Lighting a Candle on the Road to Damascus
27th August 2017
Sarah Hoyt provides some adult supervision.
Science fiction and fantasy icon Ursula K Le Guin has a rather tiresome essay saying that she was once “a man.” Because, she says, once upon a time the only role models available for women were male, and therefore she viewed herself as a man. Yes, I’m rolling eyes as I type this, just as I rolled them while reading the nonsense the first time.
I’ve often expounded my theory that people who need someone who is exactly like them in external characteristics to enjoy a book or a movie, have never left the early toddler stage, where having your name in a book really helps you enjoy it.
I never had that problem, and reading stories with men or boys never made me less of a woman. Perhaps, of course, because I knew a lot of women in normal, everyday life.
Don’t look around for a role model — strive to be a role model.