Planet XXY is intended to be a combination of what I hope is a lot if fun sci-fi mixed with social commentary and honest questions about gender among humans. I wrote Planet XXY because of my experiences as a youth. I watched as my single-parent mother was not allowed to sign for a car, an apartment lease, or a loan, among other things, without a male cosigner. Her treatment by and the low expectations of the male establishment not only impacted the quality of her life, but that of her children. She persevered, put two children through college, and continued on to win awards for her work performance in the civil service. She is a double breast cancer survivor, not telling anyone in the family of the operations until five years after they occurred. She also endured three knee replacements. All, including the physical therapy phases, were completed independent of support from anyone. Currently in a wonderful assisted living facility, Mom turned 100 years old the month after I published this book.
Many of the men who promoted limited equity for women could not match my mother intellectually, morally, or in work ethic and productivity. This was a pattern I saw far too often. I saw it when the career options of girls in my high school, individuals far more capable and mature than me, were limited. Doors open to males were either shut to them or had to be forcefully pried open. I witnessed it when my very talented sister received a response from an architectural college that, “Females need not apply.” I saw it while coaching girls softball before Title Nine, wherein the male dominated recreation council gave my players miniature trophies, tees shirts and a hat for uniforms, no paid umpires, and field access during off hours. Still, all these years later, we have not reached the point wherein a woman’s individual talents can take her to whatever heights they might with no restrictions based on her gender.
The treatment of women: physical abuse, economic inequity, the inability to vote until the Twentieth Century – and on and on – is an embarrassment. I am incredulous that historically, we males could so treat our mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, cousins, and friends, and, I might add, our equals. That treatment began at the cave wherein the physically strongest men held sway by force. That it is has taken thousands of years to begin meaningful correction, and that women are still horribly and even legally abused across the globe is a condemnation of the use and abuse of power by far too many males. Men and women together must confront the travesty. When I lay on the operating table, when I board the airplane, when I put my child on the school bus, I do not care about the race or gender of the surgeon, pilot, or driver, only their competence. Thus came Planet XXY, which asks how it feels to be on the other end of the stick and attempts to show the stupidity and shallowness of gender bias. Thank you for choosing to read it, and please share your thoughts on this site or via email as you do. Best wishes.
Ronald P. Boone
Planet XXY 