The Gate to Women's Country: A Novel (S.F. Masterworks)

by Sheri S. Tepper

“Lively, thought-provoking . . . the plot is ingenious, packing a wallop of a surprise . . . Tepper knows how to write a well-made, on-moving story with strong characters. . . . She takes the mental risks that are the lifeblood of science fiction and all imaginative narrative.”—Ursula K. LeGuin, Los Angeles Times

Since the flames died three hundred years ago, human civilization has evolved into a dual society: Women’s Country, where walled towns enclose what’s left of past civilization, nurtured by women and a few nonviolent men; and the adjacent garrisons where warrior men live—the lost brothers, sons, and lovers of those in Women’s Country.

Two societies. Two competing dreams. Two ways of life, kept apart by walls stronger than stone. And yet there is a gate between them. . . .

“Tepper not only keeps us reading . . . she provokes a new look at the old issues.”—The Washington Post

“Tepper’s cast of both ordinary and extraordinary people play out a powerful drama whose significance goes beyond sex to deal with the toughest problem of all, the challenge of surmounting humanity’s most dangerous flaws so we can survive—despite ourselves.”—Locus

• ISBN10: 0553280643
• ISBN13: 9780553280647
• Publish Date: 1 February 1993 (first published 16 February 1989)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553280647

Reviews

[nannah]

Yeah, I stand by my earlier thoughts: this is one of the most hateful and ignorant books I've ever read.

(rated 1.5 because one of the scenes with Morgot near the end was pretty badass)

Book content warnings:
eugenics
rape
sexual assault
homophobia
transphobia
racism
misogyny

"Wow, I love this book! A feminist classic!" says the white, upper/middle class, able-bodied, straight, cis woman.

See, the thing is . . . for most of the women mentioned above, "feminism" only deals with what impacts them personally, as white, upper/middle class, able-bodied, straight, cis women. And the result is this piece of trash. It's like the scene in the movie How to Train Your Dragon: most of the reviews chant, "feminist classic, feminist classic, feminist classic", and I'm over here like "kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight".

I only checked this book out because I mistakenly thought it was When Women Were Warriors, that a friend wanted to discuss with me after I read it. Instead I got this monstrosity.

First, we get a bunch of people, apparently post-something (like a nuclear war?), after our time, where they've separated the "alpha-type" men and women in towns that are called "Women's Countries" and the "barracks". Women study and grow food and study medicine and science, etc., while men remain ignorant and focus solely on fighting. This is explained so that the men don't ever create the weapons we have right now again, because apparently only men have the hate/drive/whatever to make mass weapons of destruction. (Honestly? This reminds me of Leo Tolstoy's "educating peasants is dangerous & pointless: how does educating them help them mow the fields better, etc.?" brand of classism.)

It's . . . kind of proven in history that not just men can be hateful, and that people never actually learn from history - or that they forget things quicker (especially if they were the guilty party). Women can be just as hateful as men. Besides, if men are raised in the company of egotistical, misogynistic men, chances are they're going to grow up with the same values. Like, the main plot twist/point, that the women are "breeding" this out of the men makes no sense, since a ton of it is what society you're exposed to? I just . . . whatever.

And secondly, like you can't just separate this behavior and say it's "men vs women" as if that's all there is to it, when there's so much more to war and hate and the creation of mass weapons of destruction in the first place! Like let's say . . . racism, homophobia, religious differences, transphobia, and just general border differences.

But Sheri S. Tepper has some of those figured out, right? As in, every race but white people just up and vanished! Ha ha, solved that problem, didn't it? (/sarcasm) And every Women's Country city has the same religion! Who knows how that happened. And who knows how, despite the distance between all these cities, the religion doesn't change or shift, etc. I mean, I know that down to the South the heavily-implied "Christians" have a different religion, but how these all came to be is still never explained and I can't come to understand how it could've happened.

Oh, and let's not forget how she dealt with homophobia and transphobia! I'm going to quote directly from the book here:

"Even in preconvulsion times it had been known that the so-called 'gay syndrome' was caused by aberrant hormone levels during pregnancy. The women doctors now identified the condition as 'hormonal reproductive maladaption,' and corrected it before birth. There were very few actual HNRMs--called HenRams--either male or female, born in Women's Country, though there was still the occasional unsexed person or the omnisexed who would, so the instructors said, mate with a grasshopper if it would hold still long enough."

Again, just--make them go away, ha ha! Don't deal with them, that's easy enough! (again, /sarcasm) Not to mention single damn sentence here is disgusting and hateful. "Gay syndrome"??? Also, a word to all you homophobes out there: there is no "gay gene", sorry. You can't "correct" anyone who's not straight! And not being straight isn't a bad thing, despite whatever the hell these Women's Country women preach. Do they even have a reason to do this? No, not that I could find. It seems like it's just Sheri S. Tepper's way to get it out of the way, not have to deal with it, or force her own nasty views through the book.

And thirdly, lastly, why not throw a little more racism into this hateful mix? Anyone wandering outside the Women's Country cities or any woman who ran away from her city (most of the time persuaded away by men) are called the Rromani g**** slur. These women basically become the warriors' sex toys & become crass and unclean, because warriors can only have sex with the Women's Country women once a year. Sooooo, it's obvious what Sheri S. Tepper thinks of the Rroma people.

Yeaaaa, so feminist? I don't see how it could be. Because what about non-white women? What about disabled women (pretty much non-existent--and Morgot literally said that the Council Members are selectively breeding the women too, hmmm wonder what that means)? What about LGBT women? You can't claim to care about women if you only care about one kind of woman. That's not how this works.