And now, an observation from the Master himself….

“Hmmm… Are you the little girl who had a tizzy at the idea of dissecting a dead alien?”

“No, sir, I am not. I’ve decided to stay grown up. It’s not easy. But it’s more satisfying. An adult doesn’t panic at a snake; she just checks to see if it’s got rattles. I’ll never squeal again. I’m grown up at last…a wife instead of a Princes.”

“You will always be my Princess!”

I hope so, my Chieftain. But to merit that, I must learn to be a pioneer mother– wring the neck of a rooster, butcher a hog, load while my husband shoots, take his place and his rifle when he is wounded. I’ll learn– I’m stubborn, I am.”

-Zebediah John Carter and his blushing bride, Dejah Thoris (Deety) Burroughs Carter, in The Number of the Beast…, by Robert A. Heinlein, 1980.

No one would ever call any of Heinlein’s women characters anything but “Alpha”. The same held true for his men. This is logical, as Heinlein and his lovely wife, Virginia, were both Alphas with genius-level IQs.

And I have yet to see any Alpha, male or female, who finds his portrayals of men and women, rather separately (as in Friday) or as couples (as in Beast) to be in any way unrealistic or unbelievable.

Yes, women want confident, capable men. And men want competent, capable women, as well. Any honest, rational human being understands this, unless they have been blinded by the propaganda of the less confident and less competent, who don’t want anyone to outdo them in any way. (Think “gender feminists” on the one side, and “metrosexuals” on the other.)

Other writers have also explored this subject. In Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Dagny Taggart was attracted to first Hank Rearden, and then John Galt, for the same reason they both found her desirable- all three were not just physically strong and attractive, but competent to a fault in their own areas. By comparison, Dagny’s incompetent and witless brother James picked a “trophy wife”, Cheryl, for looks and nothing else- and essentially abandoned her when she had the insight to point out the inherent contradictions in his thoughts and actions. To put it bluntly, she had shown herself to be, not too “Alpha”, but simply too logical for him to tolerate.

The modern “enlightened” types, male or female, do not react well to logic. In any form. I suspect that Ms. Mulvey would have a reaction remarkably similar to James Taggart’s when confronted with a man who exercised his mental faculties correctly. I.e., she would hastily retreat.

Of course, then she would also blame him for being an “inflexible, hidebound, insensitive male”, as well. Never admitting to herself that it would be she who was, in fact, displaying an “inflexible, hidebound” mentality.

I do not believe Ms. Mulvey would pass muster with any of Heinlein’s or Rand’s heroes. Or heroines.

cheers

eon

eon on October 7, 2007 at 9:03 AM