Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction (abbreviated "SF") focused on theories that include but are not limited to gender inequality, sexuality, race, economics, and reproduction. Feminist SF is political because of its tendency to critique the dominant culture.

Future Citations:

Merrick, The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Scientific Feminisms

Yaszek, Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women's Science Fiction

The Ursula Le Guin Wiki Page

Larbalestier, The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction


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My New Paragraphs:

Feminist science fiction continues on into the 1980's with Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985), a dystopic tale of a theocratic society in which women have been systematically stripped of all liberty. The book was motivated by fear of potential retrogressive effects on women's rights. Sheri S. Tepper is most known for her series The True Game, which explore the Lands of the True Game, a portion of a planet explored by humanity somewhere in the future. In November 2015, she received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement for this series.[2][3] Tepper has written under several pseudonyms, including A. J. Orde, E. E. Horlak, and B. J. Oliphant.[4] Carol Emshwiller is another feminist SF author who's best known works are Carmen Dog (1988), The Mount (2002), and Mister Boots (2005). Emshwiller had also been writing SF for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction since 1974.[5] She won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2005 for her novel The Mount (2002).[6] This novel explores the prey/predator mentality through an alien race.[7] Another author of the 1980's, Pamela Sargent has written the "Seed Series", which included Earthseed, Farseed, and Seed Seeker (1983-2010), the "Venus Series" about the terraforming of Venus, which includes Venus of Dreams, Venus of Shadows, and Child of Venus (1986-2001), and The Shore of Women (1986). Sargent is also the 2012 winner of the Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to SF/F studies. Lois McMaster Bujold has won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for her novella The Mountains of Mourning, which is part of her series the "Vorkosigan Saga" (1986-2012). This saga includes points of view from a number of minority characters, and is also highly concerned with medical ethics, identity, and and sexual reproduction.

In the early 1990's, a new award opportunity for feminist SF authors was created. The James Tiptree, Jr. Award is an annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. Science fiction authors Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler initiated this subsequent discussion at WisCon in February 1991. The authors publishing in feminist SF after 1991 were now eligible for an award named after one of the genre's beloved authors. Karen Joy Fowler herself is considered a feminist SF writer for her short stories, such as "What I Didn't See", for which she received the Nebula Award in 2004. This story is a homage Alice Sheldon, and describes an gorilla hunting expedition in Africa. Pat Murphy won a number of awards for her feminist SF novels as well. For her second novel The Falling Woman (1986), a tale of personal conflict and visionary experiences set during an archeological field study for which she won the Nebula Award in 1988. She won another Nebula Award in the same year for her novella, "Rachel in Love". Her short story collection, "Points of Departure" (1990) won the Philip K. Dick Award, and her 1990 novella "Bones" won the World Fantasy Award in 1991.[8]

Other winners of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award include "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell (1996), "Black Wine" by Candas Jane Dorsey (1997), Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (2011)[9], The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan (2012), "The Carhullan Army" by Sarah Hall (2007), Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (1993), and "The Conqueror's Child" by Suzy McKee Charnas (1999). All of these authors have had an important impact in the SF world by adding a feminist perspective to the traditionally male genre.

Eileen Gunn's science fiction short story "Coming to Terms" received the Nebula Award in the United States (2004) and the Sense of Gender Award in Japan (2007), and has twice been nominated for the Hugo Award, Philip K. Dick Award and World Fantasy Award, and short-listed for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. Her most popular anthology of short stories is Questionable Practices, which includes stories "Up the Fire Road" and "Chop Wood, Carry Water". She also edited "The WisCon Chronicles 2: Provocative Essays on Feminism, Race, Revolution, and the Future" with L. Timmel Duchamp. [10] Duchamp has been known in the feminist SF community for her first novel Alanya to Alanya (2005), the first of a series of five titled "The Marq’ssan Cycle". Alanya to Alanya is set on a near-future earth controlled by a male-dominated ruling class patterned loosely after the corporate world of today. Duchamp has also published a number of short stories, and is an editor for Aqueduct Press. Lisa Goldstein's novel Dark Rooms (2007) is one of her better known works, and another of her novels The Uncertain Places won the Mythopoeic Award for Best Adult Novel in 2012.

  1. ^ This early 20th century discussion infers what is regarded as the plasma state. See page 137 of American Chemical Society, Faraday Society, Chemical Society (Great Britain) The Journal of physical chemistry, Volume 11 Cornell (1907).
  2. ^ "Locus Online News » World Fantasy Awards Winners 2015". www.locusmag.com. Retrieved 2015-11-14.
  3. ^ "World Fantasy Convention 2015 -- Life Achievement Awards". www.wfc2015.org. Retrieved 2015-11-14.
  4. ^ {{Cite web|title = isfdb science fiction » Sheri S. Tepper - Summary Bibliography|url = http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?173
  5. ^ "Emshwiller, Carol". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Emshwiller, Carol". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  7. ^ Robert Freeman Wexler interviews Carol Emshwiller, "Emshwiller Interview" Laconic Writer, posted: Jan 19th 2010, accessed: Jun 6th, 2010
  8. ^ World Fantasy Convention. "Award Winners and Nominees". Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  9. ^ "2011 Tiptree Award Winner announced". James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  10. ^ Gunn, edited by L.Timmel Duchamp & Eileen (2007). The WisCon chronicles. provocative essays on feminism, race, revolution, and the future. Seattle, WA: Aqueduct Press. ISBN 1933500204. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |first1= has generic name (help)