8th+grade+-+Golden+Age+of+SF+-+Genders+Roles+(5th+block)

__Gender Roles Within Science Fiction:__

During the so-called “Golden Age of Science Fiction”, which took place from the 30’s to the late 50’s, many things in society began to change drastically. Social expectations for women began to include things like working, and people began to become more equal to each other. Though these things began to happen, it’s hard to force old thoughts and beliefs from people’s minds. As you can see in some of the older science fiction novels, or even their covers, women were still expected to be humble and somewhat helpless, or even just trashy, to make a male figure the hero or satisfy the male dominated needs of the science fiction genre. There may be different themes and idea throughout the work of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, but a common idea to find is the buff male hero and his large breasted damsel in distress. Even when women are given a main role besides the helpless maiden, they are still used as a fantasy of sorts with revealing clothing and beautiful features. Some people say that this may be from the authors being not only all male, but not the most popular group of people to be around, or the most respected. Since this was a male dominated genre, the ideal fantasy character to fit in with the ideal man that was expected back then, was a beautiful young woman with a good body. This was not fair to the woman of the time, and would still not be fair today. These stories practically made it okay to expect women to be humble and submissive and dependent on a man for living. It is very easy to understand the rationalization behind these thoughts now, as in the time period of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, women were meant to stay home and raise a family, listen to their husbands humbly, and care for their appearance. As time progressed, women began to become more respected and considered equal to men by most people. This is not to say that a woman can do everything a man can do, for the male and female bodies are obviously built different, but it is good to see that a woman can now be placed as a heroine that does not only have to use to wits, but also her strength and other traits that used to be considered specifically masculine. Even female writers, though there were few, (C.L. Moore) during the Golden Age of Science Fiction had to make their characters fit some-what into the roles people had ingrained in their minds for the time period in which they were living. Most gender roles were dropped, leaving women to portray more then a good-looking, but humble damsel, and are put into roles that empower the female gender, and show that men and women can be equal. ((**Sprinkledillusions**))

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