In the mid-80’s a remarkable first occurred – women “of a certain age” – not shrinking, virginal violets, but mature women, began to colonize the Fantasy map. First wave feminism of the 70’s in speculative fiction concerned itself with the problem of equality, (economic, sexual, and political) and their literature reflected those struggles with rebellion against conformist roles, seen in the works of LeGuin (both a first wave and post-wave writer), James Tiptree (Alice Sheldon), and culminating in Joanna Russ’s The Female Man (which got rid of men altogether).
The 80’s saw the rise of a new breed of woman, as post-wave feminism enveloped the culture, with women looking to redefine roles not in opposition to men, but with the assumption of equality present, and for the first time, with the publication of The Time of the Dark in 1982 by Barbara Hambly and Tea with the Black Dragon in 1983 by R.A. MacAvoy, a determinedly middle-aged woman marched onto the map and staked a new flag for feminism.
Gil, the pre-menopausal scholar of Time of the Dark, dreams of a dark city and the wizard Ingold Inglorious and wakes every morning in a cold sweat, until Ingold crosses over to bring her into a dark conflict threatening both worlds.
Barbara Hambly continues the theme of the heroine’s quest throughout many of her works – the grizzled warrior Starhawk (The Ladies of Mandrigyn, 1984), and gray-haired witch Jenny Waynest (Dragonsbane, 1985).
In Tea with the Black Dragon, Martha Macnamara travels to San Francisco to search for her missing daughter alongside a 2,000 year old dragon (in human form). Continuing on Ursula K. LeGuin’s themes of duality and Taoism, the book is perhaps most notable for the age of the protagonist. Martha Macnamara has been in love, has born a child, and yet ventures on a courageous quest.
These are characters not born in opposition to males. They exist in societies where women can be warriors as well as mothers. These are women embarking on their own quest as opposed to male’s quests and journeys, although it wasn’t until 1990 that Maureen Murdock published The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness as a response to Joseph Campbell’s model. These books already knew what society was figuring out – that women’s quests are different.
And, as a voracious teenage reader during the 80’s, these characters were a revelation. The realm of the possible was no longer limited to strict dichotomies of male/female definitions or defined by age. Women could be warriors and lovers, post-menopausal witches, or middle-aged musicians, and have valid, exciting relationships with members of the opposite sex.
There was also a realization that a woman’s journey did not stop with marriage and children, that their quest continued and did not have to follow the same path as a male. We did not have to live in opposition to the Hero’s Journey – we had our own path to follow.
These post-wave feminists both rebelled against binary thinking. Their vision of society includes all stages of a woman’s life, without the need to become the other, and embraced egalitarian societies without hyper-sexualization.
Post-wave is often criticized (rightly so) for being too “white” and too “straight,” and ignoring the needs of women and others from marginalized groups and cultures, however intersectionality is generally considered a product of third-wave feminism. For the 80’s, post-wave was in vogue on the speculative map.
In the 80’s, being a middle-aged woman didn’t mean forgoing adventure, at least not for Hambly and MacAvoy. It simply meant that one was wiser, stronger, and just as virile, and free from the concerns of the maiden and mother, or at least with those concerns in one’s rear view mirror. For a brief decade, middle-aged women conquered the map, gray hairs, hot flashes, wrinkles and all, and made the prospect of continued adventuring in egalitarian societies sexy.
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