Single-gender worlds
Encyclopedia
A relatively common motif in speculative fiction
is the existence of single gender worlds or single-sex societies. These fictional societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender
and gender-differences in science fiction
and fantasy. In the fictional setting, these societies often arise due to elimination of one gender through war or natural disasters and disease. The societies may be portrayed as utopia
n, particularly in feminist texts, or dystopian, as seen in pulp tales of oppressive matriarchies.
and continuing into some examples of feminist utopias. In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about, among other approaches, by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of technological or mystical method that allow female parthenogenic reproduction. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers. Several influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s; 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
. Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes, rather than separation. Female-only societies may be seen as an extreme type of a biased sex-ratio, another common SF theme.
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
.
Some lesbian separatist authors have used female-only societies to additionally posit that all women would be lesbians if having no possibility of sexual interaction with men, as in Ammonite
(1993) by Nicola Griffith
. The enormously influential The Female Man
(1975) and "When It Changed
" (1972) by Joanna Russ
portrayed a peaceful arable society of lesbians who resent the later intrusion of men, and a world in which women plan a genocidal war against men, implying that the utopian lesbian society is the result of this war.
During the pulp era, matriarchal dystopias were relatively common, in which female-only or female-controlled societies were shown unfavourably. In John Wyndham
's Consider Her Ways
(1956), male rule is shown as being repressive of women, but freedom from patriarchy is only possible in an authoritarian caste-based female-only society. Poul Anderson
, in "Virgin Planet" depicted a world where five castaway women found a way of reproducing asexually--but the daughter is an exact copy of the mother, with the result that eventually the planet has a large population composed entirely of "copies" of the original five. Among them, males are considered mythical creatures--and a man who lands on the planet after centuries of isolation finds it difficult to prove that he is one.
James Tiptree Jr., a bisexual woman writing secretly under a male pseudonym, explored the sexual impulse and gender as two of her main themes; in her award-winning "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
" (collected in Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
), she presents a female-only society after the extinction of men from disease. The society lacks stereotypically "male" problems such as war, but is stagnant. The women reproduce via cloning and consider men to be comical.
suggests this is 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.
Some examples include:
Ethan of Athos
by Lois Bujold, inspired by the real world male-only religious society of Mount Athos
, shows a world in which men have isolated their planet from the rest of civilisation to avoid the "corrupting" effect of women. Children are grown in uterine replicators.
A. Bertram Chandler
's "A Spartan Planet" features the men-only planet Sparta which is dedicated to the values of militarism loosely modeled upon the ancient Greek
city state of Sparta
http://www.amazon.com/Spartan-planet-Dell-Bertram-Chandler/dp/B000GZL9B8.
Cordwainer Smith
's short story "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal" portrays a society in which all of the women have died out.
Ursula K. Le Guin
's The Left Hand of Darkness
(1969) depicts a world in which individuals are neither "male" nor "female" but can have both male and female sexual organs and reproductive abilities, making them in some senses intersexual.
John Varley
, who also came to prominence in the 1970s, also often writes on gender-related themes. In his "Eight Worlds
" suite of stories (many collected in The John Varley Reader
) and novels, for example, humanity has achieved the ability to change sex at a whim. Homophobia is shown to initially inhibit uptake of this technology, as it engenders drastic changes in relationships, with homosexual sex becoming an acceptable option for all.
In Iain M. Banks's Culture series of novels and stories, humans can and do relatively easily (and reversibly) change sex.
of speculative fiction--physical separation can result in societies that are essentially single-gender, although the majority of such works focus on the reunification of the genders, or otherwise on links that remain between them, as with Sheri S. Tepper
's The Gate to Women's Country
, David Brin
's Glory Season
and Carol Emshwiller
's "Boys". Even an episode of Duckman
tried this.
Sometimes the segregation is social, and men and women interact to a limited extent. For example, when overpopulation drives the world away from heterosexuality in Charles Beaumont
's short story The Crooked Man (1955), first published in Playboy
, homosexuals oppress the heterosexual minority and relationships between men and women are made unlawful.
The Female Man
When It Changed
Herland
Consider Her Ways
Ammonite
Venus Plus X
The Left Hand of Darkness
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...
is the existence of single gender worlds or single-sex societies. These fictional societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
and gender-differences in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy. In the fictional setting, these societies often arise due to elimination of one gender through war or natural disasters and disease. The societies may be portrayed as utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n, particularly in feminist texts, or dystopian, as seen in pulp tales of oppressive matriarchies.
Female-only worlds
There is a long tradition of female-only places in literature and mythology, starting with the AmazonsAmazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
and continuing into some examples of feminist utopias. In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about, among other approaches, by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of technological or mystical method that allow female parthenogenic reproduction. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers. Several influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s; the most often studied examples include Joanna Russ's The Female Man, Suzy McKee Charnas
Suzy McKee Charnas
Suzy McKee Charnas is an American novelist and short story writer, writing primarily in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. She has won several awards for her fiction, including the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. A selection of her short fiction was collected...
