I'm also having related thoughts on whether the forced impregnation trope in sff is primarily aimed at men or women, but they are inchoate at this time. That did lead me to this Laura Shapiro vid: [link]

I think it has to do with women's positions in a lot of narratives being confined to their status as female, rather than as persons. In the male gaze, being female is all about sexuality and reproduction, and women's roles are confined to those issues. So when women are threatened, the threat is associated with sexual violation. Women give birth, so an existential threat must be associated with an unwanted pregnancy (which might even do double-duty by challenging the male ownership of her fertility).

What other value could a woman have, in a narrative?

... and no, that's not the only role women can or should take in a story, but god knows I've seen it enough. Witness Aeryn Sun's transition from soldier, whose issues are associated with her upbringing, personal history, and training as a Peacekeeper, to basically just Lover and Mother in season 4. (Thank god for the mini-series, which did a lot to rectify that...)

Ugh, ita, that makes me feel ill.

Nora, Lisa, I'm sorry about the shitheads.

I keep getting told how nice and agreeable I am. Internally I am like, "WTF? I HATE people."

Oh, lisah, that is such bullshit!

On further reflection: I think the forced pregnancy trope isn't consciously aimed at anyone. Every time it's used I suspect the writers think they're being creative. But the target audience is, I think, men. The issue of control over one's reproduction is one that most women have struggled with, and don't really need Kemper or Davies or Mallozzi to pontificate on. Men see the horror of the forced impregnation but don't see the way it's reflected in the daily concerns of women, don't see that for some women there's little distinction between SF and reality.

I was about to say 8 or 9 things, but you all wildly intelligent people covered most of what I would say. So I'm going to say "ditto" and move on.

Matt, my twitter feed is abuzz over some fucked up flu-like virus going around that saps people's energy. Do you have a bug?

In re the BART spokesman, it's possible WMATA's is worse. When people were complaining about being sexually harassed on the transit system - sometimes by Metro workers - his resposne was "one person's flirtation is another person's harassment" (the wording may not be exact).

I'm about to go to a meeting/interview for that job I mentioned a while back. Wish me luck!

Good Luck Aurelia!

I really hate my downstairs neighbor AND UPS right now, although somewhat irrationally. I have a package coming to my home that I really DO NOT WANT to get sent back because I need it for a show. I can't have it delivered to the theatre because the secretary isn't working this summer, and the package pickup place closes before I get off work. I can't have it delivered to my work because they are now not delivering packages that they deem as personal. And now at home, my neighbor won't sign for it and also, I think her grandchildren banging in and out of the front door are knocking the infonotices off, so I don't get them. The UPS website only lets me change my delivery options if I have the info-notice number.

good luck aurelia! you are going to impress them! big time!

Good luck, Aurelia!

thank you all. You make me feel better!