Gender has been an important theme explored in speculative fiction. The genres that make up speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, supernatural fiction, horror, superhero fiction, science fantasy and related genres (utopian and dystopian fiction), have always offered the opportunity for writers to explore social conventions, including gender, gender roles, and beliefs about gender. Like all literary forms, the science fiction genre reflects the popular perceptions of the eras in which individual creators were writing; and those creators' responses to gender stereotypes and gender roles.
Many writers have chosen to write with little or no questioning of gender roles, instead effectively reflecting their own cultural gender roles onto their fictional world. However, many other writers have chosen to use science fiction and non-realistic formats in order to explore cultural conventions, particularly gender roles. This article discusses works that have explored or expanded the treatment of gender in science fiction.
While some science fiction explores human gender experiences, there are also hypothetical alien species and robots, and imagined trans-real genders, such as with aliens that are truly hermaphroditic or have a third gender, or robots that can change gender at will or are without gender.
Critical analysis Science fiction has been described as a useful tool for examining society attitudes to and conceptions of gender;Attebery, p. 1 this is particularly true of literature, more so than for other media. The conventions of speculative fiction genres encourage writers to explore the subject of biological sex and present alternative models for societies and characters with different beliefs about gender.Attebery, p. 4. Extrapolation of an initial speculative premise can as easily start from an idea about marriage customs or chromosomes as a technological change. In spite of this potential, SF has been said to present only ideas about sex and gender that are fashionable or controversial in the present day, which it then projects into a future or fantasy setting.
Science fiction in particular has traditionally been a puritanical genre orientated toward a male readership,Clute, John & Nicholls, Peter,The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, "Sex" p. 1088, 2nd Ed., (1999), Orbit, Great Britain, and has been described as being by men for men, or sometimes for boys.Clute, John & Nicholls, Peter,The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Lisa Tuttle, "Women as portrayed in Science Fiction" p. 1343, 2nd Ed., (1999), Orbit, Great Britain, Most of the stereotypical tropes of science fiction, such as aliens, robots or superpowers can be employed in such a way as to be metaphors for gender.Attebery, p. 5.
Fantasy has been perceived as more accepting of women compared to science fiction or horror (and offering more roles than historical fiction or romance), yet seldom attempts to question or subvert the bias toward male superiority.Clute, John & John Grant,The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, "Gender" p. 393, 1st Ed., (1997), Orbit, Great Britain, Science fiction's tendency to look to the future and imagine different societies gives it the potential to examine gender roles and preconceptions, whereas the use of archetypes and quasi-historical settings in fantasy has often included patriarchy.
Portrayal of women
The portrayal of women, in the speculative genres, has varied widely throughout the genres' history. Some writers and artists have challenged their society's gender norms in producing their work; others have not. Among those who have challenged conventional understandings and portrayals of gender and sexuality, there have been of course significant variations. The common perception of the role of female characters in SF works has long been dominated by one of two stereotypes: a woman who is evil (villainess) or one who is helpless (damsel in distress). These characters are usually physically attractive and provocatively dressed, often in scanty armor, and require redemption and validation by a male hero. As more contemporary Speculative fiction emerges, new gender roles and a way of viewing feminine-identified beings appear with it. Viewers are seeing femininity in a new light as more female authors and fans come into the speculative fiction world. There have been female characters in forms of strong woman warriors, or even as a main character who can think for herself.Hatcher, Melissa McCrory. "Finding Woman's Role in The Lord of the Rings." Mythlore: A Journal of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature, vol. 25, no. 3-4, 2007, pp. 43–54. Examples of these gender rules being broken can be seen in many texts such as “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien and even “The Man in the High Castle” by Philip K. Dick. As more and more readers and fans of science fiction become female identified, the portrayal of female characters changes just as speculative fiction changes.Bainbridge, William. “Women in Science Fiction.” Sex Roles, vol. 8, no. 10, 1982, pp. 1081–1093.
The first critical work focusing on women in SF was Symposium: Women in Science Fiction (1975), edited by Jeffrey D. Smith, and other influential works include Future Females:A Critical Anthology (1981) edited by Marleen S. Barr.
