(I am personally...not convinced by how everything is handled, particularly the queer issues. MZB had quite a lot of baggage, and it sometimes shows, although not as badly in Darkover as elsewhere. I'm also not convinced that all the sexism necessarily develops from the premise--I am generally skeptical of "fantasy/SF world X is super-sexist because of HISTORY" as an argument--certainly the Dry Towns are exaggerated to the point of Gorean ridiculousness, probably on purpose. MZB was quite aware of Gor and wrote a non-Darkover novel directly in response to it.)
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http://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Darkover_series
(I am personally...not convinced by how everything is handled, particularly the queer issues. MZB had quite a lot of baggage, and it sometimes shows, although not as badly in Darkover as elsewhere. I'm also not convinced that all the sexism necessarily develops from the premise--I am generally skeptical of "fantasy/SF world X is super-sexist because of HISTORY" as an argument--certainly the Dry Towns are exaggerated to the point of Gorean ridiculousness, probably on purpose. MZB was quite aware of Gor and wrote a non-Darkover novel directly in response to it.)