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Vicki League
Farrah Cato
Independent Study
9 December 2014
Feminist Speculative Fiction: A Reflection of the Woman's Experience
Introduction
Scholars have shown that speculative fiction can reflect reality and
that feminist literature can be used as a means to effect change, but few
have drawn connections between the conditions of women in our world and
the conditions of women in speculative fiction worlds and contemplated what
these parallels mean. There is little research about the ways that feminist
speculative fiction serves as an exploration and reflection of gendered
rhetoric in society and highlights the womans experience by showing the
negative effects of gender roles and the gender binary. Scholars have shown
that speculative fiction can reflect reality and that feminist literature,
including speculative fiction, can be used as a means to effect change, but
few have drawn connections between the conditions of women in our world
and the conditions of women in speculative fiction worlds and contemplated
what these parallels mean. This paper will analyze two speculative fiction
(SF) novels through a feminist lens to investigate and understand the critical
commentary about the reality of our world and its unequal nature in regards
to gender.
The relationship between fiction and truth is a debatable topic and
scholars from various fields have different understandings of it. It is not

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difficult to find philosophical scholars arguing that fiction cannot possibly
contain truth as fiction, by definition, centers around make-believe stories.1
(see Lamarque and Olsen). However, many literature and fiction scholars
argue that these false stories contain information about the truths of our
world for various reasons and by various methods. This paper agrees that
fiction contains certain degrees of realism and real-world reflection that
prompt connections and understandings by and for the reader. As Debra
Benita Shaw says in her book Women, Science and Fiction: The Frankenstein
Inheritance, the best way to read fictional texts is to see the very real
conditions for which they are metaphors (179). Realism, even if it is only
present in small portions, is why fiction is important and can change how
readers view the world (MacKay 14).
Feminism is defined by Merriam-Webster as the theory of the political,
economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminist texts seek, no matter
on what grounds and by what means, to end the subordination of women
(Felski 13). Fiction gives feminist writers a way to discuss and analyze the
framework surrounding a womans life by applying general themes and
experiences faced by all women to a fictional world with the intention of
highlighting certain aspects that the writer wants to discuss with the reader
and with the larger discourse surrounding the single text. Writers trying to
raise awareness about feminism and influence others with a text would
naturally gravitate toward formats that can reach a wider audience: one
1 See Lamarque and Olsen.

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option is genre fiction, which possesses a wide and varied readership and
can include SF as a subcategory (Cranny-Francis 2). By nature, SF is a widely
debated topic with no clear consensus for a definition (Canavan and Ward
238). SF is an umbrella term that can include a variety of other subgenres
that are more commonly known, like fantasy, science fiction, and magical
realism. Perhaps the easiest, yet potentially vaguest, definition of SF is that it
is fiction that speculates and causes speculation. Women choose to write SF
tales because SF offers freedom: freedom to discuss, freedom to criticize,
and freedom to reimagine. SF as a genre offers women a language [that]
enables the expression of radical and feminist ideas that otherwise cannot
be conveyed (Makinen 145), a language that makes use of fantastical
metaphors and stories to tell truths.
Speculative Fiction

By nature, speculative fiction is a widely debated topic with no clear

consensus for a definition (Canavan and Ward 238). Speculative fiction is an
umbrella term that can include a variety of other subgenres that are more
commonly known, like fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism. Perhaps
the easiest, yet potentially vaguest, definition of SF is that it is fiction that
speculates and causes speculation.
Speculation about what? Some may argue that SF speculates upon the
future and other worlds and is therefore unrealistic, but many argue that SF
actually speculates upon reality because it imagines the future and things
that could potentially happen. In her novel The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula

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LeGuin explains that all fiction is metaphor. Science fiction is metaphor
(xviii). These texts use elaborate, fantastical stories to tell truths that cannot
be said clearly and accurately in words. SF writers are not trying to tell the
reader what the future might be; instead, all they can tell the reader is what
they know and what they have seen by observing reality (LeGuin xv). Even
though these stories are very different from the reality we see around us,
they allow the reader to step back from, and thus offer a critical perspective
on, her present (Shaw 2). This critical perspective can have a social or
political purpose (Shaw 2), which becomes even stronger and clearer when
feminism is brought into the novel. SF has revolutionary potential because
of its structural premise to question things-as-they-are (Makinen 139), and
is the perfect vehicle for feminist discourse to show the inequalities that
women face. Women choose to write SF tales because SF offers freedom:
freedom to discuss, freedom to criticize, and freedom to reimagine. SF as a
genre offers women a language [that] enables the expression of radical and
feminist ideas that otherwise cannot be conveyed (Makinen 145), a
language that makes use of fantastical metaphors and stories to tell truths.
Writers are able to question the status quo of patriarchal society and provide
critical commentary on the ways that women have to live. Readers must ask
themselves what they can learn from reading feminist SF novels in relation to
our world, its truths, and its possibilities.

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Case Studies
To show how feminist speculative fiction reflects contains aspects of
realism that reflect on our world by discussing other worlds, this paper will
look at two different texts as case studies. Although these texts were written
thirty to forty years ago, Ttheyir examinations ofe current societal structures
and norms surrounding gender through are still relevant today. By
speculating on the here and now by imagining the future consequences
and projecting seemingly unconnected future realities that could logically
follow if our world remains as is (Cranny-Francis 68),, these texts and by
presenting entirely different worlds seemingly unconnected to ours to
provide a commentary and critique on the patriarchal structures of our world
and the inequalities caused by the gender binary.
Joanna Russs The Female Man
The Female Man is driven by Joanna Russs desire to engage the
reader in a consideration of patriarchy and the damage it does on women
more than a desire to tell a story for the sake of telling a story (Makinen
155). Many passages and events are paired with Russs textual aggression
towards patriarchy as a way to further the storyline, and Russ uses
caricature and invective to delineate the normal mid-Western relationships
between men and women in the 1970s, which are still common today and
easily recognizable (Makinen 154). Some may note that the novel is
outdated, but Russs novel still holds relevance for female readers because

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many things about societys rules for women have not changed as much as
readers might expect.
The novel follows four women: Jeannine and Joanna, who live in various
versions of 1975; Janet, who lives in a world without men; and Jael, who is
from a world where the split between genders led to warfare and has
become geographical. Their lives converge and overlap, leading to
interactions that highlight gender inequality. Each character embodies
different aspects of womens existence and can draw the readers attention
to Russs critiques.
Jeannine essentially symbolizes the ideal woman in the eyes of the
patriarchy. She is focused on finding a man and settling down with him to
start a family and live as a dutiful wife. Jeannine ends up depressed from a
lack of ability to fulfill the typical female role of falling in love, getting
married, having kids, and taking care of her home; instead, she pines away
for men. Through Jeannines character, the reader readers can see the
epitome of the patriarchyspatriarchal expectations for women and how this
affects women. When Jeannine visits her family, the narrator tells her, You
dont want to be a dried-up old spinster at forty but thats what you will be if
you go on like this. Youre twenty-nine. Youre getting old. You ought to marry
someone who can take care of you, JeannineIts all right to do that; youre
a girl (Russ 114). Jeannine is supposed to end up married and be supported
by a man, because she is a girl and needs a man to take care of her.
Further showing the gender roles, the narrator describes Alternately,

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Jeannines brother ias a firm, steady man who makes a good living for his
wife and children, and his wife as a woman who wants nothing more in the
world than her husband and her little boy and girl (Russ 113). This couple
demonstrates exactly what each gender is supposed to do and what
Jeannines future should look like. These two quotes also scold Jeannine, who
knows she is not fulfilling her role in society and becomes upset at her
failure. She spends much of her time lying around, bemoaning her fate, and
altogether not enjoying life.
Jeannines behavior also reflects how a woman should act: She
pauses, catching sight of herself in the wall mirror: flushed, eyes sparkling,
her hair swept back as if by some tumultuous storm, her whole face glowing.
The lines of her figure are perfect, but who is to use all this loveliness, who is
to recognize it? (Russ 109). Jeannine tries to achieve the ideal feminine
beauty and look the way men want her to look. Her goal is to attract a man,
thus centering everything in her life around men and eventual marriage.
Joanna, previously ensnared in the same patriarchal trap as Jeannine, notes
that she used to spend my whole day combing my hair and putting on
make-up...all I did was dress for The Man, smile for The Man, talk wittily to
The Man, sympathize with The Man, flatter The Man, understand The Man,
defer to The Man, entertain The Man, keep The Man, live for The Man (Russ
29). Jeannine, for the majority of the novel, spends her time doing exactly
these things.

