21
Dark Forest is wild (discuss.online)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

"Other sci fi writers imagining the men of the future" with a picture of Master Chief from Halo, and "Cixin Liu imagining the men of the future" with a picture of Astolfo from the Fate series

top 5 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Oh boy, now this is a niche meme.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Exactly what I love to see in this community!

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago
[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

No. This is a next level sci-fi meme.

Cixin Liu is the author of the Remembrance of Earth's Past series of books. (Three Body Problem)

The second book in the series is set in a future where the male gender has essentially "disappeared", as all men are so feminized they are superficially indistinguishable from women in terms of appearance and behaviour.

That explains the meme, but I can't leave out the context:

This is explained away as the logical endpoint of a society that does not suffer war or any other hardship. The author suggests that women only tolerate being with masculine men because of the sense of safety they provide through their physical and mental prowess enabling them to navigate a dangerous world. Without that danger, the book suggests that women would no longer desire the presence of "manly men", and prefer to procreate with feminine men. Hence, in the book, a prolonged age of peace results in the disappearance of the masculine image of the male gender.

This is obviously bullshit, and based on the authors buy-in into manosphere-type thinking.

In the story, this "feminized" humanity then proceeds to vote in a woman to lead them, who then instantly fails to maintain a status quo that is preventing the extinction of the human race. All in all the book reads as a really weird essay trying to prove the extremely sexist view that "women good and beautiful, but women weak and stupid, humanity need real men for survival".

That does make Astolfo a bit of a weird choice for the meme. Last I checked, he's perfectly capable of caving in some heads.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Thanks for the comprehensive response.

this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
21 points (86.2% liked)

Sigh-Fi

518 readers
5 users here now

Sci-Fi Memes

founded 7 months ago
MODERATORS