Is sci-fi a boys’ club?

A well-respected historian, someone I greatly admire, recently commented on a podcast about science-fiction and something along the lines of it being a boys’ club. (I’m paraphrasing.)

I cringed. Was it?

When I hear comments or sweeping generalizations like this, I stop and ask myself one question to help squash an emotional response: Is it accurate?

I am a woman. I love sci-fi, even when my literary friends, mentors, friends and, at times, other mothers snub their noses at me for it. Throughout time, I’ve learned to embrace who I am and what I like, even when it is different than others. I’m someone who often finds myself, an out-of-the-box thinker, in square peg-round hole situations. But was sci-fi club a boys’ club and I hadn't noticed not being welcomed to it? (Well, except for that time I wanted to work at a well known tech/data company and was asked who was going to take care of my child…)

I glanced through my collection of beloved sci-fi works: H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, George Orwell… wait, there’s Margaret Atwood… then Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, Ian M. Banks. Hmm, I started seeing a theme. There were a lot of male sci-fi authors. Yes, the books and ideas were excellent, and the fact that most were men had little to do with any possible superior cerebral skills of men, and more to do with it being a product of the time, meaning, um, many women were being caretakers.

But then I took my thoughts a step further.

Sci-fi often becomes reality, correct? Maybe not every detail, but many of the ideas, technological advancements, and terms have been birthed straight from our books and screenplays.

If that’s true, which I think we can agree it is, then much of our so called modern world, with its technologies revolutionizing much of our existences, was conceptualized from a male perspective. But that also means, on the higher-level, many of the issues with technologies and their lack of addressing many of our issues, were potentially conceptualized by many of our favorite sci-fi writers quite possibly because of the absence of other views points. Which means, what we have today was largely imagined via a narrow narrative.

In STEM, we’ve made tremendous strides in recruiting in women, but in STEAM and under the A (Arts), we’re missing the women’s narrative and her unique ideas, particularly in the world of science-fiction. The world needs more women science-fiction writers, because, quite frankly, our technology needs the ideas. Humanity needs it. Our future needs it.

So, if this esteemed historian’s assessment was accurate, and my evaluation of the names on my books’ bindings offered some evidence that what she said was correct, then I am not going to cringe or run away when I hear sci-fi being called a boys’ club. Instead, I’m going to welcome myself, and invite other varying perspectives into it. Maybe one day my son will join, too.