"Racisim and Science Fiction" and Bloodchild"

“[. . .] breaking into libraries [. . .] and taking down signs saying Negro Literature and replacing them with signs saying “black literature”-the small “b” in “black” is a very significant letter, an attempt to ironize and detranscendentalize the whole concept of race”- p.392 “Racism and Science Fiction"

In Delany’s “Racism and Science Fiction”, Delany outlines the sad, yet true, features of racism towards writers from the latter half of this century. This quote stuck out to me because the picture of respected writers breaking into libraries in order to change a sign shows how truly bad the racism problem was. The thing is, the people who put up the offensive signs in the first place probably did not realize their racist sensibilities. However, as Delany says, “[Racism] is fueled as much by chance as by hostile intentions and equally by the best intentions as well” (394), showing that while people may not mean to be racist, even by pointing out color, they inherently are making distinctions between races which in a way stigmatizes one group as strange or outlandish, or simply different, thereby creating racist tendencies in those who read the signs.

In this quote, Delany carefully points out the fact that the b in “black literature” is lower case, and in doing so he admits that the word “black” is in the sign, but shows that it should not define the way readers view the books on the shelf beneath the sign. But Delany’s larger implications are that there should not be such signs, as those signs, perhaps unknowingly, produce racism, and until signs such as these are no longer considered necessary, racism cannot be washed from people’s minds and the way they view the world.

“[. . . -we were necessities, status symbols, and an independent people”-p5, Bloodchild

Honestly, when I was about half-way through Bloodchild and the birthing scene, my reaction was “wow, I really don’t need these pictures in my mind.” But, I think that Butler’s purpose in writing the alien birthing scene was in fact to get a similar reaction from his reader, as he attempted to break down what we typically believe it is like to be human. With these terrifying scenes and the general plot of Bloodchild, Butler completely re-contextualizes the idea of humanity, and places humans on a world ruled by aliens where they are breed to breed, almost treated like animals. This quote struck me because it dehumanizes the Terrans and by using the phrase “status symbols” makes the humans seem more like objects than living, reasoning beings. Also, this statement made me realize that humans in the Preserve are essentially second class citizens, a notion foreign to most people today, and similar to how slaves were seen in the American South.

After reading Delany’s “Racism and Science Fiction” I realized that Butler’s reclassification of humans could potentially be linked to her experiences with racism as Delany describes them. Both she and Delany seem to be working towards a world where race is no longer noticed, and in which all people can peacefully coexist. It seems to me that Bloodchild could be put into the context of race, with the humans one “race” and the aliens another “race”, dramatizing the fact that racism is downgrading to the judged race, and showing the world that no one deserves to be treated as a second class citizen simply because of how they look.

The FIve Sexses and Sexing the Body

As we discussed in last week’s class, Samuel Delany’s “Aye, and Gomorrah…” questions sexuality and breaks down its traditional constructs by adding the neutered spacers and the frelks to the traditional genders of male and female and by openly discussing homosexuality. Both Anne Fausto-Sterling’s “The Five Sexes” and “Sexing the Body” discuss gender as biologically undefined and demonstrate the possibility for genders other than male and female, similar to the fictional argument in Delany’s story.

A passage that stuck out to me in Sterling’s “The Five Sexes” is as follows: we are bothered by hermaphrodites because of “a cultural need to maintain clear distinctions between the sexes. Society mandates the control of intersexual bodies because they blur and bridge the great divide” (170). This is true. As Sterling goes on to state, many of the surgical procedures undergone to “fix” sexuality are deemed necessary because of the norms of society, and an inherent desire to fit in. She shows that about four percent of people are born in-between male and female and so the “great divide” is less of a strict division than most people think (167). But here Sterling makes a valid point, why should people feel they have to change who they are to fit in with society? Sterling’s hermaphrodites are similar to Delany’s spacers in that they both are ashamed of who they are and are pressured by society to be surgically altered in order to fit in to some class as designated and designed by society.

Similarly, in Sterling’s “Sexing the Body”, she states, “Humans are biological and thus in some sense natural beings AND social, and thus in some sense artificial, or, if you will, constructed entities”(20) again demonstrating society’s influence in defining sexuality. Sterling discusses how society essentially creates gender as babies are taught by the example of gendered adults who already follow societal norms, for instance, women doing domestic chores and men doing hard labor. Sterling says that humans are “constructed entities” because while humans are born with a sex, they learn how that sex is portrayed in gender from the world around them and so begin to act within those presented boundaries in order to fit into society, as is the desire of all children.

Sterling’s ideas that gender is created and that there are not necessarily only two genders, aligns with Delany’s story which not only adds two more genders but also shows how as societal values change, so too do the definitions of sexuality. In Delany’s world homosexuality is culturally permitted, however having no sex or having broad desires has become the new stigmatized sexuality, similar to how Sterling’s hermaphrodites are currently anything but free from society’s stigmas. Delany's story applies Sterling's wish that one day society can change to accept other genders. She hopes that hermaphrodites will be accepted as Delany's homosexuals are, however, Delany's story shows that society needs a group to look down upon (the spacers and frelks), and so is slightly cynical to the possibility of all people being accepted into society.

Aye, and Gomorrah...

I was quite confused when I started reading “Aye, and Gomorrah…” by Samuel Delany, because it is written in such a way that the causes of the story’s conflicts are not revealed until the end, keeping the reader wondering: what is a spacer and a frelk? The title alludes to the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah about sin and sexual orientation, saying that perhaps “Aye, and Gomorrah…” is about something along the same lines, however we do not find out its meaning until the last few pages.

This story takes away the distinctions between manhood and womanhood, as the Spacers have no gender, and it is often questioned what gender they started out. This shows that to the people in Delany’s future, gender does not have the same important meaning. Even when gender is important to a character it is opposite of what we may think, the man saying that he would have liked the Spacer if he were a man, and the woman saying the same if the Spacer were a women.

A quote that stuck out to me is “You don’t choose your perversions. You have no perversions at all. You’re free of the whole business.”(130) This is said by a frelk, and it is interesting commentary by Delany, possibly saying that sexual desire is inherent whether it is seen as proper or not, saying that while the frelks are looked down upon, they cannot choose their desires, they just have them, and so should not be judged as harshly. I also think that the third sentence of this quote is interesting as the frelk claims that the Spacer is fortunate to have no desires and to not be judged for them. However, sexual desire and the desire for relationships are usually seen as good, natural emotions, not as burdens. In the world of the story, frelks are looked down upon and so see their desires as wrong and think that the Spacers have it easy because they have no desire. Having no desire at all is an extreme, and shows the importance of relationships as in the story the Spacers are lonely but cannot be satisfied because they have no desire.

From this quote and this story, it seems to me like Delany is trying to show that sexual desires should not be shameful, although he does it in a very odd manner, even though certain desires are looked down upon by our society. He shows that people cannot change who they are or what they desire and that everyone, the frelks, the Spacers, and the other briefly mentioned characters, only want companionship. I however, think that the relationship between the frelks and Spacers is disturbing as it seems like a strange and unnatural form of prostitution. Also, it shows the extremes that this future society deemed necessary to prevent defects, and as noted by a frelk, when she says, "They could have found another way"(129), these invasions of the spacers’ privacy were unnecessary. The solution of neutering the spacers is rather barbaric, but it seems, as the spacer notes, that researchers were not too concerned about the privacy of people who were already considered to have defects, showing inhumanity towards the spacers just because they were different, and did not have desires. I think that even if people have horrible defects, they should be treated well and helped, instead of exploited because of their differences.