DON'T believe these things, which then changes all kinds of layers of the lives of females. Personally, I love to write a world where gender doesn't dictate ability to be a warrior, or a wizard. Or where rape isn't a given. Or where birth control is magically handled and available to everyone.

Of course, it's also useful to impose power imbalances, too - and then use those to highlight how injustice works. By seeing familiar power imbalances in new light, we may notice more about our own world. Instead of simply accepting that programming, we can work to change it.