March is Women’s History Month, and I think it’s about time women writers reclaimed science fiction, in homage to Mary Shelley. I’m tired of male science fiction writers who think they know how to portray women. And I’m all for authors trying to embody different perspectives when they write, but at least do the research! Don’t just assume that all women think about is their breasts, or their hips, or whatever physical feature that is used in determining traditional, outdated standards of beauty.
Because we don’t.
I’m doing my research. I’m on a science fiction binge, reading through the unpleasant parts of my favorite genre so that other readers don’t have to. And let me tell you, it is certainly very cringe-worthy. 
Take Artemis by Andy Weir. His protagonist is smuggler Jazz Bashara, who is given the opportunity of a lifetime to make it rich on her hometown of Artemis, the only lunar colony on the moon. Jazz is a spitfire, jumping headfirst into dangerous situations without much thought, which proves for some hilarious narrative. However, Weir makes it painfully obvious that our protagonist is a woman – a sexy, beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous woman at every chance.
“I hit a secondhand shop in Conrad and bought a hell of an outfit: a bright-red miniskirt so short you could almost call it a belt, a sequined top that exposed my midriff, and the tallest heels I could find. I topped it off with a large, patent-leather handbag.
Then off to a hair salon for a quick updo and voila! I was now a floozy. The girls at the salon rolled their eyes at me as I checked myself out in the mirror.
The transformation was disturbingly easy. Sure, I have a nice body, but I wish it had been a little more effort to become so trashy.” – Artemis (151)
“I tore my attention away from the monitor to see what had caused his mental reboot. He was just kind of staring at me. I looked down. I was still wearing just the shirt I’d liberated from his closet. I was pretty sexy, I have to admit.” – Artemis (203)
I’m an advocate for fellow women being confident, but such scenes pander to a certain sort of male readership from people who are fixated on things like Princess Leia’s metal bikini. There’s an implication that you’re only cool if you got the right kind of body, only noticed if you’re just as loud and obnoxious as a pubescent boy. Don’t even get me started on how Jazz uses a burqa as a disguise (her reasoning is that it’s fine since she’s Saudi Arabian); this is both derivative, a lazy excuse instead of coming up with something more innovative, and distasteful. 
Even young adult science fiction isn’t exempt from poor portrayals of women. I just finished The Young World by Chris Weitz, a post-apocalyptic novel where adults have been wiped out by a disease and teens rule the world. The book is inundated with pop-culture references in an attempt to stay ‘hip’. Let’s hope that our world does not become like this one, where people have devolved into speaking “textese” by saying the acronym LOL face-to-face.
But that aside, another assumption male authors have is that the only way to spark drama, or propel the heterosexual romance forward, is to introduce girl-on-girl hate that turns into slut shaming.
“She’s blond, slender, and, my annoyingly beside-the-point brain tells me, beautiful. Big blue eyes and a cupid’s bow mouth. Full, round breasts and a smooth stomach beneath a ripped T-shirt. It stretches against her body as she tries to catch her breath.” – The Young World (238)
“I don’t know if she was still the girl he liked. She’d kind of lost it. Wore too much makeup, dressed like a stripper, spoke in this screechy little girl voice.” – The Young World (113)
In these two separate instances, the female protagonist Donna decried any woman who spent even a second with the guy she denied having any feelings for. Of course, she ends up with him in the end, and the women described in the passages met their untimely ends. Because clearly, women can’t get along with each other.
I still have to tackle the misogyny that is Ready Player One, which could be another blog post in itself.
After reading all of this, you might think the author of this post really enjoys putting herself through terrible literature (wrong) and that she can’t stand any books written by men that have a female perspective (also wrong). I’m thoroughly against the continued usage of gendered tropes.
But there is science fiction out there that does subvert these traditional notions, and for that, I’m grateful. The Themis Files series by Sylvain Neuvel tells a story of a young girl who falls into a hole, only to be caught by a giant’s hand. Years later, she becomes a scientist, and a team is created to understand the mysteries of this giant, and the existence of extraterrestrial life. The story is told in a series of interviews, recordings, and journal entries. First of all, Dr. Rose Franklin, our heroine, displays remarkable growth over the course of the series. She goes from wanting to probe the ends of the universe for the answers she seeks with little concern for those around her, to maturing and understanding the frailty of the human condition. She is vulnerable and afraid, but also strong-willed and protective of those around her.
“I may believe in God, but I’m at war with Him. I’m a scientist, I try to answer questions, one at a time, so there’s a little less room for Him as the answer. I plant my flag, and inch by inch, I take away His kingdom. It’s odd, but none of this has ever occurred to me before. I never even saw a real contradiction between science and religion. I see it now, I see it clear as day.
I’ve crossed that line we’re not supposed to cross. I died. And I’m still here. I cheated death. I took away God’s power.
I killed God and I feel empty inside.” – Waking Gods (13)
Rose Franklin displays raw emotion and weakness in the face of loss, making her so incredibly human. That’s what I want from my science fiction. Woman aren’t one-dimensional beings, described in such a way that befits the male gaze. We’re so much more than petty jealousy and traditional beauty. Male authors need to realize this by doing the proper research, and above all, supporting science fiction written by women! By giving women a voice, we’re giving women a proper position in what was once a male-dominated genre.
I can only hope that having an equal playing field in the science fiction world will prompt men into realizing that we do so much more than think about our breasts.
Support Women’s History Month by reading science fiction written by women – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/50-sci-fi-must-reads-by-women/
-Raisa Alexis Santos
The Junction Journal 