The horror of Marion Zimmer Bradley (some graphic content)

Earlier today I read some stuff about Marion Zimmer Bradley (MZB) that's pretty difficult to read. I'm familiar with her work, as I'd cut my fantasy teeth on many of her works. I want to state outright that she contributed a LOT to the fantasy world. Nobody can deny that, but she did some pretty awful stuff that I hadn't heard about for the longest time because when people spoke about her, they spoke about MZB in these hushed, reverent tones.

What did she do, you ask?

First off, she was married to a convicted pedophile and by all accounts, she was fully aware that he was molesting several children of varying ages during their marriage. Apparently she knew that he was taking children into his bed but told people that she didn't think that he was molesting anyone because he was supposedly impotent. Part of me wishes I could go back in time and strangle her for that statement because MZB was a highly educated person and would be fully aware that molestation does not begin and end with the molester to achieve an erection. Or at least be aware that there are acts that one can perform on someone that does not include penile penetration or contact of any sort. MZB defended him in court and eventually divorced him, but it's fairly clear that she knew about everything even if you want to ignore part two of this.

Secondly, MZB's daughter has come forward and said that her mother was fully aware of everything and even moved one of her husband's victims to another apartment because her daughter complained. Her daughter also said that she was molested by MZB. Her mother began molesting her when she was three years old and continued until she was twelve. She only stopped because her daughter finally took action to stop the molestation. Her daughter also said that she was not her mother's only victim and that there were many, many others and that her mother had both male and female victims.

I'm more than a little horrified at how little attention this has received. I know that people are likely afraid that this will impact MZB's fanbase negatively and I can understand that. I know that despite loving her works as a child, I'll probably never read her stuff again. Her stuff got me through some dark points in my teenage years and I'm grateful for that, but we still need to acknowledge the allegations made against MZB. If we don't then we're essentially sending out the message that you can do whatever you want if you have enough fame, talent, and power (even in death).

This was all sparked by a post on Tor.com about MZB that has since been removed due to the criticism. There's a good timeline here and I'll post more links about it below. I just figured that I should write about this because it's so important that we recognize molestation and rape when it happens and we don't cover it up out of "respect for the dead" or because someone is very talented or powerful.

Here's the basic timeline:

1. Tor.com posts a blog post about MZB's contributions to fantasy, but mentions nothing about her husband's molestation and how she essentially enabled him. Some people posted in the comments section, criticizing the article for not mentioning this, if even briefly. 
2. Deidre Saorise Moen (DSM) posts an article about how important it is to discuss child molestation and rape, even if it is unpleasant. She is very critical of the Tor.com piece and highlights several rather horrifying Q&As where MZB discusses her husband's activities. 
3. Tor.com takes their blog post down. A few blogs and websites post about this. 
4. DSM gets in contact with Moira Goldin, MZB's daughter. She talks with her about everything and learns that MZB molested her daughter for several years, along with several other victims of different genders. 
5. DSM gets permission from Moira to post her letter. Jim C Hines discusses it on his blog. A few more websites pick the story up, but nowhere near the amount that we got for say, some of the author meltdowns along the lines of Candace Sams or Jacqueline Howett. 

Further reading:

• Google cache of the Tor.com article
• Deidre Saorise Moen: Marion Zimmer Bradley Gave Us New Perspectives, All Right
• Deidre Saorise Moen: The Importance of Books and the MZB Timeline
• DSM: Marion Zimmer Bradley: It’s Worse Than I Knew
• Jim C Hines: Rape, Abuse, and MZB

Help fund Reading Rainbow!

If you're reading this, odds are that you're familiar with the show Reading Rainbow, which ran on television from 1983 to 2006. It was a staple of my childhood and was shown in many of the classes I had while I was very young. Even if you didn't personally watch it yourself as a child, you likely heard about it from someone else that watched it as a child. LeVar Burton was a huge role model for a lot of us, as he was a smart, charismatic, handsome black man that liked books and just so happened to also be on a very popular television show (Star Trek: The Next Generation). He showed us that it was OK to read and that it can be incredibly fun. I was fairly sad when it was cancelled in 2006, despite it still being fairly popular and it still being used in various classrooms.

So when I discovered that there was a Kickstarter campaign to launch Reading Rainbow as an online app, I had to donate. I've never donated to Kickstarters before and I'm happy to say that this was my first. What's so amazing about this campaign is that they hit the million dollar goal in less than a day.

So I'm coming back on here to spread the news about this. I figure that word of mouth could help get Burton a few more donations at the very least and it'd be nice if they hit their stretch goal and then some.

Basic gist of the Kickstarter: There's a Reading Rainbow app and the Kickstarter campaign will help get the app to more people. The app will allow children to access hundreds of books as well as video field trips (sort of like some of what you'll see on YouTube, but presumably far higher production values and less chance of seeing someone photobomb the camera). Classrooms will be able to use the app and the more people who donate, the more classrooms that will be able to access it for free (presumably permanently free). Lots of schools don't have the money to pay for subscriptions as stuff like that adds up fairly quickly. They might be able to afford a computer, but not monthly subscriptions. I'm going to presume that the free versions will be given to lower income classrooms first and then up the scale for the more well funded schools. The first emphasis of the Kickstarter kind of reflects the classroom emphasis, as nowadays it's somewhat a given that a school will have a computer somewhere, if not in each classroom.


Further reading:

• Bring Reading Rainbow Back for Every Child, Everywhere (Kickstarter page)