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megapolisomancy's review
3.0
An early (1989) examination of the usefulness of sf to feminist writers, this book provides an interesting overview/call to arms, but the whole thing feels slightly flat and shallow: it's split into two parts, one grouped into thematic chapters and the other divided by focus on specific authors (Tiptree, Le Guin, Charnas, Russ), but each section is only about 100 pages, and the chapters in the former tend toward scantiness: "The Reduction of Women: Dystopias," for example, clocks in at an impressively slight 5 pages.
That said, though, Lefanu does make a compelling argument for the use of science fiction, such a traditionally masculinist stronghold, for feminist works, due to the genre's basis in "skeptical rationalism." This is what makes a work "feminist sf" instead of "feminized sf" in Lefanu's reading: rather than simply featuring a strong woman protagonist, feminist works of sf apply this skepticism to the social construction of gender and patriarchal culture (Lefanu's point here also revolves around form-beyond-the-traditional-novel-narrative in addition to content, but she never really makes that argument convincingly, I don't think). This is a very constrictive definition, clearly, but one that I think makes clear what exactly could be accomplished by applying a feminist lens to science fiction.
That said, though, Lefanu does make a compelling argument for the use of science fiction, such a traditionally masculinist stronghold, for feminist works, due to the genre's basis in "skeptical rationalism." This is what makes a work "feminist sf" instead of "feminized sf" in Lefanu's reading: rather than simply featuring a strong woman protagonist, feminist works of sf apply this skepticism to the social construction of gender and patriarchal culture (Lefanu's point here also revolves around form-beyond-the-traditional-novel-narrative in addition to content, but she never really makes that argument convincingly, I don't think). This is a very constrictive definition, clearly, but one that I think makes clear what exactly could be accomplished by applying a feminist lens to science fiction.
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