Sex

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

The great majority of fans are male, and it has been asserted that females cannot be the psychological type of the SF fan, tho there are many femmefans to refute this. In addition there are sweethearts, wives, daughters, sisters, etc, of male fans who tag along at fan gatherings, make some appearance in the fanzines, and assist in dirty work like mimeoing. It is generally believed that Joe Fann is later than average in associating with the other sex; at any rate, it was some two years after 1938 (when the average fan was 18) before love affairs received any great notice in fan discussions, tho there had been some isolated eroticism earlier among the Futurians, Moonrakers, etc. Since 1940 both generalizations and particulars on fan-meets-femme have appeared frequently in conversation and writing, and among the more mature Britishers have sometimes reached shockin' depths. Whether fans are actually more or less promiscuous than other people is an unsettled point, tho from the way they talk you'd think there'd be no doubt about it. Outstanding exponents of an affirmative attitude are Insurgents and Sexocrats (followers, the latter, of a philosophy founded 1949 by Ray Nelson; its tenets are about what you'd expect). Frequently quoted is John W. Campbell, Jr.'s dictum, Sex and Science Fiction Don't Mix -- tho it's rarely given in its proper sense; JWC merely meant that stf runs distinctly less to pornography than, say, detective or Western pulpwork. A few research projects like Bob Tucker's Little Kinsey Report and the Liverpool Group's Sex-and-Sadism symposium appear to contradict Campbell as his gagline is usually interpreted.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

The great majority of fans are males. It has been asserted that a female cannot be the psychological type of the s-f fan, but there are several dyed-in-the-wool fannes to refute this. In addition, there are a lot of sweethearts, wives, daughters, sisters, etc. of the he-fans, who tag along at fan gatherings, make some appearance in the fanzines, and assist in dirty work such as mimeoing. It is generally believed that Joe Fann is considerably later than average in associating with girls; at any rate, it was some two years after 1938 (when the average fan was 18) before love affairs received any great notice in fan discussions, tho there had been some isolated eroticism earlier, especially among the Futurians and the Moonrakers. Since 1940 both generalizations and particulars on fan-meets-femme have appeared frequently in conversation and writing, and among the more "mature" Britishers have sometimes reached shocking depths. In America, a minority has been vociferously lewd, and some shoddy events have resulted from infidelity of married scientifictionists.

• “Sex and Science Fiction,” 1949 Cinvention speech by Lester del Rey

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