
By Malia Disney
Narration: Recently I enrolled in a Sci-Fi and Fantasy Lit course at my school. The syllabus was exciting: I was able to read novels from Ursula LeGuin, Orson Scott Card, and other big names in the genre. But, as I moved through the course I noticed that there weren’t that many queer characters or authors. This shocked me, especially because I always regarded sci-fi as a genre that often experimented with the “normal” perceptions and representations of gender and sexuality even though, mainstream Sci-Fi is a mostly made up of straight white men. I assumed this because much of sci-fi has political undertones that challenge society. Due to this indifference of the mainstream culture, I expected more queer characters.
In downtown Oakland, I asked a few folks if they knew of any queer characters. Here’s what they had to say:
- You know, off the top of my head I don’t.
- Was somebody in Catcher in the Rye gay?
- I can't think of one of the top of my head
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