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When Jeannine is with her boyfriend, she feels unable to discuss things
because hell say shes nattering again; worse still, it would sound pretty
silly; you cant expect a man to listen to everything (as everybodys Mother
said) (Russ 108), degrading her own voice and elevating a mans attention
above the topics and ideas that she wishes to share. She attributes this
knowledge to her own mother, showing that women are raised to think of
men as superior. Another character, Laura, discusses the construction of
gender roles and gender superiority from childhood, venting her frustration
about being denied her goals and dreams because they werent feminine
enough. She sarcastically explains: Everyone knows that much as women
want to be scientists and engineers, they want foremost to be womanly
companions to men (what?) and caretakers of childhood (Russ 60). This is,
supposedly, an inherent truth, a role that women are supposed to embrace.
As her therapist says, Men make the decisions and women make the
dinners (Russ 67), delegating each person to their specific role that they
have been taught since childhood. No deviation is allowed; yet still, Laura
wants to be more than just a woman.
Joanna tries to achieve the transcendence of woman, becoming what
she calls the female man. She aims to do exactly what Laura was always
taught not to do: inherit male roles and achieve the successes that only men
are allowed to achieve. In her book Feminist Popular Fiction, Merja Makinen
notes that Joannas choice of identifying as a female man allows her to
assum[e] the nominal title of man [and]inhabit all the positive binary

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constructions within the culture (155). In her description of her
transformation, Joanna explains that she became a man by first becoming
completely female, learning what it means to be female. One of her sections
shows the mans idea of female: You really are sweet and responsive after
all. Youve kept your femininity. Youre not one of those hysterical feminist
bitches who wants to be a man and have a penis. Youre a woman (Russ
94), placing female as completely opposed to male. To merge the two,
Joanna then embraces traditionally non-female roles to become a female
man and inhabit the world of men as a woman.
Existing as a woman in the workplace meant that Joanna had been
neuter, not a woman at all but One Of The Boys, yet still objectified by her
body. If you get good at being One Of The Boys [the objectification] goes
awayI suppose they decided that my tits were not of the best kind, or not
real, or that they were someone elses, so they split me from the neck up
(Russ 133). It was impossible for her to exist as a woman in a professional
space; either she did not fit in, or had to dissociate parts of herself to be
accepted. Makinen agrees, saying that women are trying to ignore their sex
in order to be treated equally, butthey are turned into a negative
construction of femininity by male denigration (155). Once women fit in the
workplace, they lose their femininity and are therefore not true women,
which is undesirable. After Joanna reworked herself to remain female yet
occupy male roles, she had a different view of men and the world: For years
I have been saying Let me in, Love me, Approve me, Define me, Regulate

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me, Validate me, Support me. Now I say Move over (Russ 140). Instead of
tailoring her needs and decisions around the opinions of men, she creates
her own space to be successful by her own definitions. Using the label the
female man puts her in a unique place that is neither traditionally male nor
female and allows her to move among the ranks of men.
While Joanna is able to do this and be successful, the gender binary
does not allow two-way movement. Jeannine describes her boyfriend as
such a baby and finds it pathetic that when he does it [sex], you know,
sometimes he cries. I never heard of a man doing that (Russ 83). When he
crosses the gender line by crying, Jeannine is disgusted and concerned. If he
does not behave like a man, then there must be something wrong with him.
She even notes that sometimes he likes to get dressed upIs that what
they call transvestism? (Russ 83). Behaving like a woman and wanting to
look like a woman is completely wrong for men in our society; a man trying
to move across the gender binary is unacceptable. This double standard of
gender fluidity is a side effect of the patriarchy because it paints women as
weak and pathetic, and when a supposedly strong man demonstrates those
qualities, he is ridiculed, especially by other men. A woman like Joanna
moving into a more man-like state is at least acceptable in the sense that
she can still function in the workplace and achieve recognition and success,
while Jeannines boyfriend would never receive respect for his womanly
behavior.

