If we accept critic Leslie Fiedler's statements about the role of women in romantic fiction, then we must subscribe to a fairly traditional view of that role. Women are time bound; ovulation, childbearing, feeding, nursing, and homemaking all require strict schedules. Women are also the primary ordering principle of the community. They provide a sense of place and continuity. For the most part this picture of women has remained essentially static in fiction of all types. Science fiction generally has not been an exception to such stereotyping. Some science-fiction writers, however, have attempted to investigate women in a more mature and sympathetic light. The important anthologies edited by Pamela Sargent offer good examples of such an interest. Sargent's own work has always exhibited a strong sense of women's problems, whether she writes specifically about women's roles or their participation in broader issues.

Pamela Sargent was born in Ithaca...