I think this is avoided because it would diminish interest in the story.beastro said:While this may be the way the world is going presently, when dealing with speculative fiction you're open to a wide range of things, and yes, a more "old fashion" outlook is a possibility due to environment and social pressures.
What if Mankind gets reduced to only a few tens of thousands and maximizing childbirth goes from an imperative to a moral virtue and any which gets in the way of that is looked on as a social evil, like homosexuality, long after the need for such a view has passed because necessity turned into tradition.
Honestly, if in the future women are back to being breeding-betties while the menfolk run things - then I simply would have no interest and no stakes in whatever story is being told. Because then I would simply NOT CARE anymore. Why give a frak that we're living in space stations or whatever? If women are back in the kitchen (or the futuristic equaliant) while men govern and explore and fight - then all our technological advancements simply don't matter.
Seriously, in such a story, I'd root for the bug-eyed aliens. Let them wipe us out - we're a hopeless and apparantly inherently evil specie.