Bloodchild, Today
In my first read-through of Octavia Butler's Bloodchild , I was horrified. Initially, my reaction was just to the graphic descriptions of alien maggots and humans' bodily harm, but it quickly turned into horror at the societal systems that Butler illustrates. The main character, Gan, is chosen before his birth by an alien, T'Gatoi, who helps raise him for the sole purpose of laying eggs in him — eggs that will eventually tear him apart in the process of "birthing." She seeks to keep the truth of the birthing process from him, and manipulates him by threatening his family when he expresses doubt about being a vessel for her maggots. Upon further reflection, I realized that this story reminds me disturbingly much of the current regulations on women's bodily autonomy. My horror at the physical suffering that Bram Lomas and so many other humans have to endure under Tlic rule effectively turned into sadness and disappointment at how easily I could project our repro...