's Walk to the End of the World and Motherlines, and Marge Piercy
Marge Piercy
Marge Piercy is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Gone to Soldiers, a sweeping historical novel set during World War II.-Biography:...
's Woman on the Edge of Time
Woman on the Edge of Time
Woman on the Edge of Time is a novel by Marge Piercy. It is considered a classic of utopian "speculative" science fiction as well as a feminist classic.-Plot summary:...
. Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes, rather than separation. Female-only societies may be seen as an extreme type of a biased sex-ratio, another common SF theme.
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
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all--a famous early sexless example being Herland
Herland (novel)
Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society composed entirely of women who reproduce via parthenogenesis . The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict and domination...
(1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform...
.
Some lesbian separatist authors have used female-only societies to additionally posit that all women would be lesbians if having no possibility of sexual interaction with men, as in Ammonite
Ammonite (novel)
Ammonite is Nicola Griffith's first novel, published in 1992 . It won both the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT fiction, and the James Tiptree, Jr...
(1993) by Nicola Griffith
Nicola Griffith
Nicola Griffith is a British science fiction author, editor and essayist. Griffith is a 1988 alumnus of the Michigan State University Clarion science fiction writing workshop and has won a Nebula Award, the James Tiptree, Jr Award, the World Fantasy Award and six Lambda Literary Awards. She also...
. The enormously influential The Female Man
The Female Man
The Female Man is a feminist science fiction novel written by Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975. Russ was an avid feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with her novels, short stories, and nonfiction works...
(1975) and "When It Changed
When It Changed
"When It Changed" is a science fiction short story by Joanna Russ. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story 1973, and won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1972. It was included in Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions....
" (1972) by Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny...
portrayed a peaceful arable society of lesbians who resent the later intrusion of men, and a world in which women plan a genocidal war against men, implying that the utopian lesbian society is the result of this war.
During the pulp era, matriarchal dystopias were relatively common, in which female-only or female-controlled societies were shown unfavourably. In John Wyndham
John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer who usually used the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes...
's Consider Her Ways
Consider Her Ways
Consider Her Ways is a 1956 science fiction novella by John Wyndham. It was published as part of a 1961 collection with some short stories called Consider Her Ways and Others .-Plot:...
(1956), male rule is shown as being repressive of women, but freedom from patriarchy is only possible in an authoritarian caste-based female-only society. Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
, in "Virgin Planet" depicted a world where five castaway women found a way of reproducing asexually--but the daughter is an exact copy of the mother, with the result that eventually the planet has a large population composed entirely of "copies" of the original five. Among them, males are considered mythical creatures--and a man who lands on the planet after centuries of isolation finds it difficult to prove that he is one.
James Tiptree Jr., a bisexual woman writing secretly under a male pseudonym, explored the sexual impulse and gender as two of her main themes; in her award-winning "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" is a novella by James Tiptree, Jr. . It won a Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1976 and a Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1977....
" (collected in Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever is a collection of Science fiction and fantasy stories by author James Tiptree, Jr.. It was released in 1990 by Arkham House...
), she presents a female-only society after the extinction of men from disease. The society lacks stereotypically "male" problems such as war, but is stagnant. The women reproduce via cloning and consider men to be comical.
Male-only worlds
Men-only societies are much less common than women-only societies. Joanna RussJoanna Russ
Joanna Russ was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny...
suggests this is 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.
Some examples include:
Ethan of Athos
Ethan of Athos
Ethan of Athos is an English language science fiction novel that is part of the Vorkosigan Saga by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. It is an unusual item in the series in that it does not feature Miles Vorkosigan, the protagonist of almost all the other books.The name "Athos" for the main...
by Lois Bujold, inspired by the real world male-only religious society of Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
, shows a world in which men have isolated their planet from the rest of civilisation to avoid the "corrupting" effect of women. Children are grown in uterine replicators.
A. Bertram Chandler
A. Bertram Chandler
Arthur Bertram Chandler was a British-Australian science fiction author. He also wrote under the pseudonyms George Whitley, George Whitely, Andrew Dunstan, and S.H.M....
's "A Spartan Planet" features the men-only planet Sparta which is dedicated to the values of militarism loosely modeled upon the ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
city state of Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
http://www.amazon.com/Spartan-planet-Dell-Bertram-Chandler/dp/B000GZL9B8.
Cordwainer Smith
Cordwainer Smith
Cordwainer Smith – pronounced CORDwainer – was the pseudonym used by American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger for his science fiction works. Linebarger was a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare...
's short story "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal" portrays a society in which all of the women have died out.
Genderless or hermaphroditic worlds
Some other fictional worlds feature societies in which everyone has more than one gender, or none, or can change gender. For example:Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
's The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness is a 1969 science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is part of the Hainish Cycle, a series of books by Le Guin all set in the fictional Hainish universe....
(1969) depicts a world in which individuals are neither "male" nor "female" but can have both male and female sexual organs and reproductive abilities, making them in some senses intersexual.
John Varley
John Varley (author)
John Herbert Varley is an American science fiction author.-Biography:Varley grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University on a National Merit Scholarship because, of the schools that he could afford, it...
, who also came to prominence in the 1970s, also often writes on gender-related themes. In his "Eight Worlds
Eight Worlds
Eight Worlds refers to a series of novels and short stories by John Varley, in which the solar system has been colonized by human refugees fleeing an alien invasion of the Earth. Earth and Jupiter are off-limits to humanity, but Earth's moon and the other worlds and moons of the solar system have...
" suite of stories (many collected in The John Varley Reader
The John Varley Reader
The John Varley Reader is a collection of 18 science fiction short stories by John Varley, first published in paperback in September 2004. It features 5 new stories...
) and novels, for example, humanity has achieved the ability to change sex at a whim. Homophobia is shown to initially inhibit uptake of this technology, as it engenders drastic changes in relationships, with homosexual sex becoming an acceptable option for all.
In Iain M. Banks's Culture series of novels and stories, humans can and do relatively easily (and reversibly) change sex.
Gender segregation
Segregation of genders is another relatively common tropeTrope (literature)
A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
of speculative fiction--physical separation can result in societies that are essentially single-gender, although the majority of such works focus on the reunification of the genders, or otherwise on links that remain between them, as with Sheri S. Tepper
Sheri S. Tepper
Sheri Stewart Tepper is an American author of science fiction, horror and mystery novels; she is particularly known as a feminist science fiction writer, often with an ecofeminist slant....
's The Gate to Women's Country
The Gate to Women's Country
The Gate to Women's Country is a post-apocalyptic novel by Sheri S. Tepper written in 1988. It describes a world set three hundred years into the future after a catastrophic war which has fractured the United States into several nations. The setting of the story is Women's Country, apparently in...
, David Brin
David Brin
Glen David Brin, Ph.D. is an American scientist and award-winning author of science fiction. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards.-Biography:...
's Glory Season
Glory Season
Glory Season is a 1993 science fiction novel by David Brin. It was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1994. An announcement in the back of one edition of Earth is for a novel titled "Stratos", to be released in Spring of 1992...
and Carol Emshwiller
Carol Emshwiller
Carol Emshwiller is an American writer of avant garde short stories and science fiction who has won prizes ranging from the Nebula Award to the Philip K. Dick Award. Ursula K...
's "Boys". Even an episode of Duckman
Duckman
Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man is an American animated sitcom that aired from 1994–1997, created by Everett Peck and developed by Peck. The sitcom is based on characters created by Peck in his Dark Horse comic...
tried this.
Sometimes the segregation is social, and men and women interact to a limited extent. For example, when overpopulation drives the world away from heterosexuality in Charles Beaumont
Charles Beaumont
Charles Beaumont was a prolific American author of speculative fiction, including short stories in the horror and science fiction subgenres. He is remembered as a writer of classic Twilight Zone episodes, such as "The Howling Man", "Miniature", and "Printer's Devil", but also penned the...
's short story The Crooked Man (1955), first published in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, homosexuals oppress the heterosexual minority and relationships between men and women are made unlawful.
Female worlds
Houston, Houston, Do You Read?Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" is a novella by James Tiptree, Jr. . It won a Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1976 and a Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1977....
The Female Man
The Female Man
The Female Man is a feminist science fiction novel written by Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975. Russ was an avid feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with her novels, short stories, and nonfiction works...
When It Changed
When It Changed
"When It Changed" is a science fiction short story by Joanna Russ. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story 1973, and won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1972. It was included in Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions....
Herland
Herland (novel)
Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society composed entirely of women who reproduce via parthenogenesis . The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict and domination...
Consider Her Ways
Consider Her Ways
Consider Her Ways is a 1956 science fiction novella by John Wyndham. It was published as part of a 1961 collection with some short stories called Consider Her Ways and Others .-Plot:...
Ammonite
Ammonite
Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct subclass within the Molluscan class Cephalopoda which are more closely related to living coleoids Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct...
Genderless or hermaphroditic worlds
WraeththuWraeththu
The Wraeththu are a sci-fi post-apocalyptic hermaphroditic species which evolved from humanity in the Wraeththu novels, created by British science fiction and fantasy author Storm Constantine.- Novel series :* The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit...
Venus Plus X
Venus Plus X
Venus Plus X is a science fiction novel written by Theodore Sturgeon, published in 1960. David Pringle included it in his book Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels....
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness is a 1969 science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is part of the Hainish Cycle, a series of books by Le Guin all set in the fictional Hainish universe....
See also
- Gender in speculative fiction
- Homosexuality in speculative fiction
- Sex and sexuality in speculative fiction
External links
- List of female/lesbian worlds at lesbiansciencefiction.com http://www.lesbiansciencefiction.com/LSFWorldbyAuth0001.html