Counterpoint: The crusty misogynist historical faves are *the* reason that so many people today won't even consider reading SF. I can't tell you how many serious readers I talk to, esp women, who think they have no interest in SF and won't even give it a try because they think it's all "I, Robot".
📌
I recently gave "Sea of Tranquility" to a friend who is rather snobbisly literary, and who dismissively disclaimed any interest in SF (although she hadn't read any). She *could not* stop talking about it. Yes, I said, that's "speculative fiction", as written by Le Guin & Russ & Atwood & Jemison &...
There is literary SF!!
oh, absolutely, and I think that "literary SF" encompasses the work of a number of people who might prefer the term "speculative fiction". I probably use those two terms rather too interchangeably. In this case I was using "speculative" in part to soften the blow for my anti-Sci-Fi friend...
SF is in your heart!