Robots and cyborgs and the portrayal of women
A gynoid is a robot designed to look like a human female, as compared to an android modeled after a male (or genderless) human. Gynoids are "irresistibly linked" to men's lust, and are mainly designed as sex-objects, having no use beyond "pleasing men's violent sexual desires".Melzer, Patricia Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought, p.204 University of Texas Press, 2006, . A long tradition exists in fiction of men attempting to create the stereotypical "perfect woman".Melzer, Patricia Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought, p. 202 University of Texas Press, 2006, . Examples include the Greek myth of Pygmalion, and the female robot Maria in Fritz Lang's Metropolis as well as the classic 1970s film The Stepford Wives. Female cyborgs have been similarly used in fiction, in which natural bodies are modified to become objects of fantasy. Fiction about gynoids or female cyborgs reinforce "essentialist ideas of feminity".
Portrayal of men Many male protagonists of science fiction are reflections of a single heroic archetype, often having scientific vocations or interests, and being "cool, rational, competent", "remarkably sexless", interchangeable, and bland.Kuhn, Annette (1990). Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema. Verso.Kuhn, p. 107 Annette Kuhn posits that these asexual characters are attempts to gain independence from women and mother figures, and that this and their unfailing mechanical prowess is what gives them fans.Kuhn, p. 108 The "super-male" and boy genius are also common stereotypes frequently embodied by male characters.Kuhn, p. 25Kuhn, p. 28
While fetishised objects are feminine, gender studies conclude this and masculinity, within literature, stems from sociological concepts. According to Jonathan Rutherford, masculinity’s complex nature has been oversimplified and made out to be more comprehensible than that of femininity.Hobbs, Alex (2013). "Masculinity Studies and Literature". Literature Compass. 10 (4): 383–395. doi:10.1111/lic3.12057. ISSN 1741-4113. As such, the concept of hegemonic masculinity was a point of examination. Better known as the universal definition of today’s perception of masculinity, hegemonic masculinity suggests that there is a spectrum of masculinity as the concept stems from post-structuralism. Although masculinity tends to be defined under a singular trope of what a male protagonist should be, the majority of men do not encourage this notion. In this same fashion, the majority of men that do make an effort to reform gender roles in a multitude of societies, from neoliberal to militaristic.
Critics argue that much of science fiction fetishizes masculinity, and that incorporation of technology into science fiction provides a metaphor for imagined futuristic masculinity. Examples are the use of "hypermasculine cyborgs and console-cowboys". Such technologies are desirable as they reaffirm the readers' masculinity and protect against feminisation.The Fetishization of Masculinity in Science Fiction: The Cyborg and the Console Cowboy, Amanda Fernbach, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Jul., 2000), p. 234 This fetishisation of masculinity via technology in science fiction differs from typical fetishisation in other genres, in which the fetishised object is always feminine.
The book Spreading Misandry argues that science fiction is often used to make unfounded political claims about gender, and attempt to blame men for all of society's ills.
Portrayal of transgender people
While the ability to shift gender is common in Speculative and Science fiction, there is very little representation of transgender human characters, and they are used as little more than a plot device for the author. Male authors use the ability to change gender either speculate about medical technology or to act out an ideal of femininity. Female authors use shifting gender to discuss the condition of being woman identified. Both create trans characters as caricatures of women, rather than full humans. This is beginning to shift as more trans and queer identified authors are writing within the Sci-Fi/Speculative Fiction/Fantasy genres. Books like Beyond Binary: Gender and Sexuality in Science Fiction by Brit Mandelo examine the representation of transgender and non-binary characters in speculative fiction. Mandelo points out that these characters are often used as plot devices rather than full developed individuals, though some newer writers are working to portray gender and sexuality with greater complexity. This shift indicates a trend towards more nuanced storytelling in the genre with an increasing focus on diverse gender identities.
Single-gender worlds: utopias and dystopias
Single-gender worlds or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender differences. In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of technological or mystical methods that allow female parthenogenic reproduction. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers; however, male authors may portray these as dystopian. Many influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s;Attebery, p. 13.Gaétan Brulotte & John Phillips,Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature, "Science Fiction and Fantasy", p.1189, CRC Press, 2006, the most often studied examples include Joanna Russ's The Female Man, Suzy McKee Charnas's Walk to the End of the World and Motherlines, and Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time.Bartter, p.101 Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes, rather than separation. Such worlds have been portrayed most often by lesbian or feminist authors; their use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from patriarchy. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all—a famous early sexless example being Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Men-only societies are much less common; one example is Athos in Ethan of Athos (1986) by Lois McMaster Bujold. Joanna Russ suggests men-only societies are not commonly imagined, because men do not feel oppressed, and therefore imagining a world free of women does not imply an increase in freedom and is not as attractive.Romaine, p. 329