>>Question: does anyone know of any feminist utopian works that don't
>>portray men or male institutions as "the problem"?
On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Kate Williams wrote:
> Octavia Butler is my answer to Judith. Now who else can I read while I'm
> waiting for her new book to come out?
It seems to me that almost by definition it is the role of utopian and
dystopian literature to react against the world as it currently is. Utopian
works simply emphasize how things can get better, whereas dystopian works
emphasize how things can get worse. Thus, since western civilization is
largely a result of male-dominated institutions and since a significant
percentage of the problems in western civilization are the result of
male violence, it would be hard to imagine a feminist work that wasn't
reacting against them.
Butler is less explicitly anti-male (or anti-male institutions) than some
feminist sf writers, but the critique of male institutions is still
there. In Xenogenesis, Parable of the Sower, and most of Butler's other
books violence usually comes from males, most often, though not always,
white males. In Suzy McKee Charnas's Motherlines and The Furies women
show themselves to be capable of violence too, but mostly due to their
willingness to copy male methods.
Perhaps the best (from a male perspective!) that can be hoped for is that
the author of a feminist utopia or dystopia will portray some men as
having overcome their conditioning and/or testosterone poisoning, as for
example in Woman on the Edge of Time, The Female Man, and Gate to Women's
Country, and Butler's books, all of which show a minority of men who are
decent human beings.
Mike Levy
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