One of the first (feminist) Utopian stories, "The Book of the City of Ladies"

In The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pisan imagines she is transported into another world, a world in which women have rights they never had before. Given the year she penned her story was 1405, some of her ideas of freedom are limited, but they were a step in a much bigger direction.

Pisan starts her story by recalling male-penned stories and articles, all with one thing in common: their negative view of women. As the criticism and outright derision happens so often, Pisan shares her confusion. Surely, all of the men with their view on women couldn’t be wrong, especially since men of 1405 were allowed higher education and women were not, therefore they were considered to be smarter. A large collection of intelligent men could not be wrong, Pisan believed. It is only later when Pisan meets the three Ladies (Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude, Lady Justice)  that she rationalizes their views as wrong, citing details as to why men believe women to be inherently stupid and immoral (men are jealous, men are blind). One of the Lady’s puts things into perspective for Pisan through use of comparison. Men believe Eve, the first woman, was evil and she poisoned the whole of women for every generation to come. If men believe women to be inherently evil, why is it they also believe education will corrupt women? How can women be corrupted further if they are born corrupt? Lady Reason sums it up for Pisan, “Here  you can clearly see that not all opinions of men are based on reason and that these men are wrong” (para. 2).

Other parts of Pisan’s story tell of inventions and advantages by women, and other causes of misogyny.

While Pisan’s allegories strive to understand equality for women, there is still a patronizing tone to them throughout, almost an echo of the patriarchy still holding Pisan (and all women) back. She spoke of equality and education for women, but at the same time, the tone of her writing suggested she could never imagine a woman not being defined as a “lady” and a man not be defined as a “gentleman”. In Pisan’s equal world, woman probably would be educated but under male-supervision, and she could probably not have imagined women carrying out roles men traditionally held, such as going to war, being doctors, lawyers, and scientists. Again, in 1405, women had very little rights, and it is arguable that Pisan’s story was realistic in its outlook. 

Women Can Be Strong, Peaceful, and Violent in Sally Gearheart's "The Wanderground"

Through a series of short stories, Gearheart tells the stories of the Hill Women. The Hill Women live in serene world, communing with nature at every turn. Their world seems to have reached the apex of peaceful living, until the reader learns why the women live in the forests: they are forced to. Men have taken over the cities, and control every facet of a woman’s life. The women that rebelled fled the cities and learned to live among the trees and animals. In doing so, they developed psychic abilities, like “speaking” with animals, astral projection, and telepathy to name a few.

While the comparisons between the Hill Women and Gilman’s Herlanders are strong, Gearheart brings realism to the Hill Women by depicting them in the throes of irrational, or even violent fits of anger. One thing which seems to be reiterated in feminist utopian fiction novels is the lack of physical violence in women, but Gearheart is not afraid to admit her peaceful characters are still human, and within their range of human emotions, anger can be counted among them. Russ and Tepper bring similar elements to their female characters in The Female Man and The Shore of Women. In both novels, the female characters are part of war-less societies, but they are still capable of individual acts of violence.

Gearheart, Sally. The Wanderground: Stories of Hill Women. New York: Alyson Books, 1978. Print.

Picture linked from:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wanderground-Sally-Miller-Gearhart-ebook/dp/B009XIDI4K

Feminism and Utopian Theory are Nearly Intangible (According to Frances Bartkowski)

Feminist Utopias
by Frances Bartkowski
Image linked from:
http://www.amazon.com/
Frances-Bartkowski/e/B001IOHA3M

In so many utopian analytic texts, the tone is one of a jaded scholar, one who relies heavily in Suvin’s famous science fiction description of “cognitive estrangement”. Estrangement is surely at the heart of utopian texts, and yet, Frances Bartkowski takes Suvin’s description and pairs it with a more optimistic view, an echo of Karen Horney’s tone in Feminist Psychology.

Bartkowski’s definition of utopia is taken from William Morris’s News from Nowhere, as she believes “utopia is anywhere but here and now. It is alternatively the good place (eutopos) and no place (outopos) […] which could also be anywhere” (4). Her view of utopia is unique, but succinct.

As the text is named Feminist Utopias, Bartkowski delves into feminism: “Feminism has done much to bring together the theoretical differences and similarities of the struggles among classes and between sexes” (13). She is leading the reader to her conclusion, her conclusion being that utopian and feminist theory have deeper ties than most people realize, as utopian theory strives to better the human condition overall, much like feminism.

Bartkowski goes further in her comparison, stating utopian theory and feminist theory to be nearly inseparable, if not identical. What she is really saying is feminist theory is the ideal (the utopian ideal) as it encompasses many utopian elements and more in its definition. Of non-feminist utopians, Bartkowski summarizes the women in the stories, and how the creators of the utopias merely “made a place for women only to mask oppression while imagining patriarchal utopias” (14). Several science fiction and utopian writers are mentioned throughout the text, like Suvin, Russ, Butler, Bloch, Bellamy, and more. The chapters are made up of two feminist utopian works Bartkowski contrasts, comparisons, and analyzes. She includes novels such as The Female Man, Woman on the Edge of Time, and Herland.

Bartkowski, Frances. Feminist Utopias. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. Print.

Twinja Book Reviews!

Ever notice how novels often leave out the multicultural side of life (particularly those in the fantasy and sf genre)? The gals at Twinja Book Reviews have noticed as well. The twin sisters have a site dedicated to featuring books with multicultural characters. I'm proud to say Cursed was reviewed by Twinja earlier this year.

Check out the book giveaway for Cursed featured on the Twinja Review website. There are 18 days left to enter and win either a paperback or e-copy. 

On 12/12/13, I'll be featured on the Twinja site with a Q&A!