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Introduction
[more stuff here]
There appears to be a gap in research about the ways that feminist
speculative fiction serves as an exploration and reflection of gendered
rhetoric in society, highlighting the womans experience and the negative
effects of gender roles and the gender binary. This paper will analyze several
speculative fiction novels through a feminist lens to investigate and
understand the critical commentary of the reality of our world and its
unequal nature in regards to gender. However, it is important to note that a
diversity of standpoints influenced by other forms of affiliation in relation to
class, nationality, race, sexual preference, and so on exist and that these
must be considered as well in an analysis that purports to view ideas through
a feminist lens (Felski 10). Before these texts can be analyzed, an
explanation of my understanding and definition of realism, speculative
fiction, and feminism is necessary.
Realism
The relationship between fiction and truth is a debatable topic and
different scholars from various fields have different understandings of it. It is
not difficult to find philosophical scholars arguing that fiction cannot possibly
contain truth as fiction, by definition, centers around make-believe stories.
However, many literature and fiction scholars argue that these false stories
contain information about the truths of our world for various reasons and by
various methods. For the purposes of this paper, I will argue that fiction

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contains certain degrees of realism and real-world reflection that prompts
connections and understandings by and for the reader.
Literature is a medium which can profoundly influence individual and
cultural self-understanding in the sphere of everyday life (Felski 7), already
giving it a connection to the readers reality. Reading prompts changes in the
understanding and perception of the surrounding world, which might be why
so many readers preach the importance of reading and the growth that
reading can cause. MacKay says that it would be hard to overstate the
importance of this feeling that the novel matters because of its closeness to
the real world and its deep connection to the realities of everyday life (3).
She especially focuses on the realist novel, which is historically and
politically vital because it explains who we are, who we are, and how we
got there (13). While this paper does not look at novels advertised as
realist, the aspects that MacKay describes of the realist novel can also be
applied to fiction. Unrealistic texts can also tell us about ourselves, our world,
and our history; for that reason, unrealistic texts do contain aspects of
realism. Realism, then, has been the key term in most accounts of why the
novel matters (MacKay 14).
Makinen draws a connection between fiction and the readers
understanding about reality, paraphrasing Jean Pfaelzers explanation: fiction
creates a profound restructuring of readers assumptions about
contemporary reality (146), which allows us to see that this fiction has to
contain information about reality if it is changing the way readers see reality.

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Realism, even if it is only present in small portions, is why fiction is important
and can change how readers view the world. Shaw says that the best way to
read fictional texts is to see the very real conditions for which they are
metaphors (179).
Cranny-Francis explains that reading about other worlds and seeing
different ways that societies functions illuminates the injustices and
limitations of the present and increases the readers distaste for the
mechanisms of patriarchal ideology (43). Texts are able to provide a
political critique of the readers own society by showing a different
society and different conventions and ideological discourses, which allows
the reader to step back from their reality and evaluate it critically instead of
accepting it as a natural state of being (Cranny-Francis 61). If political
activity in reality is spurred by reading fictional texts, then it is clear that
these fictional texts are, on some level, discussing reality and its
shortcomings with the goal of provoking a reaction in the reader that could
change reality.
One genre of writing, magical realism, capitalizes on the strangeness
of unrealistic writing and the realism that writing contains. As one might
expect, these novels combine magical elements with realism, setting
themselves firmly in our world but adding magical attributes. MacKay
discusses how authors of this genre believe that realistic texts might be
pretend[ing] that reality is something stable, single, and wholly knowable;
that reality cannot be captured by writing that claims to be realistic because

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that form of realism only describes limited versions of reality (MacKay
150). Reality, in their argument, is actually more fractured and multifaceted,
much more like the strangeness found in magical realist texts that deny the
traditional realistic novel in a gesture toward pluralism and relativism, an
embrace of multiplicity, uncertainty, and possibility (MacKay 150). Even
when the text seems to be going against reality, reading beyond the surface
will show that realism is actually the overriding force. The magical realism
novel reminds you that all fictional worlds are indeed fictional, [and] that
realism is no less fabricated than the fantastical (MacKay 149).
Felski notes that feminist writings exemplify a form of realism, even
though it may not employ the traditional methods of realist texts (82). Felski
qualifies that even though literature cannot be understood as a completely
accurate representation of the real, it still holds value through its existence
as a medium of self-exploration and social criticism, thus functioning on
some level as a reflection of existing reality (79). She also purports that
feminist literatureis itself involved in the construction of [the female
identity] as a cultural reality, a social tool that interacts with the rest of
society and the identification of the self as female (78). Feminist writings
reveal real, private experience[s] of the writer, which can connect the
characters to the female audience as a whole and publicize the female
experience (Felski 139).
Makinen notes that speculative fiction has been a popular choice for
women writers because it allows them to inscribe the forbidden,

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suppressed, or silenced aspects of their lives (142), an idea that will be
expanded in later sections. If writers can insert real experiences into novels
or themes and generalities from their lives into novels, then it follows that
these novels contain some degree of realism.
Speculative Fiction
By nature, speculative fiction (SF) is a widely debated topic with no
clear consensus for a definition. Speculative fiction is an umbrella term that
can include a variety of other subgenres that are more commonly known, like
fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism. According to Canavan and
Ward, the most commonly cited definition reads: SF is, then, a literary
genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and
interaction of estrangement and cognition, and whose main formal device is
an imaginative framework alternative to the authors empirical
environment (248). They note that this strict definition leaves out many
genres currently recognized as part of SF. Perhaps the easiest, yet potentially
vaguest, definition of SF is that it is fiction that speculates and causes
speculation.
Speculation about what? Some may argue that SF speculates upon the
future and other worlds and is , therefore being unrealistic, but many argue
that SF actually speculates upon reality because it by imaginesing the future
and things that could potentially happen. Ursula LeGuin, the author of The
Left Hand of Darkness and one of the case studies in this paper, explains
that SF sets out to describe reality, the present world instead of trying to

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predict the future (xiv). SF writers are not trying to tell the reader what the
future might be or predictforetell anything; instead, all they can tell the
reader is what they know and what they have seen by observing reality
(LeGuin xv). The next logical question is to wonder why SF writers try to
describe the world by writing about things that seem to belong on other
worlds and in other times far removed from our present reality, even
contrary to our reality (Card 17). LeGuin answers that all fiction is
metaphor. Science fiction is metaphor (xviii). What cannot be said clearly
and accurately in words, otherwise known as truth, is instead said through
elaborate, fantastical stories known as speculative fiction. So, to answer the
original question at the beginning of the paragraph, SF speculates on reality,
the here and now, the truth of our world. Shaw explains that SF writers write
to express a truth, a concept, a conviction or a question whichfind their
most potent expression through the invention of imaginary worlds in which
the future has already happened (178), showing us that there are indeed
deeper rhetorical reasons behind the choice of SF as a medium of truthtelling.
This paper primarily deals with novels classified as science fiction,
one of the genres under the umbrella of SF. Orson Scott Card, a rather wellknown author in the field of science fiction (you may know him as the author
of Enders Game) quotes a definition of science fiction by Damon Knight:
Science fiction is what I point at when I say science fiction (12). Card then
explains that this does not seem like a satisfactory definition but that it is

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the only completely accurate definition (12). Makinen notes that science
fiction raise[s] questions about society, in relation to technology and thus
clearly falls under the speculative nature of SF, requiring its own subcategory
because of the technological aspect of speculation (131). He Card also offers
a way to differentiate between science fiction and fantasy: science fiction is
about what could be but isnt; fantasy is about what couldnt be (22).
Fantasy also appears in the case studies of this paper, so his distinction will
be useful in considering the implications of each genre.
Most importantly, SF serves a larger purpose beyond new worlds and
fantastical ideas. By telling stories very different from the reality we see
around us, SF allows the reader to step back from, and thus offer a critical
perspective on, her present (Shaw 2). This critical perspective can have a
social or political purpose (Shaw 2), which becomes even stronger and
clearer when feminism is brought into the novel. Makinen describes science
fiction as having revolutionary potential because of its structural premise to
question things-as-they-are (139), an important facet of the genre that is
true of the umbrella term SF as well. Readers must ask themselves what they
can learn from reading SF novels in relation to our world, its truths, and its
possibilities.
Feminism
A popular and hotly contested idea of the 21st centuryour time,
feminism is defined by Merriam-Webster as the theory of the political,
economic, and social equality of the sexes. Felski uses Alison Jaggars

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definition of feminism, which states that all those forms of theory and
practice that seek, no matter on what grounds and by what means, to end
the subordination of women are feminist (13). Feminist viewpoints can be
found in almost all genres and mediums that exist. Another buzzword
associated with feminism is sexism, defined by Merriam-Webster as
prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially discrimination against
women (emphasis in original). Sexism, like feminism, is widespread through
all genres and mediums available and can be seen as almost an antithesis to
feminism. Sexism is inherent in our language itself and the meanings of the
words that we speak and write. Sexist language prescribes certain roles and
attributes to the male and female genders, creating the ideas of masculinity
and femininity, the ideal man and the ideal woman, always in favor of men
due to the patriarchal basis of our society (Cranny-Francis 2).
Although feminism is present in almost all genres and mediums,
literature Looking at literature through a feminist lens focuses on the
representation of women and the conditions surrounding the womans
experience, intending to expose sexist patriarchal structures in our society
and the oppression that women face because of these structures
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/).
Feminist Fiction
Although feminist literature includes nonfiction and other forms of
writing as well as fiction, fiction is the primary focus of this paper. Feminist
fiction is a reaction to the way society is structured toward sexism and the

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oppression of women, critiquing and challenging the status quo as well as
calling for change by describing current conditions and emphasizing the
hardships and inequalities that women face (Felski 1; Makinen 140). Fiction
gives feminist writers a way to discuss and analyze the framework
surrounding a womans life without having to write directly about personal
experiences and specific events that have happened. Knowledge of general
themes and experiences faced by all women can be applied to a fictional
world with the intention of highlighting certain aspects that the writer wants
to discuss with the reader and with the larger discourse surrounding the
single text. Feminist fiction even earned its own defined category, womens
literature, in the late 1960s because of the recent cultural phenomenon of
women's explicit self-identification as an oppressed group, which is in turn
articulated in literary texts in the exploration of gender-specific concerns
centered around the problem of female identity (Felski 1). The feminist
movement led to feminist fiction as a way to analyze these concerns.
Of course, fiction, even womens fiction, is a broad category and can
be broken down into other subcategories: literary fiction and genre fiction,
which can again be broken down into more subcategories. For a basic
understanding of literary fiction versus genre fiction, Novel Writing Helps
description explains that [l]iterary fiction is more character-driven and less
concerned with a fast-paced plot than genre fiction (http://www.novelwriting-help.com/literary-fiction.html#sthash.NKYCkV7l.dpuf), while a
Huffington Post articles description focuses on the purpose of each: [t]he

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main reason for a person to read Genre Fiction is for entertainmentan
escape from reality. Literary Fiction separates itself from Genre because it is
not about escaping from realityit provides a means to better understand
the world (emphasis in original) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stevenpetite/literary-fiction-vs-genre-fiction_b_4859609.html). The general
understanding is that genre fiction offers no critical commentary of the world
and exists purely for fun, while literary fiction has a social and/or political
purpose that tends to focus on character development as opposed to the
plot-driven novels in genre fiction.
SFs subcategories are often classified as genre fiction, which is also
called generic fiction. One could argue that genre fiction, in addition to
providing entertainment, also provides a means to better understand the
world; clearly, the boundaries between each genre fiction and literary fiction
arent as clear as many would like to pretend. Some texts seem to straddle
the line while others seem to fit comfortably in both or neither. Feminist
fiction exists as both genre fiction and literary fiction, but the texts in this
paper fall into science fiction or fantasy, both of which are generally
classified as genre fiction.
Although they write across all mediums including literary fiction, why
might some feminist writers choose genre fiction as their medium, especially
if genre fiction tends to be disregarded for its apparent lack of deeper
meaning? Why not use more respected forms of writing that can convey
more truths, meaning, critique, and analysis, especially for such a socially

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important and nuanced issue such as feminism? The answer that CrannyFrancis provides is simple: genre fiction possesses a wide and varied
readership, which provides a larger audience for feminism than literary
fiction would (2). Writers trying to raise awareness about feminism and
influence others with a text would naturally gravitate toward formats that
can reach a wider audience.
Using genre fiction has other benefits as well. Readers might notice
that sexism [is] seamlessly and invisibly stitched into the textual fabric,
both into its structure and into its story, the weave and the print" (CrannyFrancis 2); stories tend to focus on men doing traditionally male things, being
heroes, saving girls and winning the girls, rarely showing weakness, and
always achieving success as it is defined in a patriarchal society. Language is
phallocentric and gender roles are strongly enforced. The story of the woman
and her triumphs are not shown. The realm of genre fiction is another
battlefield for feminists; here, they can challenge the sexist discourse
inherent in the form and start changing the status quo. Cranny-Francis
explains that feminist genre fiction doesnt just replace male heroes with
female heroes following the same pursuits and patriarchal storylines; it
revises the form and critically evaluates the ideological significance of
textual conventions and of fiction as a discursive practice (10). By
challenging the structure of the typical male-centered genre text, feminists
can show the intrinsic sexism in fiction and begin to work toward an equal

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representation of gendered viewpoints. Choosing genre fiction and working
within genre is a social strategy (Cranny-Francis 17).
Feminist Speculative Fiction
Feminist writers tackle all subgenres of genre fiction, including
speculative fiction and its subcategories. There are many reasons writers
embrace speculative fiction and many ways that speculative fiction furthers
the feminist movement and goals. Reflected in feminist SF are the
discussions and considerations in the larger feminist community from the
past five decades, ranging from explorations of phallocentric language, to
strong action-women agency; from ideal feminine communities, to the
phallocentric dystopias; from explorations of the alien 'other,' to questions of
identity with the cyborg (Makinen 129). Women choose to write speculative
fiction tales because SF offers freedom: freedom to discuss, freedom to
criticize, and freedom to reimagine. SF as a genre offers women a language
[that] enables the expression of radical and feminist ideas that otherwise
cannot be conveyed (Makinen 145), a language that makes use of fantastical
metaphors and stories to tell truths. Shaw quotes Jen Green and Sarah
Lefanu to further explain this concept, discussing science fiction in particular:
SF allows us to take the present position of women and use the metaphors
of science fiction to illuminate it. We may be writing about the future, but we
are writing in the present (Shaw 3).
Separating the fiction from the everyday world, while at first glance an
odd way to talk about the everyday world, is a way of showing and

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deconstructingthe patriarchal gender discourse of sexism by removing
readers from their current reality and placing them somewhere else thats
radically different, causing them to naturally compare their surroundings and
experiences to those of the novel (Cranny-Francis 61). One way that SF
sheds light on the reality of womens reality is to blend and weaken the
traditional boundaries between masculinity and femininity by confronting
the contradictions in gender representation (Makinen 149). Blurring these
boundaries and seeing the binary as a spectrum allows for a diversity of
exploration in the roles of women and men in SF novels (Makinen 129). No
longer is the female character a damsel in distress or a trophy for the male
hero to win, and no longer is the male character the star and strong
conqueror discovering himself as a man. SF challenges the traditional gender
hierarchy and role placement. Women can now be heroes, be remarkable,
and even be dominant (Cranny-Francis 43). Showing women in new roles,
liberated from the sexism endemic to their society in another reality
provides readers with a comparison to their own lives and draws attention to
their oppressed state (Cranny-Francis 42). Without the overriding force of the
patriarchy, characters in SF novels show a potential for women in this world.
Barr notes that it is, after all, logical to think about women's
disempowerment while reading feminist power fantasies (5), showing how
these revisions to genre conventions lead readers to reflect upon current
situations while reading SF.

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Feminist SF provides writers a way to manipulate patriarchal society.
Women can share their voice and experiences through the freedom provided
by writing about other worlds, presenting blueprints for social structures
that allow womens words to counter patriarchal myths (Barr 7). Writers can
distort our worlds patriarchal structure in a variety of ways, like flipping
society to matriarchal or enlarging sexism as it currently exists, providing a
lens to view and uncover the hidden agendas and imperatives of the
patriarchy (Barr 3). When readers see these exaggerated sexist constructions
that would not be acceptable in our world, they are able to examine and
identify the basis of these exaggerations in reality (Barr 4). Feminist SF
challenges our sexist assumptions and norms in this way, drawing attention
to them by enlarging them for the public eye. The writing is in direct
opposition to the dominant gender ideology of Western society, patriarchal
ideology (Cranny-Francis 1).
Through SF, readers can discover a fictional description of the kind of
world that a gender-free or differently gendered society might produce
(Shaw 6), prompting reflection upon our world, our gender hierarchies, and
the implications of the sexism inherent in the patriarchy. As an example,
utopias, a commonly used SF concept that feminist writers have used to
deconstruct our reality of gender and oppression, provide writers a route to
imagine different gender politics. Feminist utopias produce new models of
womens experience (Makinen 146), showing readers what it would look like
to live in a world where women are equal to men or, in some cases, where

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women exist without men. With this equality women experience a newfound
power and have agency, which can allow writers to explore divergent forms
of sexuality that often appear in speculative fiction (science fiction in
particular) via robots, aliens and cyborgs (Makinen 144). Through these SF
novels, the female reader gains a way to live as freely as possible (Barr 4)
and experience feminist escapism, leaving behind the reality of our
gendered society (Barr 22). Barr argues that these power fantasies are
essential for women readers, especially in the form of nonrealistic fiction as
they are otherwise constantly forced to exist in a reality that brands them
as Other (24).
The idea of other is used quite frequently in SF, where aliens are a
common feature of science fiction and used to parallel the marginalization of
groups of people in our world (Makinen 142). This is especially evident in
feminist SF, which can examine the ways that sexism and racismfunction
in unison (Cranny-Francis 61). Both sexism and racism serve to other a
group of people, to marginalize and oppress them. Issues of race are
important in feminist SF as true feminism encompasses the equal rights for
women of all backgrounds and colors who are often excluded in Western
feminism that focuses on the rights of a group of women that is primarily
white. SFs use of aliens and others allows the opportunity to both express
and explore alienation (Shaw 6) in terms of both race and gender. CrannyFrancis notes that using aliens can be a method of deconstruct[ing]
contemporary gender ideology (67).

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Feminist science fiction in particular challenges gender roles and
assumptions by including women in the realm of science users and
knowledge creators. Writers can expose the gender-based ideology which
informs what counts as scientific knowledge and deconstruct current male
speculations on the future while simultaneously creating new and often
revolutionary alternatives to those speculations (Shaw 2). Simply put,
feminist science fiction gives women agency in a genre that males have
traditionally dominated and continue to dominate, especially in the science
world at large. As Shaw notes, men have been the primary influencers and
predictors of the scientific future; feminist science fiction brings female
viewpoints and contributions to the field. Shaw explains that specific
scientific theorieshave motivated women to imagine new female identities
and social orders which present a re-evaluation of the place of science in
womens lives (2), transferring to SF that puts women firmly into the
creation and imagination of the future and dismantling gender barriers to
science.
Case Studies
To show how feminist speculative fiction contains aspects of realism
that reflect on our current world by discussing other worlds, I will look at six
different texts as case studies. These six novels prove that fiction mirrors
reality in a variety of ways. Some writers examine current societal structures
and norms surrounding gender through speculating on the here and now by
imagining the future consequences and projecting future realities that

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could logically follow if our world remains as is (Cranny-Francis 68). [as
evidenced by atwood, butler] Others present entirely different worlds
seemingly unconnected to ours, in a separate universe, yet still provide a
commentary and critique on the patriarchal structures of our world and the
inequalities that the gender binary causes. We will first examine an author
who has been proclaimed as the single most important women writer of
science fiction (Makinen 152), and whose approach provides worlds parallel
to ours that show the potential outcomes of our societal norms.
Joanna Russs The Female Man
The Female Man is driven by Joanna Russs desire to engage the
reader in a consideration of patriarchy and the damage it does on women
more than a desire to tell a story for the sake of telling a story (Makinen
155). Many passages and events are paired with Russs textual aggression
towards patriarchy as a way to further the storyline, and Russ uses
caricature and invective to delineate the normal mid-Western relationships
between men and women in the 1970s, which are still practiced in the
current decade and easily recognizable (Makinen 154).
The novel follows four women: Jeannine and Joanna, who live in our
version of 1975; Janet, who lives in a different world without men; and Jael,
who lives in a different world where the split between genders has become
geographical and was instigated by warfare. Each character embodies
different aspects of womens existence and can draw the readers attention
to Russs critiques.

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Jeannine essentially symbolizes the ideal woman in the eyes of the
patriarchy. Shes focused on finding a man and settling down with him to
start a family and live her life as a dutiful wife. Jeannine ends up depressed
from a lack of fulfillment a lack of ability to fulfill the typical female role of
falling in love, getting married, having kids, and taking care of her home,
instead pining away for men. Through Jeannines character the reader can
see the epitome of the patriarchys expectations for women and how this
affects women. When Jeannine visits her family, the narrator tells her, You
dont want to be a dried-up old spinster at forty but thats what you will be if
you go on like this. Youre twenty-nine. Youre getting old. You ought to marry
someone who can take care of you, JeannineIts all right to do that; youre
a girl (Russ 114). Through this the reader can see that Jeannine is supposed
to end up married and be taken care of by a man, because she is a girl and
needs to be taken care of. Further showing the gender roles, the narrator
describes Jeannines brother as a firm, steady man who makes a good living
for his wife and children, and his wife as a woman who wants nothing more
in the world than her husband and her little boy and girl (Russ 113). This
couple demonstrates exactly what each gender is supposed to do and what
Jeannines future should look like. These two quotes are also a scolding for
Jeannine, who knows she is not fulfilling her role in society and becomes
upset at her failure. She spends much of her time laying around, bemoaning
her fate, and altogether not enjoying life in the slightest.

