Science Fiction Short Story Review Connie Willis Even The Queen

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1992 - Spoiler alerts Women's menstruation periods might seem an odd theme for an SF story, but Willis makes it a very important one. My Mum always avoided telling me anything about women's body issues. Even when my Aunty was dying of cervical cancer my Mum just wouldn't tell me what was really wrong. Fortunately my aunty was willing to tell me openly herself. My mum saw telling men about menstruation, menopause, period pains, hysterectomies, PMT, etc as utterly taboo. It was just dismissed as 'women's matters' and left at that on me. It was never to be discussed any further in my presence. Many women are just as reluctant to talk freely and candidly on such subjects with other women too, and that is reflected in this story. It involves a young woman joining a radical feminist cult-group called The Free-Cyclists. They have decided that sanitary towels are a cruel imposition by men on women, so women should simply allow their menstruation blood to flow freely when the appropriate time of month cycles round.. The rest of the girl's family, at least the women-folk, though somewhat estranged from one another, unite to have a meeting to discuss getting Perfidia out of the Cyclists. Even the scary old Aunt, a Lady Bracknell type figure joins in the discussion. Perfidia is invited too but she sends an agent from the organization to observe the discussion on her behalf. The family largely ignore the agent and open up to one another describing the aspects of menstruation they hate; the cramps, the mood swings, the cravings, the depression, etc and in talking it through so candidly they actually bond and stop being dysfunctional. They agree that while tampons may be a male imposition and invention, they are still better than what the older Aunt reminds them was once simply called the Curse. When the agent reports back to Perfidia, the naive girl is horrified by the horrors her pending periods could bring. The sect has not warned her what to expect. She leaves them to re-unite with her family instead. Willis writes in her notes following the story that she was criticized by some feminist hardliners in SF circles for not touching on women's issues in her work. Even The Queen (the title showing that even Her Majesty faces menstruation), was written to put the balance right and also in some ways to show that not everything that women endure is a man's fault. The story shows how such matters need open free discussion too. Arthur Chappell