Single-gender Worlds
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Single-gender Worlds
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.Attebery 2002, p. 13. Many of these predate a widespread distinction between gender and sex and conflate the two. In the fictional setting, these societies often arise due to elimination of one sex through war or natural disasters and disease.Bartter 2004, "Momutes", Robin Anne Reid, p. 101. The societies may be portrayed as utopian or dystopian, as seen in pulp tales of oppressive matriarchies. Women-only worlds There is a long tradition of female-only places in literature and mythology, starting with the Amazons and continuing into some examples of feminist utopias. In speculative fiction, women-only worlds have been imagined to come about, among other approaches, by the action of disease that wipes out men, a ...
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Speculative Fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or other imaginative realms. This catch-all genre includes, but is not limited to: fantasy, science fiction, science fantasy, superhero fiction, superhero, paranormal fiction, paranormal, supernatural fiction, supernatural, horror fiction, horror, alternate history, magical realism, slipstream genre, slipstream, weird fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, utopia and dystopia, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. In other words, the genre speculates on individuals, events, or places beyond the ordinary real world. The term ''speculative fiction'' has been used for works of literature, film, Television show, television, drama, video games, Radio drama, radio, and hybrid media. Speculative versus realistic fiction The umbrella genre of ...
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Virgin Planet
Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof, vary. Heterosexuals may or may not consider loss of virginity to occur only through penile–vaginal penetration, while people of other sexual orientations often include oral sex, anal sex, or manual sex in their definitions of virginity loss. The term "virgin" encompasses a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern, and ethical concepts. Religious rituals for regaining virginity exist in many cultures. Some men and women who practice celibacy after losing their virginity consider themselves born-again virgins. There are cultural and religious traditions that place special value and significance on this state, predominantly towards unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honour, and worth. Like chas ...
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The Female Man
''The Female Man'' is a feminist science fiction novel by American writer Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975 by Bantam Books. Russ was an ardent feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with her novels, short stories, and nonfiction works. These works include '' We Who Are About To...'', " When It Changed", and ''What Are We Fighting For?: Sex, Race, Class, and the Future of Feminism''. The novel follows the lives of four women living in parallel universes which differ in time and place. The women visit each other's worlds and are startled by the different views on gender roles and social conventions surrounding women and womanhood. Their encounters influence them to reevaluate their lives and redefine what it means to be a woman. The title of the novel comes from the character Joanna, who transforms into a "female man" in order to be respected and seen beyond her sex. A "female man" is a woman with a man's mind, her body and s ...
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Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) 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''. She is best known for '' The Female Man'', a novel combining utopian fiction and satire, and the story " When It Changed". Background Joanna Russ was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Evarett I. and Bertha (née Zinner) Russ, both teachers. Her family was Jewish. She began creating works of fiction at a very early age. Over the following years she filled countless notebooks with stories, poems, comics and illustrations, often hand-binding the material with thread. As a senior at William Howard Taft High School, Russ was selected as one of the top ten Westinghouse Science Talent Search winners. She graduated from Cornell University, wh ...
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Utopian
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island society in the New World. Hypothetical utopias focus on, among other things, equality in categories such as economics, government and justice, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying according to ideology. Lyman Tower Sargent argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not homogeneous and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. To quote: The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia. Utopian and dystopian fiction has become a popular literary category. Despite being common parlance for something imaginary, utopianism inspired and was inspired by some reality-based fields and concepts such as architecture, file sharing, social networks, universal ...
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Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in feminist theory to describe a broader social structure in which men as a group dominance hierarchy, dominate society. Sociobiologists compare human gender roles to sexed behavior in other primates and argue that gender inequality originates from genetic and reproductive differences between men and women. Patriarchal ideology explains and rationalizes patriarchy by attributing gender inequality to inherent Gender essentialism, natural differences between men and women, divine commandment, or other fixed structures. Social constructionists sociologists tend to disagree with biological explanations of patriarchy and contend that socialization processes are primarily responsible for establishing gender roles, they further argue that gender roles ...