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Jael, the fourth major character, exists among men and sometimes as
man, but in an entirely different way than Joanna. In her world, men and
women occupy separate sides of the planet, the culmination of unequal
gender roles and expectations turned into warfare. The Manlanders and
Womanlanders, as they are called, hardly see each other due to their
separation. The Manlanders, without women, cannot have children. Instead,
they buy infants from the Womanlanders and bring them up in batches,
save for the rich few who can order children made from their very own
semen (Russ 167). All of the purchased infants are male, and if they grow up
deciding that they do not want to be a man, they can become changed by
body modifications or half-changed if they decide too late in life for
modifications. These changed and half-changed function as women in the
society, used for sex and domestic activities. The narrator notes sarcastically
that the half-changed are weak and cant protect themselves; what do you
think femininity is all about? (Russ 172), reminding the reader and the
characters that the patriarchy places women and non-men in a very specific
role and that being like a woman is bad. Without women around them, the
men Manlanders have fallen even further into degrading women.
Jael is an assassin who targets high-rank enemy Manlandersmen, but
she also specializes in portraying men and occupying their roles as a spy or
infiltrator. She has a high status within the Wwomaenlanders and is thus
granted fairly free movement among enemy troops and higher-ups, none of
whom know that she is usually among them as an assassin. Jael describes

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her situation: I come and go as I please. I do only what I want. I have
wrestled myself through to an independence of mind that has ended by
bringing all of you here today. In short, I am a grown woman (Russ 187). The
freedom she has is the freedom that men are afforded in our world; a grown
woman here would rarely describe herself in such a manner. Jael is able to
inhabit a traditionally male role, which shows the gap between what women
can achieve and what men can achieve.
In addition to being able to move around with the freedom of a man,
she revels in her ability to destroy men and maintain her power over them,
almost reversing patriarchal standards by placing herself as the oppressor in
her extreme hatred of men. After one of the other characters asks her if it
was necessary to kill a male leader in her signature violent manner, she
says, I dont give a damn whether it was necessary or notI liked it (Russ
184), and as a narrator explains that theres no doing business with them;
you have to kill them anyway, might as well have fun (Russ 182). Her
attitude toward the life of men Manlanders exaggeratedly mirrors the disdain
and disrespect men have for women. Russ presents this as a poor alternative
to the patriarchy it is still dangerous and unequal, and Jaels all-consuming
rage and justifications for her actions are neither healthy nor productive.
Instead, her situation and planet prove the need for equality rather than a
reversal of the patriarchy that would place women at the top. Makinen
addresses this in her analysis: The narrative [of Jael's role reversal of the
male world leader], aided by [Jeannine, Janet, and Joannas] horror,

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problematizes the issues of role reversal as an effective feminist strategy,
whilst bitterly explaining the attraction of such a course (153).
Unlike everyone elses worlds, Janets world, Whileaway, has no men at
all. Their technology is advanced enough that women do not need men to
reproduce, and society has been moving smoothly for the centuries without
men: there have been no men on Whileaway for at least eight centuries I
don't mean no human beings, of course, but no men (Russ 9). The official
reason is that a disease killed all of the men on the planet, and that words
like men are no longer in use, although Jael argues that Janets people
eliminated all men themselves, possibly as a conclusion to the warfare in her
own world. Janets world brings up an entirely new view of patriarchy and
other problems with gender and sexuality. Janet is allowed to do all of the
things that men traditionally do because there are no men there to occupy
those roles or tell her that she cannot do them. Women have choices and
freedom, which brings the reader to realize that there are not as many
choices and freedoms in our world. Janet can be both masculine and
feminine and both are expected and acceptable; in our world, the genders
are divided and crossing that boundary brings ridicule.
On Whileaway, even without men, love still exists. Women love women
and form relationships and families based off this love. This brings up the
question of lesbianism and its implications. When Janet meets with a reporter
on our planet, he asks her how women on Whileaway cope with the lack of
sexual love, even though he has no doubts that mothers of Whileaway love

