Friday, February 16, 2007

Landing on Uranus

What did you think of Haldeman's treatment of heterosexuality and homosexuality? And did the promiscuity of the soldiers seem realistic, or did it date the story as something written in the late '60s or early '70s?
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9 comments:

cl said...

I'd like to address one part of the sexuality issues. The idea of troops choosing partners (which seemed optional -- the having sex part, anyway) didn't bother me for morale or comfort or what have you. But when they landed at a new site and the females were expected to service the lonely crew there, I found that pretty vile. It prefaced the ideas of individuality and choice that the troops would lose as time went on, but it also catered (in my opinion) to a sort of '70s rape-fantasy scenario where these women are in service to be whores.

5:19 PM, February 16, 2007
Ben said...

It reminded me of Brave New World and showed a real lack of understanding of human relationships.

9:27 PM, February 17, 2007
Ben said...

By the way, that comment was meant mostly to be about the heterosexual relations, but I think the homosexual themes seemed completely uninformed as well.

9:38 PM, February 17, 2007
Erin said...

Yeah, I found the sexuality business pretty offensive. I also hated the lonely soldiers who pounced on the newly arrived women. And the treatment of homosexuality was awful.

I'd gotten used to open female homosex in the months since we'd left Earth. Even stopped resenting the loss of potential partners. The men together still gave me a chill, though.

How enlightened.

BUT, I did enjoy the scene where Mandella's officers were telling him they didn't think less of him for being heterosexual. That was the one scene where I sensed some anti-phobic satire.

"Just an eccentricity," Diana said, magnanimously. "Not as if you ate babies."

"That's right, Mandella," Hilleboe said. "I don't feel any differently toward you because of it."

10:57 PM, February 21, 2007
Ben said...

I understand that the narrator isn't speaking for the author when being homophobic, but even reading under the surface I saw a lack of understanding of relationships and sex.

12:07 PM, February 22, 2007
kc said...

I feel out of my element here.

2:22 PM, February 22, 2007
Erin said...

What do you mean, kc? I'm kind of curious about your opinion on this topic.

1:35 PM, February 23, 2007
george said...

I remember watching a documentary on The History Channel about sex in WWII, particularly in Hawaii. Even before Dec. 7, the Navy was building up the Pacific Fleet in preparations for war. They had a large number sailors on the islands, so the government recruited a lot of women to move to the islands -- mostly for legitimate jobs, and they were encouraged to participate in the USO. But they also helped bring over more than a few working girls to help fill the demand in the brothels. And the prostitute scenes from "Full Metal Jacket" come to mind. So it's not such an alien concept.

11:44 PM, February 24, 2007
Ben said...

It's a long way from government-encouraged prostitution to what was in this book. I would say it's not even related. The prostitution is believable, this is not.

9:49 AM, February 27, 2007

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