Thread by @SihayaDunee

THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCE OF BEING A WOMAN IN THE DUNE FANDOM
an extremely important thread

this thread has been a long time coming, but after this particularly ignorant tweet, I felt this was a good time to post it

To begin with, I want to address this misconception that women are incapable of like sci-fi and fantasy, incapable of enjoying anything of substance or complexity. Because fuck off.

I. A HISTORY OF WOMEN AND SCIENCE FICTION

Almost ten years ago, the internet was hit with the “Fake Geek Girl” paranoia. All because a bunch of fanboys were insecure and couldn’t fathom attractive women being intelligent and actually enjoying books, comics or Star Wars.

It all comes down to simple misogyny. The core idea that femininity, equals superficiality, stupidity, and weakness.

Women were an integral part of the sci-fi genre long before the feminist wave of sci-fi in the 1970s.

Professor Lisa Yaszek who teaches science fiction studies at Georgia Tech, uncovered a treasure trove of female written sci-fi from the beginning of the genre’s establishment in literature from the early 20th century, known as the pulp era.

Female writes were very common, and the proportion of readership speaks volumes. 40-50% of sci fi readers were women. It was not improper or uncommon for women to enjoy science fiction.

In fact we can go even further back and cite Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, which is considers one of the earliest, if not the earliest, depiction of AI in fiction.

So why has there been such a misconception for so long? Yaszek explained that the first science fiction anthologies were published during a backlash against first-wave feminism. So male editors like John W. Campbell and Groff Conklin, purposefully excluded women.

A while ago I had tweeted asking female DUNE fans to talk about their experiences, and a prolific account in the Twitter community messaged me privately to share her story and thoughts. She wishes to stay anon so I will respect that.

One of the things that I could really relate to, was having certain men explain the female experience and how women should feel about the books. One guy commented on my tweet asking for women’s voices, and started telling me how nonfeminist the first books are…aka a load of bs.

The lovely anon who messaged me, talked about trying out a podcast where 3 dudes tried to “mansplain that FH was a horny guy because when he wrote Chapterhouse his wife was dying of cancer and wasn’t ‘getting any’”

She wished “they’d taken the time to truly read the dedication he wrote for his wife at the end of that book”

It isn’t to say men can’t participate in these discussion, but there is just a level of understanding and experience women share that men will never fully comprehend. So this is meant to share a bit of that perspective.

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEVERLY HERBERT

You might then ask, “what does a white man from the 60s know about the female perspective”, and that would be a very valid question. Which is why I bring up our Queen Beverly Herbert, an underrated pillar of the DUNE franchise.

The nuanced, complex and diverse way in which women are portrayed in the DUNE saga, can without a doubt be credited to the influence of Beverly. The books wouldn’t have been the same without her.

The couple met as university students in a creative writing class in 1946, where they were the only students who had their works published. Yes, Beverly had a writing career of her own.

However for more then two decades they struggled to make ends meet, and she gave up her own creative writing career to become the bread winner of the family as an advertising writer for department stores. This is one of her articles.

This was to give Frank the freedom he needed to pursue his writing. However together they were a writing team, he discussed every aspect of his stories with Beverly, and she edited his work. Name a more iconic duo, you literally can’t.

In an interview with Dr. Willis E. McNelly from 1969 on the subject of Dune and Dune: Messiah, the family friend is in discussion with Frank and Beverly.
sinanvural.com/seksek/inien/t…

More then once Beverly is a vocal part of the interview, and the way in which she speaks about the events in the story show a deep and profound understanding that would only come from being so intimately familiar with Frank’s work as we know she was.

In the forward written by their son Brian for the new edition of DUNE, he describes his awe and admiration for his father’s love and respect for his mother. They cared for her together while she battled cancer. Frank translate that respect and love into how he wrote Jessica.

III. A RICH UNIVERSE AND STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS

Now we get to dig into what makes this saga so compelling and inspiring to women, and why a new generation young girls will benefit by discovering this universe.

What constitutes a strong female character? A trend is a strong women must be physically tough, cold, and unfeminine.

While some women are like this, and beautiful valid individuals, not all of us are. So when this is all we see, it is just as damaging as damsels in distress.

What I love about the women in DUNE, is that we have every type of strong, inspirational heroines across the spectrum. And they aren’t just stereotypes either, they have various traits and are not confined.

The women are intelligent, spiritual, respected, powerful individuals. We begin in a feudalistic government, yet women are the ones actually controlling the political of the great houses through the Bene Gesserit sisterhood.

Then in the later books, the Soviet shifts, and the women of the universe are ruling up front and centre, the power play being between the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres, another powerful organization of women.

The Bene Gesserit also touch on ground breaking and liberating concepts for women, such as total control of fertility. The ability to have complete control of our bodies, and use them to defend ourselves not just in combat but through biology.

There is also a scene in the first book, where Jessica is almost r*ped, but uses her Bene Gesserit abilities to get the upper hand on her would-be-abusers, by using their own depraved entitlement and lust against them.

Women often feel trapped, oppressed by their own bodies. Politics waged over our bodies. Yet the Bene Gesserit decades ago, put forth the concept of beautiful women whose bodies are truly temples of power and liberation.

In Fremen society, women are respected and hold roles of great power and influence in the Reverend Mother and Sayyadinas.

“The strength of a woman can be boundless…” — Stilgar

So on top of a world rich with mythology and philosophy, unique worlds and diverse characters, there is a core that speaks deeply to the feminine sensitivity. And celebrates it. DUNE shows us that femininity is strength, power, and the value it holds for both women AND men.

In this exciting new era, the DUNE fandom has welcomed in so many new fans and women have the opportunity to share our voice and opinions like never before. It’s truly an exciting time to be alive, and the positivity overall in the DUNE fandom is unlike any other.

Also side note: can we talk about how “witch” has been a derogatory term used against women for centuries, but between Frank and Beverly it was affectionate, so witch in context of DUNE holds such a complex and empowering meaning.

For anyone wanting to read the dedication Frank wrote for Beverly: