Joel VanLaven wrote:
> Perhaps we can tentatively characterize a Feminist Dystopia, then,
> as a work that warns of the potential sexist and otherwise harmful
> consequences of Traditional or Feminist Utopian thought, and critiques a
> particular set of Traditional or Feminist social, political, and moral
> theories by depicting a future in which these theoretical assumptions
> ground the systemic oppression of one sex by the other.
> Judith
The question is how to classify a thought-experiment like Tepper's
_Gate_to_Women's_Country_ or David Brin's _Glory_Season_ that presents a
utopian world and critiques it without putting it in the realm of a
dystopia? After all, I would think that _Handmaid's_Tale_ might be a
feminist dystopia, but neither of the above comes even close to being
similar to that book.
-- Joel VanLaven
**** My (Judith) Reply:
I haven't yet read Brin, but disagree that the society (actually
three societies: Warrior's Garrison, Women's Country, Holyland) presented
in Tepper's GTWC is a Utopia. The ultimate aim of the leaders of WC might
be to create a utopia (world without oppression, violence, and war) but the
institutional means they have designed to achieve that end are quite
dystopic. One example-- Periodic killing of the warriors through concocted
'wars' with other garrisons counts, for me, as systemic oppression of one
sex (male) by the other (female). The whole Garrison-WC set up, after all,
was designed by the female founder of WC to test for and then eliminate
aggressive males. This is not to say that Tepper views the work as a
critique of Utopian non-violence. In fact, I'd argue that she presents WC
machinations as 'necessary'; there's plenty of textual evidence for this.
This controversy (Is GTWC a utopia or a dystopia) is part of what makes
GTWC so very interesting, of course.
*********
Joel VanLaven wrote:
> What is a Feminist Utopia? Sally Miller Gearhart sets out four
> characteristics of Feminist Utopian literature: it "a. contrasts the
> present with an envisioned idealized society (separated from the present by
> time or space); b. offers a comprehensive critique of present
> values/conditions; c. sees men or male institutions as a major cause of
> present social ills; and d. presents women not only as at least the equals
> of men but also as the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions." In
> any case, conditions of full equality between the sexes must hold in a
> Feminist Utopian society.
Ack. I have problems with that definition. Certainly some feminist
utopias see men as "the problem." However, any feminist utopia that
includes men with the same biology as they currently have in percentages
similar to the current day must not take that position. Why not a much
simpler definition? How about:
Presents an idealized society which has as an integral, necessary part
gender roles that do not put men above women.
Another possible requirement is that this society is presented as
reasonable for beings "essentially" human.
****** My (Judith) Reply:
I don't agree with either Booker's definition of 'Dystopia' or
Gearhart's definition of 'Feminist Utopia', but haven't come up with
anything much better. It does seem, however, that if not individual men or
men as a group, then at least those "male institutions", which overtly or
covertly inculcate and celebrate misogyny, ARE the major cause of sexual
inequality.
Question: Does anyone know of any feminist utopian works that
don't portray men or male institutions as "the problem"?
Question: How should 'Feminist Utopia' and 'Feminist Dystopia' be
defined?
Judith
*************************************************************************
Dr. Judith Ann Little Philosophy Department SUNY-Potsdam
Potsdam, NY 13676-2294 littleja@potsdam.edu
***********************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:02 PDT