Lisa Paitz Spindler, Danger Gal

Now that would make a great band name. It’s an even better short story by Samantha Henderson in the May 15, 2006 issue of Strange Horizons magazine.

I don’t want to admit that I was reading this story when I should have been writing a Danger Gal post. Come to think of it, Cinderella Suicide would make a great Danger Gal. I found the story to be reminiscent of Nylon Angel by Marianne de Pierres. Both have an Aussie sensibility to them since they take place in a post-apocalyptic Australia.

I haven’t posted for a whole week, and I missed last week’s Danger Gal Friday post. Sometimes my life just gets too busy and blogging has to take a back seat to my family, day-job and freelance design work.

Fear not, all will be on track this Friday. And I’ll stop slacking, I promise.

“No offense, Human, but what can I possible need from you?” — Aeryn Sun

Abigail Nussbaum over at Asking the Wrong Questions has written a fantastic comparison between Battlestar Galactica’s Starbuck and Farscape’s Aeryn Sun, the subject of this week’s Danger Gal Friday post.

Let’s get a few things straight. There are indeed few characters like Aeryn Sun, and there are even fewer female characters as well-written. Having said that, Starbuck’s flaws are her strengths — not every strong female heroine needs to be a perfect one. While I think Nussbaum makes some excellent points about how differently Battlestar Galactica treats its female and male characters, I think displaying Starbuck’s psychological problems takes the kick-ass heroine off her pedestal and gives her dimension.

But we’re supposed to be talking about Aeryn Sun.

One of the themes that concern me regarding strong heroines is their averageness. Among their peers are her skills attributed to being superhuman or is she an ordinary woman doing extraordinary things? Are her mad skills attributed to supernatural or technological intervention, or did she just work really hard to get that Black Belt?

Among her own people, Aeryn is just another brainwashed elite uber-soldier. On Moya, each member of the crew has their own unique traits. There is no “normal.” During the course of the series, Aeryn becomes romantically involved with stranded human John Crighton. Aeryn teaches John to protect himself in this strange new world, and John teaches Aeryn that it’s OK to be vulnerable in the strange new world of love. Their relationship subverts the stereotypical heterosexual relationship with John often acting as the talkative emotionally-open member of the duo and Aeryn the stoic detached one.

Nearly all of the female characters on Farscape stand out as active rather than passive. Carlen Lavigne in her critical essay Space Opera: Melodrama, Feminism and the Women of Farscape points out that on the living ship Moya:

its women, being prisoners on the run, don’t have the opportunity of being passive or needy – they are members of a science fiction action team, and as such, need to pull their own weight.

Aeryn Sun is not only a kick-ass female character, but a well-rounded one. She starts out strong and continues in that mode as she adds new skills to her repertoire.

When it comes to the birds and the bees, it’s the male birds who do all the singing, right? To attract all those female birds. Turns out female birds do in fact sing and their songs have been overlooked since Darwin:

László Garamszegi of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and colleagues studied the literature on 233 European songbird species. Of the 109 for which information on females was available, they found evidence for singing in 101 species. In only eight species could the team conclude that females did not sing.

So, ladies, let your voice be heard.

Turkana Boy, discovered near Lake Turkana in Kenya, is the most complete skeleton of a prehistoric human ever found. Evangelicals in Kenya are not happy with the skeleton being on exhibition in Kenya’s national museum. In fact, Bishop Boniface Adoyo, head of Kenya’s 35 evangelical denominations is calling for a boycott and has said:

“I did not evolve from Turkana Boy or anything like it . . . These sorts of silly views are killing our faith.”

Must not be a very strong faith, huh?

Um, WOW. Hat-tip: Razib. I noticed the test accounted for female science fiction fans/writers. (I hope Razib is laughing.)

I am: William Gibson The chief instigator of the “cyberpunk” wave of the 1980s, his razzle-dazzle futuristic intrigues were, for a while, the most imitated work in science fiction.

May The Force NOT be with you.

We now have found Midichloria mitochondrii.

I know there’s a Boba Fett joke in there somewhere.

It’s difficult enough finding clothes to fit bodies that don’t conform to the anorexic bean-pole fashion model figure. Now, according to a recent New York Times article, we women have to lob off our toes:

With vanity always in fashion and shoes reaching iconic cultural status, women are having parts of their toes lopped off to fit into the latest Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos. Cheerful how-to stories about these operations have appeared in women’s magazines and major newspapers and on television news programs.

A well-made woman’s shoe should have the narrow tip start after the toes. Not all of us can afford expensive shoes, and now we have to educate women about what is a properly fitting shoe since we’re so stupid as to keep buying shoes that hurt our feet.

I like a sexy shoe as much as the next person, but I’m not sentencing myself to a lifetime of pain for it. So, c’mon ladies, when you’re buying heels buy a wide width shoe. No one will know, your tootsies will thank you and maybe Manolo and Jimmy will get the picture when their regular width shoes stop selling.

Just don’t go under the knife to make yourself fit someone else’s unattainable idea of beauty.

Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter of the SciFi Channel’s series Stargate: SG-1 is an astrophysicist, the most important member of the SG-1, and one of the best female characters on TV.

SciFiPedia describes Carter as one who :

combines scientific expertise with a cool head under fire.

From the very beginning, Carter makes it clear to Capt. O’Neil that she’s not just “another egghead scientist,” but an officer who has flown several missions and logged over 100 hours in enemy airspace during the Gulf War. She joined the Air Force with the intent of becoming an astronaut. This isn’t just Astronaut Barbie we’re talking about here, Carter is much more than lip service Feminism.

Carter has influenced numerous offworld cultures and is, in my opinion, one of the most intelligent characters on TV. Carter’s sheer geekiness and connectedness to others give her character depth. Her one flaw is that she’s used her romantic affection for the unattainable Jack O’Neil as a reason to avoid romantic entanglement. It could just be that every man Carter falls for dies, which is an on-going series joke.

One of the best features of this series, and of Carter in particular, is how well it uses dialogue to reveal character and humor. One of my favorite Carter moments is from the very first episode when Carter tells Capt. O’Neil:

. . . just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside doesn’t mean I can’t handle whatever you can handle.

There are few male characters who could boast the following accomplishments, and boasting is something the modest Carter would never do:

• can pilot just about anything, including an asteroid
• rides a motorcyle
• is a legend at the Air Force Academy
• is a crack shot
• has blown up a sun
• has saved the earth numerous times
• can relate to children
• is a pool shark and can pick locks
• can explain physics with fruit and a doughnut

Is Samantha Carter too good to be true? No more than any other fantastic male character on TV. SciFiPedia quotes jackfan55 on the Gateworld Forum for a perfect summary of Carter:

She’s brilliant yet lovable. She’s beautiful yet modest. She’s brave and selfless. She’s a kick-butt warrior and totally feminine. She’s a hero.

Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter is not only a Feminist character, but a well-rounded multidimensional one showing an extremely logical outlook with rich emotional depth. When I grow up, I want to be Samantha Carter.

Click here for more memorable Carter quotes. Also, check out Carter’s Wikipedia entry.