Author Topic: Long time listener, first poster. Cannot comment on "A Wild Patience"  (Read 4204 times)

Danny

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Hello. I've been listening to Escape pod for years. Quite a while back I even read these forums, and maybe posted; I really don't remember. But I haven't heard a story that's compelled me to visit the forums for some time.

I recently finished listening to "A Wild Patience", and am wondering what I'm missing. I get that, being a male, maybe I just cannot relate to women who feel victimized, but this story seems empty without that lens through which to view things. Maybe I'm missing some key points that would make this more interesting. The men are "assholes", which is reiterated repeatedly, but why?

1. Because they divorced biological mothers? Some details that show how these women were forced out against their will would bolster this position. When the kids find their biological mom, she seems to have left voluntarily and pretended to be a lesbian? It seems the mother is the dishonest one here.

2. Because they had sex with robots? Without more, I don't see this as a problem. Now maybe if the robots were sentient from the beginning and the men knew this, okay, let's establish that. It seems they were programmed to act human, and did so for some time, before, due to a "malfunction", were able to have free will. Now that could be a cool angle, but to hate men for having sex with robots hardly seems like a crime against women just because the robots have a woman's form.

3. They lied to their kids? Now, finally, here's something dishonest the men have done. Of course, parents lie to their kids on a regular basis, even regarding parentage. My sister didn't tell her adopted daughter she was adopted until she was 10 or so. it wasn't a secret, but kids have to have some maturity before they can grasp certain things. It's a judgment call.

I don't get why the men seemed to be defensive and lowered their head in shame when confronted with having a robot for "a wife", like they knew they were doing something evil. The story really seemed to be missing some critical aspects that would justify their shame. Since this shame is the norm among men in Ramseyville, whatever they're doing seems to be an inherent male flaw. I cannot help but believe the real reason for their guilt is simply that they're men, which smacks of misandry. I hope Escape Pod would not publish a story that was as biased against women.

The women in the story, however, are inherently virtuous. Forget that the biological Mom never saw her kids for years. Why? Was she kept away? How? Were all the men in Ramseyville forcing wives out of town, against their will, and keeping the mothers from seeing their kids? That would be a real issuer? Where is that discussed?

Not all stories will resonate with everyone, and that's fine. I'm looking forward to the next one, hoping it's something that's a little more interesting and complete.



Han

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I thought the robots were sentient from the beginning but only got free will after the malfunction. So they were aware during the sex but not able to do anything to refuse it, which is horrible.

You could make a case for the girls' father in particular being an asshole as there's a reference to him using the mother's sexuality as a way to deny her custody of the kids. I did momentarily think it was a bit odd that the society they lived in was advanced enough to create robots but not to accept homosexuality, but I let it go.

Beyond that, people have shame for all kinds of sexual quirks that are not actively harming anyone.



datesGrarl

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Reply #2 on: February 07, 2024, 07:30:57 PM
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