Feminist Science Fiction

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am starting this thread for all forms of discussion about feminist science fiction (and feminist fantasy, for that matter, although I am not as familiar with it.) Love it or hate it; think it's a vital branch of speculative fiction, or think it's worthless, I welcome your opinions.

To start with my own prejudices, I consider myself a feminist. Stated like that, the word means almost nothing, since there are so many varieties of that philosophy. As far as I can tell (and I am certainly no expert), I would best be described as part of "Second Wave Feminism."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_wave_feminism

(It's interesting to note that this time period, at least in the United States, is about the same as that of "New Wave" science fiction. I am, in many ways, a product of the late Sixties/early Seventies.)

My personal philosophy would probably be best described as "Liberal Feminism."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_feminism

With that in mind, I will start things by stating that my favorite feminist SF author is Joanna Russ, and that her novel The Female Man is the greatest masterpiece of the genre.

The greatest feminist SF story, in my opinion, is "The Women Men Don't See" by "James Tiptree, Jr." (Alice Sheldon.) A close second would be "Wives" by Lisa Tuttle.

I would welcome futher suggestions for reading, as well as your opinions on the subject in general.

 

[j d worthington]

I assume, then, you are familiar with the rest of Russ's work, such as The Adventures of Alyx, The Zanzibar Cat, We Who Are About To..., etc. Have you read her non-fiction book, How to Suppress Women's Writing? If not, I think you'd find it worth your time.

Have you read the series of anthologies Women of Wonder (edited by Pamela Sargent)? Below is a link which will lead you to more information on these:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi

There are also the volumes put out by The Women's Press in their Science Fiction line (which included Russ's The Female Man). Among them was an anthology edited by Jen Green and Sarah LeFanu, Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?9962

You might also want to look up Pamela A. Zoline's collection The Heat Death of the Universe (the title story was originally published in the then-Moorcock-edited New Worlds; it still remains a fantastically good story), as well as anything you can find by Hilary Bailey....

 

[iansales]

Check out SF Mistressworks, which is a site of reviews of books by women sf writers.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

There's only one man in my own Memory Seed and he has a pretty bad time of it.

 

[Montero]

I am more broadly interested in what could be called social re-engineering sf (best term I can think of) which probably encompasses feminism plus observations of interactions and how people are trying to change how they are treated and perceived.

So Lois McMaster Bujold has

Beta Colony - very rational (or aims to be), emotional intelligence well examined and taught, people treated according to their abilities and behaviour not their gender.

Barayar - old fashioned patriarchal society.

Add character from Beta Colony to Barayar and stand back.

Plus there are other worlds such as Cetaganda, where they are busily engineering themselves and their society.


Sherri Tepper
Social re-engineering with certainly a female focus (e.g. The Gate to Women's Country) plus ecological concerns - destruction of planet by behaviour of inhabitants.

John Barnes - another one who looks at how society runs and how it might be changed. In general it underlies the plot, sometimes it drives it such as Orbital Resonance. Nothing especially focussed on feminism as such, but the role of men and women in society is certainly examined and commented on at times. (e.g. A Million Open Doors and sequels).


@ Stephen Palmer.
very politely I hope.
In an ideal world (which this isn't) feminism isn't, and shouldn't be, about giving men a hard time.

 

[Kylara]

Should take a look at Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, covers some interesting ideas...

 

[johnnyjet]

Over the years, I've found that a lot of my favorite sf/f writers were female: Carol Emshwiller, Ursula LeGuin, James Tiptree Jr, Joanna Russ, Pamela Sargent, Vonda McIntyre, Kate Wilhelm, Tanith Lee, C. L. Moore. Of course, being a female sf/f writer doesn't mean they were necessarily feminist writers. (Emshwiller, LeGuin & Tiptree are 3 of my very favorite sf/f writers of all time, along with Philip K. Dick, Samuel R. Delany, Robert Silverberg, Cordwainer Smith & Gene Wolfe.)

So now I have a couple questions to throw out.

1. What makes a story or novel "feminist", just a strong female protagonist, or does it have to have deeper significance by addressing female social considerations?

2. Can a male writer write a "feminist" story or novel? Examples?

 

[Abernovo]

For feminist fantasy, you could perhaps try Angela Carter, who happens to be one of my favourite writers. Crossing the borders between science fiction and fantasy, there's also Suzy McKee Charnas, whose short story, 'Boobs', won the Hugo in 1990. Brilliant story.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

2. Can a male writer write a "feminist" story or novel? Examples?

Yes, I think we can.

 

[Lobolover]

Yes, I think we can.

Like The Revolt of Man by Walter Besant for example ?

 

[Connavar]

Ammonite by Niccola Griffith sounds interesting to me because it reminds of the The Female Man and other similar SF.

You should look up that book if you are interested in this type of SF. http://sfmistressworks.wordpress.com/category/nicola-griffith/

I have read good,strong feminist books in other fields of literature so im looking for to try more authors like Russ in SF. A real interesting book that deal with gender issues is another good reason to read quality serious SF.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Over the years, I've found that a lot of my favorite sf/f writers were female: Carol Emshwiller, Ursula LeGuin, James Tiptree Jr, Joanna Russ, Pamela Sargent, Vonda McIntyre, Kate Wilhelm, Tanith Lee, C. L. Moore. Of course, being a female sf/f writer doesn't mean they were necessarily feminist writers. (Emshwiller, LeGuin & Tiptree are 3 of my very favorite sf/f writers of all time, along with Philip K. Dick, Samuel R. Delany, Robert Silverberg, Cordwainer Smith & Gene Wolfe.)

So now I have a couple questions to throw out.

1. What makes a story or novel "feminist", just a strong female protagonist, or does it have to have deeper significance by addressing female social considerations?

