Rorschach in Space

When Astronomers Frank Drake and Carl Sagan conceived the idea of attaching a drawing of a nude man and woman to the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, their motive was purely scientific. They wanted any extraterrestrial beings who might some day intercept the craft to know what kind of race had sent it. Since the March launch, however, the two scientists have discovered that the drawing is more than a message to outer space. "We didn't realize it," says Drake, "but it turns out to be a cleverly disguised Rorschach inkblot test."

In the Rorschach, people reveal their emotional conflicts by describing what they think they see in indeterminate shapes. Similarly, critics of the Pioneer 10 drawing saw considerably more than Drake and Sagan intended to convey, thus suggesting something about their own inner preoccupations.

One citizen interpreted the man's upraised arm as a Nazi salute. The same assertive gesture, in addition to the man's taller stature, was interpreted by militant women as male chauvinism. Actually, the male's position was intended to show how the human arm moves and to display man's fingers and opposed thumb; the woman's stance demonstrates not passivity but the workings of the hip. Also, Drake observes, most men really are taller than most women.

One group complained that the figures were "obviously" white; another claimed they were "obviously" black. The truth, says Artist Linda Sagan (Carl's wife), is that she intended to show the man as Negro and the woman as Oriental, thus portraying diverse racial characteristics.

The complaints about pornography may well come from those who are uneasy about sexual differences. Anticipating such uneasiness (or perhaps betraying their own), some editors censored the picture, erasing the male genitals and the female nipples. Others printed the original drawing--and were blasted for purveying "filth." No one seemed satisfied; some faulted the unretouched drawing because it does not show the female genitalia. "We did think about showing the woman giving birth," Drake told a Wall Street Journal reporter last week, "but that would really have complicated things."

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