This piece in The Guardian discusses the origins of feminist SF and some of the most influential feminist SF utopias. The author, Naomi Alderman (a feminist SF writer herself), also grapples with the utopian/dystopian divide. She writes that “Every utopia contains a dystopia. Every dystopia contains a utopia.” Her novel, The Power, imagines a world where women acquire the power to electrocute others and they use this new power as men use their less explicit, but still as frightening power in our society. The women choose to use this power for violence and play, against men and women alike. When asked if her novel is dystopic, Alderman says “only if you’re a man.” This answer makes you think: if a world where women have this power (that is meant to mimic the powers and privileges men have in our world) is dystopic for men, then isn’t our current world dystopic for women? I appreciated Alderman’s discussion of The Handmaid’s Tale in this article as well. She hits on the part of Atwood’s masterpiece (and its TV adaptation) that has disturbed me since the first time I opened the novel in high school: it is all too real. It is all entirely possible. It has all happened before. I found this article to be a very interesting and insightful commentary on feminist SF. It forced me to think about how a utopia for one is always a dystopia for another. Furthermore, it added a few titles to my reading list that I’m excited to get to (The Power, The Female Man, “The Matter of Sergei”).
Yes… and wow is The Handmaid’s Tale tough to read/watch. All too real, indeed. This is where SF is exactly the opposite of the “escapist literature” people sometimes describe it as. Have you watched Black Mirror?
I’ve only watched a few episodes of Black Mirror, but open to more episode recs (or the whole show) if you have them!
I’d recommend
White Christmas
San Junipero
Hang the DJ
Black Museum
Smithereens
San Junipero is one of the few episodes I’ve seen and I love it! I will definitely check those other ones out.