The Women Men Don't See

I have a deep love for really good science fiction. The kind that makes you look at our world in a new perspective and say, "huh." (As opposed to "huh?") I have a deep love for the spirit of Star Trek because of this (which is now a mere shade of what it once was).

I read Slashdot fairly regularly. One story posted quite a while ago was a question asking the Slashdot readers what would be appropriate and belong in a high school-level science fiction literature class. I can't seem to find the link now, but someone posted a link to a syllabus of a college-level course which included the James Tiptree short story "The Women Men Don't See". The title alone fascinated me and I was compelled to search it out. You can buy a James Tiptree anthology on B&N here or read the story online here. (If you get the anthology I recommend looking up "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?")

Go read it. It's not long. I could spoil the pivotal scene for you, as several bloggers have done, but you should have the joy and delight of reading it yourself.

I've asked several men if they would go on a one-way mission to colonize Mars, to be a part of history. Almost all of them have said no. The one exception that I can remember said that if the mission was something like Total Recall he would go. Why not? Men are happy here. Comfy. There's nothing to compel most men to find a new life.

And women? If I could go to Mars to start life on a new world why not? Why not try for something better than what we have today, and have a pivotal role in building it? Why not give the world a reason to remember my name (3:15 in this clip)?