I'm wondering if the concept of the 'cosy catastrophe' was in circulation, or whether Brian Aldiss coined it in 1973 in Billion Year Spree, with particular reference to the works of John Wyndham, and Christopher was writing against that, perish the thort that catastrophes might be cozy... we want MANLY grimdark catastrophes.

I also recollect that in Wyndham's The Chrysalids there are two women secondary characters whose relationship can be read as homoromantic if not homoerotic. So, you know, I don't think the 'men of their epoch' is necessarily an argument to go with.