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Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
''Her Smoke Rose Up Forever'' is a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories by American author James Tiptree, Jr. It was originally released in 1990 by Arkham House, in an edition of 4,108 copies and was the author's second book published by Arkham House. It was later released to a wider audience in paperback form in 2004 from Tachyon Publications. Contents ''Her Smoke Rose Up Forever'' contains the following stories: # "Introduction" by John Clute # The Green Hills of Earth #* "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain" (1969)included in '' Warm Worlds and Otherwise'' (1975) #* " The Screwfly Solution" (1977)included in '' Out of the Everywhere and Other Extraordinary Visions'' (1981) # The Boundaries of Humanity #* " And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" (1972)included in '' Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home'' (1973) #* " The Girl Who Was Plugged In" (1973) #* "The Man Who Walked Home" (1972) #* "And I Have Come Upon This Place By Lost Ways" (1972) # Male and Fema ...
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Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
''Houston, Houston, Do You Read?'' is a novella by James Tiptree Jr. (pseudonym of Alice Sheldon). It won a Nebula Award for Best Novella and a Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1977. The novella first appeared in the anthology '' Aurora: Beyond Equality'', edited by Vonda N. McIntyre and Susan J. Anderson, published by Fawcett in May 1976. It was subsequently reprinted several times (amongst others in the James Tiptree collections '' Star Songs of an Old Primate'' in 1978 and '' Her Smoke Rose Up Forever'' in 1990) and in 1989 was published in a Tor Doubles mass market paperback (number eleven in that series) with the flipside novella "Souls" by Joanna Russ. Plot summary The story is narrated in the third person from the point of view of Dr. Orren Lorimer, the science officer of the spaceship ''Sunbird'', which is sent on a circumsolar mission at some time in the last two decades of the twentieth century. It is a three-man mission, the other two men being the commander, Major Nor ...
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James Tiptree Jr
Alice Bradley Sheldon, better known as James Tiptree Jr. (born Alice Hastings Bradley; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987), was an American science fiction and fantasy author. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a pen name of a woman, which she used from 1967 until her death. From 1974 to 1985, she also occasionally used the pen name Raccoona Sheldon. Tiptree was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012. Tiptree's debut story collection, '' Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home'', was published in 1973 and her first novel, ''Up the Walls of the World'', was published in 1978. Her other works include the 1973 novelette " The Women Men Don't See", the 1974 novella " The Girl Who Was Plugged In", the 1976 novella " Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", the 1985 novel ''Brightness Falls from the Air'', and the 1974 short story "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever". Early life, family and education Alice Hastings Bradley came from a family in the intellectual ...
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Edmund Cooper
Edmund Cooper (30 April 1926 – 11 March 1982) was an English poet and prolific writer of speculative fiction, romances, technical essays, several detective stories, and a children's book. These were published under his own name and several pen names. Biography Born in Marple, near Stockport, Cheshire, Cooper left school at the age of 15. In 1942 he became engaged at 16 to a teacher four years older than he was, and married her four years later on 13 April 1946.Hans Joachim Alpers, Werner Fuchs, Ronald Hahn: ''Reclams Science-Fiction-Führer''. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1982, p. 106 He worked as a labourer, then a civil servant, and in 1944 he joined the Merchant Navy.Edmund Cooper's Biography, by Joe Smith
After the war he trained as a teacher, and began to publish verse, then sho ...
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William Moulton Marston
William Moulton Marston (May 9, 1893 – May 2, 1947), also known by the pen name Charles Moulton (), was an American psychologist who, with his wife Elizabeth Holloway, invented an early prototype of the polygraph. He was also known as a self-help author and comic book writer who created the character Wonder Woman. Two women, his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and their polyamorous life partner, Olive Byrne, greatly influenced Wonder Woman's creation. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006. Biography Early life and career Marston was born in the Cliftondale section of Saugus, Massachusetts, the son of Annie Dalton (née Moulton) and Frederick William Marston. Marston was educated at Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and receiving his B.A. in 1915, an LL.B. in 1918, and a PhD in psychology in 1921. While a student at Harvard, Marston sold his first script, ''The Thief'', to filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché, who directed the film in 1913. After tea ...
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Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comics'' #1 in January 1942. She was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton (choreographer), Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter in 1941. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being his inspiration for the character's appearance. She is one of the first DC superheroes and is one of the strongest superheroes of all time. The ''Wonder Woman (comic book), Wonder Woman'' title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously ever since. In her homeland, the island nation of Themyscira (DC Comics), Themyscira, her official title is Princess Diana of Themyscira. When blending into the society outside her homelan ...
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