While listening to Aliens Want Our Women, I found myself again thinking about some issues of sexuality in sci-fi. Gay men surface briefly in that entertaining episode as a familiar foil, with a play on the cliche observation that "all the handsome, available men are gay or married." In this story, it was the disappointment felt by a woman who learned that the handsome man she dated was a homosexual.
Steve, our host, has thoughtfully observed some of the factors contributing to a lack of diversity among sci-fi authors, and its effects. One of the good things about the emergence of women in sci-fi is the openness of the genre to observations like the above - which I think is good. Of course, the search for a partner, whether one is looking for a short connection or a long-term relationship, is filled with the realization that often the person we want does not have a reciprocal desire. The whole hetero-homo thing is just one broad theater of that dynamic.
"Aliens Want Our Women" aside, the prevalence of white, heterosexual, men in sci-fi writing has also led to a distinct attitude toward male homosexuality, very obvious even in Escape Pod. Like Howard Stern, or many other facets of popular culture, lesbians are titillating, or at least examples of a progressive future openness in sexual attitudes. (See, for example, the podcast of My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie.) But in our conceived future, gay men still apparently still are merely an impediment to women's hooking up. In our culture, male homosexuality is still demeaned, even when imagining our infinite possibilities. After all, we are still in a culture where, in general, for a man to adopt anything believed to be a woman's role is shameful, disgraceful, silly, or at least undesirable. Pity.
Strangely, the Escape Pod that I thought came closest to capturing a gay male's perspective was "Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush." Although it may have been the furthest thing from the author's mind, this was a story about a sentient being who was cast against his own sense of identity. His struggles for public self expression and acceptance of the identity which he knew to be "true" must have resonated with many people who struggle with our culture's ongoing pressure to conform to a generally accepted sexual orientation. I hope someday to hear more Escape Podcasts that directly portray, even in fleeting or passing reference, the perspective of a gay man. Until then, I'm going to continue to think of the Toothbrush as a good start.