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Jeannines behavior also reflects how a woman should act: She
pauses, catching sight of herself in the wall mirror: flushed, eyes sparkling,
her hair swept back as if by some tumultuous storm, her whole face glowing.
The lines of her figure are perfect, but who is to use all this loveliness, who is
to recognize it? (Russ 109). Jeannine tries to achieve the ideal feminine
beauty and look the way men want her to look. Her goal is to attract a man,
thus centering everything in her life around men and eventual marriage.
Joanna, previously ensnared in the same patriarchal trap as Jeannine, notes
that [b]efore Janet arrived on this planet...I spent my whole day combing my
hair and putting on make-up...all I did was dress for The Man, smile for The
Man, talk wittily to The Man, sympathize with The Man, flatter The Man,
understand The Man, defer to The Man, entertain The Man, keep The Man,
live for The Man (Russ 29). Jeannine, for the majority of the novel, spends
her time doing exactly those things.
When Jeannine is with her boyfriend, she feels unable to discuss things
because hell say shes nattering again; worse still, it would sound pretty
silly; you cant expect a man to listen to everything (as everybodys Mother
said) (Russ 108), degrading her own voice and elevating a mans attention
above the topics and ideas that she wishes to share. An important facet of
that quote is that she attributes this knowledge to her mother, showing that
women are taught from childhood to think of men as superior. Another
character, Laura, discusses the construction of gender roles from childhood,
venting her frustration about being denied her goals and dreams because

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they werent feminine enough. She sarcastically explains: Everyone knows
that much as women want to be scientists and engineers, they want
foremost to be womanly companions to men (what?) and caretakers of
childhood (Russ 60). This is, supposedly, an inherent truth, a role that
women are supposed to embrace. As her therapist says, Men make the
decisions and women make the dinners (Russ 67), delegating each person
to their specific role that theyve been taught since childhood . No deviation
is allowed; yet still, Laura wants to be more than just a woman.
Joanna tries to achieve the transcendence of woman, becoming what
she calls the female man. She aims to do exactly what Laura was always
taught not to do: to inherit male roles and achieve the successes that only
men are allowed to achieve. She summarizes her education of prominent
figures in the world: You told me ghouls were male. / Rodan is maleand
asinine. / King Kong is male. / I could have been a witch, but the Devil is
male. / Faust is male. / The man who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima was
male. / I was never on the moon (Russ 133), enforcing Lauras descriptions
of her childhood and the discrimination she faces from her parents,
educators, therapist, and peers when it comes to her career and goals. Both
Laura and Joanna, representing millions of women in our world, have few
female role models and rarely see stories of feminine power and success.
Makinens analysis notes that Joannas choice of identifying as a
female man allows her to assum[e] the nominal title of man [and]
inhabit all the positive binary constructions within the culture (155). In her

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description, Joanna explains that she became a man by first becoming
completely female, learning what it means to be female. One of her sections
shows the mans idea of female: You really are sweet and responsive after
all. Youve kept your femininity. Youre not one of those hysterical feminist
bitches who wants to be a man and have a penis. Youre a woman (Russ
94), placing female as completely opposed to male. To merge the two,
Joanna then embraces traditionally non-female roles to become a female
man and inhabit the world of men as a woman.
Existing as a woman in the workplace meant that Joanna had been
neuter, not a woman at all but One Of The Boys, yet still objectified by her
body. If you get good at being One Of The Boys [the objectification] goes
awayI suppose they decided that my tits were not of the best kind, or not
real, or that they were someone elses, so they split me from the neck up
(Russ 133). It was impossible for her to exist as a woman in a professional
space; either she did not fit in, or had to dissociate parts of herself to be
accepted. Makinen agrees with this assessment, saying that women are
trying to ignore their sex in order to be treated equally, butthey are
turned into a negative construction of femininity by male denigration (155).
Once women fit in the workplace, they have lost their femininity and are
therefore not true women, which is a bad thing. Once Joanna reworked
herself to remain female yet occupy male roles, she had a different view of
men and the world: For years I have been saying Let me in, Love me,
Approve me, Define me, Regulate me, Validate me, Support me. Now I say

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Move over (Russ 140). Instead of tailoring her needs and decisions around
the opinions of men, she creates her own space to be successful by her own
definitions. Using the label the female man puts her in a unique place that
is neither traditionally male nor female and allows her to move among the
ranks of men.
While Joanna is able to do this and be successful, the gender binary
does not allow two-way movement. Jeannine describes her boyfriend as
such a baby and finds it pathetic that when he does it, you know [sex],
sometimes he cries. I never heard of a man doing that (Russ 83). When he
crosses the gender line and has a characteristic of women, crying, Jeannine
is disgusted and concerned. If he doesnt behave like a man, then there must
be something wrong with him. She even notes that sometimes he likes to
get dressed upIs that what they call transvestism? (Russ 83). Behaving
like a woman and wanting to look like a woman is completely wrong for men
in our society; a man trying to move across the gender binary is
unacceptable. This double-standard of gender fluidity is a side effect of the
patriarchy because it paints women as weak and pathetic, and when a
supposedly strong man demonstrates those qualities, he is ridiculed,
especially by other men. A woman like Joanna moving into a more man-like
state is at least acceptable in the sense that she can still function in the
workplace and achieve recognition and success, while Jeannines boyfriend
would never receive respect for his womanly behavior.

League 23
Jael, the last major character to be introduced, exists among men and
sometimes as man, but in an entirely different way than Joanna. In her world,
men and women occupy separate sides of the planet, the culmination of
unequal gender roles and expectations turned into warfare. The Manlanders
and Womanlanders, as they are called, hardly see each other due to their
separation. The Manlanders, without women, cannot have children. Instead,
they buy infants from the Womanlanders and bring them up in batches,
save for the rich few who can order children made from their very own
semen (Russ 167). All of the infants are male, and if they grow up deciding
that they dont want to be a man, they can become changed, or halfchanged if they decide too late for body modifications to be made. These
changed and half-changed function as women in the society, used for sex
and domestic activities. One of the men notes that the half-changed are
weak and cant protect themselves; what do you think femininity is all
about? (Russ 172), reminding the reader and the characters that the
patriarchy places women and non-men in a very specific role. Without
women around them, the men have fallen even further into degrading
women. Jael speculates that one day theyll fall so far that theyll invade
Womanland, rape everyone in sight (if they still remember how) and then kill
them, and after that commit suicide upon a pyramid of their victims panties
(Russ 171).
Jael is an assassin who targets high-rank enemy men, but she also
specializes in portraying men and occupying their roles as a spy or infiltrator.

