3 ms·
I wouldn’t be surprised if Le Guin is tolerated because so many people assume, on the basis of other female authors from mid-century who wrote similar gender-qu
by Mediterraneo10 6y ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if Le Guin is tolerated because so many people assume, on the basis of other female authors from mid-century who wrote similar gender-questioning books, that Le Guin was a lesbian. As both a woman and a member of the LGBT community, she would therefore represent intersectionality, and in the current climate much can be forgiven such a person. (In actual fact, Le Guin was happily married to a man for decades, it just doesn’t get talked about that much because her career flourished independently of him.)
- lilactown 6y agoAFAICT Le Guin was criticized by feminists of her day for her decisions to be a home maker and - until later in her career - telling mostly stories of young men doing heroic things. She was "tolerated," lauded even, by the greater SciFi and Fantasy community _because_ she told stories that matched the tastes of young men back in the 60s and 70s. It was only later that she reconciled with feminism and began writing from the feminine perspective, and received a lot of criticism from her life long fans for it! There are valid criticisms of Left Hand of Darkness from an LGBTQ perspective, but it's also viewed as revolutionary for its time. Today, she's viewed as a complex person who contributed greatly to feminist literature - despite not being perfect - based on her merits, not because of some mistaken identity.