I kept puzzling over the same thing. I think a lot of these guys are techno-nerds. They like the advanced technology, but not the biological bits. (ie. They love Asimov's take on Robots...or even the whole Terminator franchise, but the idea of gender or anthropological/sociological science fiction leaves them sputtering.)
It's almost as if they have a knee-jerk emotional reaction to anything that delves into an exploration of sociological, anthropological, biological, or sexuality which isn't well boilerplate or traditionally based? Not sure why. I know a lot of hard core sci-fi fans did not like Maria Doria Russell's The Sparrow and The Children of God - which played with religion and cultural anthropology. But was far less interested in hard science or technology. She sort of skimps on that, which annoyed a friend of mine. And Sherry Tepper more or less did the same thing with her Hugo nominated novel "Grass" - which explored sexuality and had some heavy political themes.
And, I agree, science fiction and fantasy is the perfect place to explore all that. I certainly have done it when I wrote science fiction (nothing published), and its why I read science fiction and fantasy - to explore those ideas and concepts. Actually, arguably Heinlein explored it a little bit (Cat Who Walks Through Walls) as did Ann McCaffrey (Ship Who Sang), albeit not necessarily well. And Ursula Le Quinn certainly did, as has CJ Cherryth (sp?). It's not like people haven't been exploring it before now, as GRRM pointed out.
Also, really good art is supposed to be uncomfortable -- it's not supposed to be fluff.
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I kept puzzling over the same thing. I think a lot of these guys are techno-nerds. They like the advanced technology, but not the biological bits. (ie. They love Asimov's take on Robots...or even the whole Terminator franchise, but the idea of gender or anthropological/sociological science fiction leaves them sputtering.)
It's almost as if they have a knee-jerk emotional reaction to anything that delves into an exploration of sociological, anthropological, biological, or sexuality which isn't well boilerplate or traditionally based? Not sure why. I know a lot of hard core sci-fi fans did not like Maria Doria Russell's The Sparrow and The Children of God - which played with religion and cultural anthropology. But was far less interested in hard science or technology. She sort of skimps on that, which annoyed a friend of mine. And Sherry Tepper more or less did the same thing with her Hugo nominated novel "Grass" - which explored sexuality and had some heavy political themes.
And, I agree, science fiction and fantasy is the perfect place to explore all that. I certainly have done it when I wrote science fiction (nothing published), and its why I read science fiction and fantasy - to explore those ideas and concepts. Actually, arguably Heinlein explored it a little bit (Cat Who Walks Through Walls) as did Ann McCaffrey (Ship Who Sang), albeit not necessarily well. And Ursula Le Quinn certainly did, as has CJ Cherryth (sp?). It's not like people haven't been exploring it before now, as GRRM pointed out.
Also, really good art is supposed to be uncomfortable -- it's not supposed to be fluff.