League 24
She has a high status within the women and is thus granted fairly free
movement among enemy troops and higher-ups, none of whom know that
she is usually among them as an assassin. Jael describes her situation: I
come and go as I please. I do only what I want. I have wrestled myself
through to an independence of mind that has ended by bring all of you here
today. In short, I am a grown woman (Russ 187). The freedom she has is the
freedom that men are afforded in our world; a grown woman here would
rarely describe herself in such a manner.
In addition to being able to move around with the freedom of a man,
she revels in her ability to destroy men and maintain her power over them,
almost reversing patriarchal standards by placing herself as the oppressor in
her extreme hatred of men. After one of the other characters asks her if it
was necessary to kill the male leader in her signature violent manner, she
says, I dont give a damn whether it was necessary or notI liked it (Russ
184), and as a narrator explains that theres no doing business with them;
you have to kill them anyway, might as well have fun (Russ 182). Her
attitude toward the life of men seems to almost exaggeratedly mirror the
disdain and disrespect men have for women. Russ presents this as a poor
alternative to the patriarchy its still dangerous and unequal, and Jaels allconsuming rage and justifications for her actions are neither healthy nor
productive. Instead, her situation and planet prove the need for equality
rather than a reversal of the patriarchy that would place women at the top.
Makinen addresses this in her analysis: The narrative [of Jael's role reversal

League 25
of the male world leader], aided by [Jeannine, Janet, and Joannas] horror,
problematizes the issues of role reversal as an effective feminist strategy,
whilst bitterly explaining the attraction of such a course (153).
Unlike everyone elses worlds, Janets world, Whileaway, has no men at
all. Their technology is advanced enough that women dont need men to
reproduce, and society has been moving smoothly for the centuries without
men: there have been no men on Whileaway for at least eight centuries I
don't mean no human beings, of course, but no men (Russ 9). The story is
that a disease killed all of the men on the planet, and that words like men
are no longer in use. Her world brings up an entirely new view of patriarchy
and other problems with gender and sexuality. Janet is allowed to do all of
the things that men traditionally do because there are no men there to
occupy those roles or tell her that she cant do them. Women have choices
and freedom, which brings the reader to realize that there arent as many
choices and freedoms in our world. Janet can be both masculine and
feminine and both are expected and acceptable; here, the genders are
divided and crossing that boundary brings ridicule and outcast.
Upon her entry into our world, Janet cannot become acquainted with
the rules and regulations that women face. Interacting with men and
assuming the role of woman do not come naturally to her, and she cant fit
in. The voice and agency she has on her planet do not belong to her here.
When a man grabs her and she says, Let me go, Joanna as narrator tells
her to say it loud. Somebody will come rescue you. Janet replies, Cant I

League 26
rescue myself? Joanna says, No. Janet argues, Why not? (Russ 45). On
our planet, as a woman, Janet does not have the authority and power to save
herself. She has to rely on another man to come save her. This is completely
different from her planet, where she is able to do what she wants and stand
up for herself. Her freedoms are stripped away in our world, and by seeing
her shoved into our box of woman, the reader identifies with the limitations
and sees the inequality.
Even without men, love still exists on Whileaway. Women love women
and form relationships and families based off this love. This brings up the
question of lesbianism and its implications. When Janet meets with a reporter
on our planet, he asks her how women on Whileaway cope with the lack of
sexual love, even though he has no doubts that mothers of Whileaway love
their children and are still capable of love (Russ 11). Confused, Janet asks,
you say we dont have that?...How foolish of you. Of course we do (Russ
11). In our heteronormative world, where males and females are supposed to
be in love with each other, not the same sex, it seems impossible and wrong
to have women love women. Laura, discussing her upbringing again and the
discrimination she faces for not loving men, says, Ive never slept with a
girl. I couldnt. I wouldnt want to. Thats abnormal and Im not, although you
cant be normal unless you do what you want and you cant be normal unless
you love men (68). Same-sex love on Whileaway is quite obviously the
standard and can show the reader how normal and acceptable same-sex love

League 27
is and how the heteronormative, patriarchal state of our society harms those
who are not deemed normal for their love of the same sex.
Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale
The Handmaids Tale describes the life of a woman named Offred who
lives as a Handmaid, valued for her reproductive capabilities in a world
where pollution has contaminated peoples bodies and caused a shortage of
healthy babies and mothers. Each Handmaid is assigned to a high-status
man whose wife cannot reproduce. She acts as a sort of surrogate mother,
and the wife owns the child. This world is a projected future of our world;
Offreds generation saw the switch from the world as we know it to a world
where people are categorized based on their status and reproductive
capabilities. Women have no freedom; everyone performs a specific role to
keep the functioning of the country in check; and every deviance from the
desired order of things is punishable. Offreds situation reflects and amplifies
inequalities and problems that exist in our world.
One main theme is that a womans only value comes from her body
and reproductive capabilities. Men and even other women only view Offred
as useful and worthwhile because shes able to produce a healthy child for
her assigned man. They dont see her personality and mind as the most
important parts of her existence; her body is the most valued thing she can
offer. Offred explains that the Handmaids are containers, its only the
insides of our bodies that are important (Atwood 124). When she was
trained for being a Handmaid, punishments for deviance resulted in bodily

