Oooo, VERY interesting comments on Heinlein and Herbert. I think you "hit the nail on the head" (sorry, helpless against an attack of the clichmonsters sometimes) with your analysis. AND, the next step with Hubbard! I originally got into the Gor series because of the cover art (Boris). Frankly speaking, it, I think, qualifies as pulp. You could do a search and find out more than you wanted to know, I suspect. To briefly explain (oops, there goes my split infinitive)...the author's hero is a "man's man". Strong, intelligent, warrior, etc. But a woman's worth is only that of a slave, lessor being, and object for sex. Norman, in my opinion, obsesses about it TOO much. Even as a 20-year-old, I found it to be too much. Which meant after the first few books I started by-passing the pages to get back to the storyline.