My writings divide into two broad explorations. One is the championing of the natural world, and covers everything from challenging homocentric cultures to showing the beauty of wildlife. The other broad strand is writing about alternative ways of relating to each other through AI and non-human friends. It's about challenging the sexualised and objectified way we see people today.
My heroines aren't in sex-based relationships. This is the future, and I want to show mature cultures that don't do recreational sex, objectification of women, or excess breeding. My 'relationship' (what a sexualised and abused word that is!) stories explore real love - the unconditional, uncontrolling acceptance of another. I often use friendships between intelligent big cats and humans for this,but I have used high-intelligence birds too. My YA novel The Code River charts the non-sexual friendship between a human boy and a half-human, half-big cat girl, and the Panthera novels explore the relationships between the Hunters and sentient AI Panthera.
So what legacy do I want to leave? I'm aiming to get readers to think about how they live, to question and challenge the sexualisation and objectification of our society. And if I persuade one woman to breed one less child I will be well pleased. But I hope my readers will also admire my competent, professional heroines and want to emulate them. They too might choose to follow their passion, not be derailed by sex, and become world-class experts in whatever fields they choose.
Do I sound deluded when I say my aim is to change the world? Then so be it. Every person we now consider a great thinker or leader was reviled and called mad at some stage of their lives. But the prize we play for is saving Gaia and all her creatures, and if I have to be labelled crazy to achieve that, I'll live with it.
Wendy Metcalfe is the author of Panthera : Death Spiral and Panthera : Death Song, and the SF short story collection Otherlives.
No comments:
Post a Comment