League 28
harm to hands and feet, which the trainers explained was fine because for
our purposes your feet and hands are not essential (Atwood 118). The
Handmaids can be used and abused so long as they remain capable of
reproduction; other aspects of their existence are negligible.
Because of this, Offred is constantly talking about how she wants to be
more than just a body; she wants to exist for herself and be seen for more
than just the use of her reproductive organs. Her value of her soul struggles
against societys value of the body her soul inhabits. In our world, there
seems to be a slightly bigger importance on the soul, although women are
clearly still objectified and seen as bodies instead of people. In Offreds
world, however, there is no focus at all on her soul; the new world only wants
her body, its capabilities, and biological destiny. Everyone in her world has
been reduced to their bodys essence, and their purpose comes from the
body they inhabit instead of coming from the person that they are. Offred is
constantly talking about becoming empty and feeling empty: [the Aunts
trained them to become empty so that they could be filled]. In a literal way,
their bodies will become filled with a child, but their personalities, values,
goals, and dreams have to be eradicated as well to make room for their
purpose as a Handmaid.
One could argue that Gilead is very woman-centered because it places
so much value and importance on women. Wouldnt this be an improvement
from the way that women are devalued in our society and placed below men
in their level of importance, since without the Handmaids humanitys

League 29
potential to reproduce is significantly reduced? Isnt feminism looking to
increase the worth of women? Yet Gileads idea of woman-centered means
that everything revolves around the worth of a woman's body, not a
womans potential as a person and as an equal to men. Feminism wants to
level the playing field and see men and women as equals; Gilead does quite
the opposite, placing men in positions of power and giving them the sole
decision-making capabilities while women simply conceive, bear children,
and eventually die. Each world, ours (in terms of feminism) and Gilead, looks
at the worth of women in completely different ways. Gileads argument for
valuing women is completely destroyed when the reader realizes that only
healthy and child-bearing women are important; women unfit for birthing
children or for being trophy wives to prominent men are cast aside into
designated places called the Colonies, where they are forced to do hard
manual labor in nuclear zones with an increased chance of death. The
Colonies are the dumpster for useless women. A Handmaids reward for
bearing a healthy child is that Shell never be sent to the Colonies, shell
never be declared Unwoman (Atwood 163).
The Handmaids are further objectified and devalued when their
assigned men take them to an underground, secret club called Jezebel. Here,
the men parade their women around as trophies to prove their masculinity
and power. One of the workers at Jezebel, not a Handmaid but more of a sort
of prostitute, explains that the men like to see [the Handmaids] all painted
up. Just another crummy power trip (Atwood 316). Offred, upon being taken

League 30
to Jezebel and walking around in a promiscuous, ridiculous pin-up outfit
under the guiding hand of her Commander, realizes that he is showing me
off, to them, and they understand that, they are decorous enough, they keep
their hands to themselves, but they review my breasts, my legs, as if theres
no reason why they shouldnt (Atwood 307). The other men at the club
approve of each Commander bringing his Handmaid to prove that he is still a
man, that he has control of women, and that he has possession of his
Handmaid. There are no reasons why they should not continue to objectify
and evaluate the women based on their bodies when that is their entire role
in society. Women readers will recognize and understand Offreds unease at
the mens prying eyes as it is something we experience in our world as well.
In Gilead, the women are made to feel like they deserve these
injustices from men around them. During Handmaid training, a portion of
their day was spent convincing victims of rape that they deserved it and had
led on their rapist. At first, the women insisted that they were innocent and
as the victim did not deserve blame, but when one of the trainers asks the
crowd, But whose fault was it? the other Handmaids-in-training chant, Her
fault, her fault, her fault (Atwood 92). This could sound like an event far
removed from our reality, but victim blaming occurs very often in our own
society. Some individuals believe that the victim was asking for it due to
her (or his) clothing or behavior, even though no one wants to be sexually
violated against their will. This passage reminds readers that their reality is

League 31
not so different from the world that the Handmaids experience; cruelty and
injustice toward women exist in both Gilead and our world.
Women may continue to be objectified in Gilead, but sex is not a
choice or a freedom for the Handmaids. In their role as surrogate mothers,
they perform a Ceremony with the Commander and his Wife in which the
Commander has sex with the Handmaid, who is laying on the Wife. These
positions are strict and required, and no physical contact besides what is
necessary is permitted. As Offred explains, It has nothing to do with passion
or love or romance or any of those other notions we used to titillate
ourselves with. It has nothing to do with sexual desire (Atwood 122). It is
simply a ritual to have the Commander impregnate the Handmaid. If the
Handmaids try to make their own sexual choices, they are taken away by law
enforcement. Offred, in her desperation to have some choices in her life and
do things for herself instead of for others, visits the Commanders chauffeur,
Nick, for sex. She explains herself: I went back to Nick. Time after time, on
my own, without Serena knowing. It wasnt called for, there was no excuse. I
did not do it for him, but for myself entirely (Atwood 344). Here the reader
can see that she makes these choices in order to have control and agency,
but that she also feels shame for behaving in this way. This is not a Gileadonly trait; women in our society often feel shameful for having sexual
freedom, or others around them shame them. Its ingrained in everyone, in
both Gilead and our world, that if a woman wants to have anything to do with
sex or just have sex for her own reasons, then shes a slut, horrible, and

