Reactions to the fourth installment of Daniel Enness’s Safe Space as Rape Room: Science Fiction Culture and Childhood’s End at Castalia House.
I just wanted to thank you guys for talking about this. I myself am a
survivor and have no Earthly idea why this stuff isn’t talked about by
the other “side” in this. It makes me a bit sick to talk about it or
read about it, but given the kind of fiction I enjoy reading it always
sort of worms its way back into my attention. I also get a sort of
garbage feeling if I say nothing or at least don’t voice my support for
people speaking out.
Granted, I disagree with a lot of what you guys have to say a lot of
the time, but bless you for saying this and I happily defend and support
your right to say the rest. I’m very sad of late to see that ideas are
now held as either dangerous or above reproach. As if we are all not
made poorer by the silence of a refusal to debate. I hold your
willingness to talk about this as proof absolute of the necessity of
maintaining diversity of ideas so that there are always people around to
call out other people for doing horrible things. The other “side”
deserves to be called out on this and I thank you for continuing to do
so.
– Andrew
This article in general – and Dozois’ comments in specific – helps me
understand why I no longer purchase modern SF: perverts and enablers
have gained publishing power, and have turned the genre into their
personal playground. When I tried to get back into SF in the mid-2000s,
I started off with Dozois’ yearly collection … and was promptly annoyed
at how the pacing of stories would be ruined by the seemingly
obligatory insertion of “non prudish” (to paraphrase Dozois) elements
that were irrelevant to plot or character development. These
distractions make the collection as a whole read as amateurish with a
light creepy undertone. I shifted over to Hartwell’s yearly collection
and found the selection a bit less annoying, but the overall quality of
both of those collections remained poor. Hartwell’s collection is
apparently no more, and I couldn’t care less if Dozois goes away.
If
there is going to be a renaissance of quality SF, it will have to come
from publishers with a mindset that the sort of writing represented by
Delany’s doesn’t have any sort of merit other than that of studying a
deranged mind. It is beyond me how anybody can read his work and not
get creeped out and repulsed; to praise such an author’s works makes me
seriously question the mental health of the persons quoted above. The
overall trend of SF sales now makes sense: most readers don’t want our
SF with a serving of creepy pervert.
– Hohokam
WARNING: The linked post deals seriously with child sexual abuse in
science fiction and extensively quotes from the work of a science
fiction author who endorses, and is believed to have engaged in,
criminally abusive sexual behavior. Not for the faint of heart; contains
vulgarities, obscenities, and descriptions of extraordinarily deviant and
disgusting behavior. It is a grim, but factual description of the
depravity that is not only tolerated, but actively celebrated in the science fiction world.
Readers under the age of 18 should not, under any circumstances, read the linked post as it juxtaposes various comments about the SFWA Grand master and suspected homosexual child molester Samuel Delany with quotes from Delany’s own work, which is considerably more depraved than the average individual is likely able to imagine. This warning is not a joke. You won’t enjoy it. You won’t find it titillating. It will simply sicken you and hurt your soul. This is something you need to leave to the adults.
And yet, the adults must deal with it. The rock must be overturned. The evil must be exposed and the rot must be excised. The science fiction world has continued to avert its eyes from Delany’s behavior for decades, just as it previously averted its eyes from the behavior of known child molesters in their midst, such as SFWA members Marion Zimmer Bradley and Ed Kramer, until well after they were safely dead or imprisoned.
As for the SJWs and fandom, while you may not like the source, the fact of the matter is that because we are the outsiders, we are the only ones with the courage to confront the evil that lurks among you. Even if you hate us, even if you hate what we stand for, you should hate what the monsters in your midst are doing to your children and to your community even more. If you can’t find common ground with us in actively opposing the molestation of children, how on Earth can you expect us to be interested in finding any common ground with you at all?
George Martin loftily announced the following in reference to the Sad Puppies: “When people behave badly (in fandom or out of it), or do things that I
find immoral or unethical, I reserve the right to speak out about it, as
I did about Sad Puppies 3 last year.”
So, what are we to make of the obvious fact that he has been in fandom for literal decades, but has never found any of the behavior of the various child molesters of his acquaintance to be worth speaking out about?