2. Can a male writer write a "feminist" story or novel? Examples?

The answer to the second question is easier, I think. I see no reason at all why a male writer could not write feminist fiction (just as a female writer might write anti-feminist fiction.) Much of the work of Samuel R. Delany might fall into this category, I think. His fiction certainly addresses issues of gender and sexuality in this manner.

I might mention here the novella "O Happy Day!" by Geoff Ryman, which could be read superficially as an anti-feminist satire. (After all, it has women exterminating men in concentration camps!) However, I believe that it holds a deeper meaning as a plea for all of us to be aware of our common humanity.

In my opinion, a work of fiction can have a strong female protagonist and not be a feminist work of fiction. Often the sex of the protagnist is irrelevant to the story. In other situations (perhaps more in action movies than in written SF) the tough, gun-wielding protagonist seems to be female only so that she can be young, pretty, and sexually attractive to the heterosexual males who are presumed to make up most of the audience.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I assume, then, you are familiar with the rest of Russ's work, such as The Adventures of Alyx, The Zanzibar Cat, We Who Are About To..., etc. Have you read her non-fiction book, How to Suppress Women's Writing? If not, I think you'd find it worth your time.

Have you read the series of anthologies Women of Wonder (edited by Pamela Sargent)? Below is a link which will lead you to more information on these:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi

There are also the volumes put out by The Women's Press in their Science Fiction line (which included Russ's The Female Man). Among them was an anthology edited by Jen Green and Sarah LeFanu, Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?9962

You might also want to look up Pamela A. Zoline's collection The Heat Death of the Universe (the title story was originally published in the then-Moorcock-edited New Worlds; it still remains a fantastically good story), as well as anything you can find by Hilary Bailey....

I am familiar with everything you list, except for the fact that I have never read anything by Zoline except her brilliant short story of the same name as the anthology, and I have not read anything by Hilary Bailey. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am more broadly interested in what could be called social re-engineering sf (best term I can think of) which probably encompasses feminism plus observations of interactions and how people are trying to change how they are treated and perceived.

So Lois McMaster Bujold has

Beta Colony - very rational (or aims to be), emotional intelligence well examined and taught, people treated according to their abilities and behaviour not their gender.

Barayar - old fashioned patriarchal society.

Add character from Beta Colony to Barayar and stand back.

Plus there are other worlds such as Cetaganda, where they are busily engineering themselves and their society.


Sherri Tepper
Social re-engineering with certainly a female focus (e.g. The Gate to Women's Country) plus ecological concerns - destruction of planet by behaviour of inhabitants.

John Barnes - another one who looks at how society runs and how it might be changed. In general it underlies the plot, sometimes it drives it such as Orbital Resonance. Nothing especially focussed on feminism as such, but the role of men and women in society is certainly examined and commented on at times. (e.g. A Million Open Doors and sequels).


@ Stephen Palmer.
very politely I hope.
In an ideal world (which this isn't) feminism isn't, and shouldn't be, about giving men a hard time.

Thank you for the suggestions. I am certainly very interested in sociological SF in general.

I am 100% in agreement with your last statement. I believe that one of the goals of feminism is to free men from stereotypical gender roles.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Should take a look at Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, covers some interesting ideas...

Indeed. An interesting polemic satire, and a somewhat underrated film, in my opinion. The anti-feminist stance of fundamentalist religion is certainly one of my major concerns.

 

[GOLLUM]

Indeed. An interesting polemic satire, and a somewhat underrated film, in my opinion.

I agree. I think Handmaid's Tale the film is one of the best I've seen actually...and the book is great. I'm a bit of an Atwood fan.

 

[Stephen4444]

I've read the links posted on feminist but... I'm not sure what that has to do with writing SFF. If I wanted to write "feminist," how would I go about that?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I've read the links posted on feminist but... I'm not sure what that has to do with writing SFF. If I wanted to write "feminist," how would I go about that?

I would say that one would have to address issues relevant to feminism within the speculative genre. One does not set out to write "feminist," I think, but rather one has a desire to express one's opinions on relevant issues through a story one wishes to tell.

 

[Stephen4444]

I describe myself as a Libertarian, meaning… Whatever you want to do… in the confines of your home… fine; as long as you don't force your point of views on me or my kids. If you want to do drugs, I don't care; so long as you respect my freedoms, and not drive a vehicle, (take others freedom or lives.) If you want to be… whatever, be that; and not force your views on me, OK.
Some take the Libertarian view to extremes. Some libertarians' border on Anarchist, I do not subscribe to that. I believe you need rules in an organized society. You need some amount of government to protect your freedom, put out fires, teach school, etc.
There are extreme feminist also, do I have to eviscerate myself in order to write feminist SFF? What does that term "feminist" mean to you? Moreover, what type of statement, (because the story would be a statement,) would you make? As a male, what statement would I make about society and myself by writing feminist prose? Is this an exclusive clubhouse being built or can I join in with dignity?

 

[The Judge]

I've not read The Handmaid's Tale yet, but I certainly think Atwood is a feminist writer based on my reading of three of her books in the last few months -- The Year of the Flood, The Robber Bride and The Blind Assassin. Each one looks at and comments on the position of women in society, the way they are treated by men, particularly men in power, and how they treat each other.


Incidentally, Victoria, while I'm here, we try to discourage consecutive posting so that members have one long post when replying to others, rather than several shorter ones. I think this is different from other sites so it's a bit confusing, but Chrons does tend to do things differently! If you want to quote several posts (and there's no need to, just referring to the other posts is enough) then there's a multi-quote button -- the one with a pair of quotation marks and a + sign to the right of the ordinary quote button. Press that on every post you want to quote, then the ordinary quote and they will all come up in order, and there you are!