League 32
deserving of shame. Men do not face this stigma; they are encouraged to be
sexually promiscuous because that increases their masculinity. These double
standards enforce the gender binary and inequality between the sexes.
Gilead adheres strictly to gender roles, which is already evident
through the existence of Handmaids as baby carriers. There are women in
charge of the house as well, a wife for each Commander, and the
Commander himself, who runs the house and contributes directly to society.
Atwood is reestablishing the traditional roles of women as another facet of
their oppression in this society: home-makers, mothers, and trophies. Instead
of allowing them to do things outside of their gender role, enforcing the
traditional gender roles sticks them more firmly in their boxes. They must
play the part of a true woman and that means acting like a woman. There is
no room for deviance and its accepted that everyone does what they are
expected to dol no one can risk acting outside of their gender roles. The men
are constrained too, and its important to remember that they are affected
by the oppression of women as well. Commanders are supposed to be
respectful, follow the rules, and run the household perfectly, but Offreds
Commander breaks rules by changing some scripted roles, like the Ceremony
where he is not supposed to have any emotional or sexual connection with
the Handmaid, in an attempt to have control of his situation instead of being
controlled by society. He also brings her to Jezebel and allows her to visit him
privately to engage in discussions, games, and illicit activities like reading
and writing. Jezebel is another example of the performance of gender roles;

League 33
although everyone feels like theyve gained agency by breaking rules by
visiting and being promiscuous, theyre essentially moving into different
assigned roles. The women who work there are performing their role of
prostitutes. The men, the Commanders, are performing their role as a
powerful, masculine, in-control figure. The Handmaids are performing their
role as objects to be paraded around the club. The societys emphasis on
performance and roles continues to separate genders and encourage the
oppression of women.
Atwood also makes use of language to show the oppression of women.
Women in Gilead arent allowed to read or write, and certain words and
phrases are banned while others are required in situations. Language is used
to control thought and shape perceptions about the world. Makinen observes
that feminist SF has tried to challenge patriarchal language structures
(147), and Atwood is no exception. Offred spends a lot of time considering
words and implications. When she visits town, she sees that In front of us,
to the right, is the store where we order dresses. Some people call them
habits, a good word for them (Atwood 33). Habits reflects the structured
nature of the society and how the Handmaids function in habitual ways.
When she remembers the past, she says, They [the people before Gilead]
wore blouses with buttons down the front that suggested the possibilities of
the word undone. These women could be undone; or not. They seemed to be
able to choose (Atwood 33), considering how clothing reflects choice and
how women in Gilead are no longer able to make choices. When she says

League 34
goodbye to her shopping partner Handmaid, the Handmaid replies, Under
His Eye, which Offred notes is The right farewell (Atwood 59). Their
conversations are rigid and only certain phrases and responses are
acceptable, showing how the language has cut off any real communication
between women and forces them to adhere to their roles. Controlling the
language controls what people can say and communicate to each other. The
expected responses that the Handmaids have to say to each other are
completely limited by what society deems appropriate and correct. Complete
control of the language is complete control of the people. Felski notes the
the constraining, legislative, and socializing aspects of language (34) as
well, lending credibility to Atwoods manipulation of language and its effects
on the inhabitants of Gilead. The Handmaids end up creating a code within
the closed system of language in Gilead to create a kind of womens
language, using phrases like MayDay, already acceptable to indicate the
first day of spring, to signal distress. Maneuvering within the patriarchal and
oppressive language structure is difficult for the Handmaids and can lead to
imprisonment or death if they are caught.
When Offred is in her bedroom, she explains that The night is mine,
my own time, to do with as I will, as long as I am quiet. As long as I dont
move. As long as I lie still. The difference between lie and lay. Lay is always
passive.I lie, then, inside the room (Atwood 49). Choosing the active verb
gives her agency over her actions instead of continuing to be controlled by
society. Her obsession with language is the one thing she holds onto because

League 35
she has control over it: control over her knowledge, thoughts, meaning, and
uses of language, even though it is so entirely controlled by the society.
Writing is powerful too; women aren't allowed to write, and when
Offred offers to spell a word for the Commander and write it, he hesitates at
this novel idea. Possibly he doesnt remember I can (Atwood 240). Writing,
as an indicator of power and knowledge, is no longer associated with women,
thus demoting them to a lower and less respectable position. When she
holds then pen, she says, The pen between my fingers is sensuous, alive
almost, I can feel its power, the power of the words it contains (Atwood
241). She realizes the power and control that the pen gives her over
language, communication, and meaning. Reading is a luxury not afforded to
women, either; the entirety of literacy is not theirs to claim. Women are
incapable of learning through words at all due to the barriers on spoken
language, writing, and reading. When Offred reads with the Commander, she
says, I read quickly, voraciously, almost skimming, trying to get as much
into my head as possible before the next long starvation (Atwood 239). The
chance to read comes to rarely to her that she has to take advantage of it
and binge read when she can.
The Commander also lets her play Scrabble with him, which Offred
enjoys because it gives her power over language. She can use Scrabble to
retain her hold over her language and demonstrate her proficiency in it even
though everything she says otherwise has to follow strict, controlled
guidelines. As she plays, she says, I hold the glossy counters with their

League 36
smooth edges, finger the letters. The feeling is voluptuous. This is freedom,
an eyeblink of it. Limp, I spell. Gorge. What a luxury. The counters are like
candies, made of peppermint, cool like that. Humbugs, those were called. I
would like to put them into my mouth (Atwood 180). Theres an almost
erotic pleasure in regaining control of language and embracing the power
that comes with it. Being able to use and mold language is beyond the role
of women in Gilead.
Ursula LeGuins The Left Hand of Darkness
Octavia Butlers Parable of the Sower
Conclusion
20.

"Feminist science fiction can inspire real-world change." (Barr 8)

xi.

"Realism, then, has been the key term in most accounts of why the novel

matters, and it has come to mean many things. But one point unites all these
claims: that realism means more than juts representing what 'really' is. That is to
say, the novel may act upon us all as cultural texts do, and thus potentially change
the world in the act of describing itCan a novel change the world simply by
making people look at it differently?...novels are doing something by teaching you
how to feel, and, in theory, when we 'feel right,' we act rightly." (MacKay p.14)