[Lily Bracegirdle]

Lalaith, I love you.

It's true that the book would have been quite *different* if there had been a female in the fellowship, but it doesn't necessarily follow that it would have been *worse*. After all, the Professor would have written it and he would have paid the same amount of attention to detail as he did in the version we all know and love. He didn't put a female in the Fellowship, and that's fine. But if he had, I would have enjoyed it.

It's interesting that feminism has such a bad rap these days. I'll bet most if not all of you actually *are* feminists without knowing it.

Ask yourself this: "If a woman can do the same work as a man, should she be paid the same amount and be given the opportunity to do that work if she wants to?" If you answer "yes," you are a feminist. I'm not talking about being in combat or becoming a firefighter or anything like that, just any old white-collar job.

To bring this back on topic: the question boils down to "could a female do the same things as another member of the fellowship?" You don't need physical strength to do any of the things the hobbits did, just determination, so I'd say the answer is "yes." Lalaith has already covered the difference between "could" and "should" admirably, so I'll leave it at that.

-Lily