supercheesegirl

So, reading the books this time around, I was kind of surprised to see how much traditional gender roles are enforced on Pern. I remembered only strong fascinating female characters who do cool things, but even Lessa is always the one serving the coffee. She's also the only woman allowed at crucial meetings, but there are times when her mate F'lar will have thoughts like, "It's better Lessa doesn't come to this meeting. These issues should be decided by men". I wanted to throw things at him when he thought that. Kylara's main motivation for her actions is that she wants to do what she wants to do, and being a Weyrwoman is the only lifestyle on Pern that will get her that kind of freedom--and of course, she's the archetype of the promiscuous woman who destroys her life by pursuing her desires. Mirrim is thought to be annoying by many characters and is always being asked if her dragon needs to mate--it's like asking her if she's on the rag, all the time. And Sharra, an independent woman who's a trained healer, lets her brother trick her and needs to be rescued by Jaxom, who then forces her brother to allow them to marry. The younger generation of women on Pern does have more freedom, but Menolly I know had to go through a lot to become a Harper, and she's still the only female Harper there is. (Now I want to read Menolly's book again, is is Dragonsong?) It could just be because these books were written in the '70s, so maybe McCaffrey was still figuring out the feminism thing. And I know she's painting a picture of a very feudalistic society. But we know from Dragondawn, which chronicles how people came to Pern, that women had regular jobs and duties in the earliest colonies on the planet--it was even women who genetically engineered the dragons. I still think this trilogy is some excellent stuff, but I was just surprised to find things there that I didn't remember.