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their children and are still capable of love (Russ 11). Confused, Janet asks,
you say we dont have that?...How foolish of you. Of course we do (Russ
11). In our heteronormative world, where males and females are supposed to
be in love with each other, not the same sex, it seems impossible and wrong
to have women love women. Laura, discussing her upbringing again and the
discrimination she faces for not loving men, says, Ive never slept with a
girl. I couldnt. I wouldnt want to. Thats abnormal and Im not, although you
cant be normal unless you do what you want and you cant be normal unless
you love men (68). Same-sex love on Whileaway is quite obviously the
standard and can show the reader how normal and acceptable same-sex love
is and how the heteronormative, patriarchal state of our society harms those
who are not deemed normal because of their love of the same sex.
Upon her entry into our world, Janet cannot become acquainted with
the rules and regulations that women face. Interacting with men and
assuming the role of woman do not come naturally to her, and she cannot fit
in. The voice and agency she has on her planet do not belong to her here.
When a man grabs her and she says, Let me go, Joanna as narrator tells
her to say it loud. Somebody will come rescue you. Janet replies, Cant I
rescue myself? Joanna says, No. Janet argues, Why not? (Russ 45). On
our planet, as a woman, Janet does not have the authority and power to save
herself. She has to rely on another man to come save her. This is completely
different from her planet, where she is able to do what she wants and stand
up for herself. Her freedoms are stripped away in our world, and by seeing

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her shoved into our box of woman, the reader identifies with the limitations
and sees the inequality. Although we are thirty-nine years past the
publication of this novel, Russs description of the female experience still
rings true with readers and is still relevant. Some things may have changed
and improved, but the fact that Russs critiques are still recognizable shows
that feminism and her main points about gender inequality still matter.
Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale
Written in 1985, The Handmaids Tale describes the life of a woman
named Offred who lives as a Handmaid, valued for her reproductive
capabilities in a world where pollution has contaminated peoples bodies and
caused a shortage of healthy babies and mothers. Each Handmaid is
assigned to a high-status man, a Commander, whose Wife cannot reproduce.
She acts as a sort of surrogate mother, and the Wife owns the child. This
world, called Gilead, is a projected future of our world; Offreds generation
saw the switch from the world as we know it to a world where people are
categorized based on their status and reproductive capabilities. Women have
no freedom; everyone performs a specific role to keep the functioning of the
country in check; and every deviance from the desired order of society is
punishable. Offreds situation reflects and amplifies inequalities and
problems that exist in our world.
One main theme is that a womans only value comes from her body
and reproductive capabilities. Men and even other women only view Offred
as useful and worthwhile because she is able to produce a healthy child for

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her Commander. They do not see her personality and mind as the most
important parts of her existence. Offred explains that the Handmaids are
containers, its only the insides of our bodies that are important (Atwood
124). When she was trained to be a Handmaid, punishments for deviance
resulted in bodily harm to hands and feet, which their instructors, called the
Aunts, explained was fine because for our purposes your feet and hands are
not essential (Atwood 118). The Handmaids can be used and abused so long
as they remain capable of reproduction; other aspects of their existence are
negligible.
Because of this, Offred is constantly talking about how she wants to be
more than just a body; she wants to exist for herself. Her value of her soul
struggles against societys value of the body her soul inhabits. In our world,
there seems to be a slightly larger importance on the soul, although women
are clearly still objectified and seen as bodies instead of people. In Gilead,
however, there is no focus at all on her soul; the new world only wants her
body, its capabilities, and biological destiny. Offred is constantly talking
about becoming empty and feeling empty: what we prayed for was
emptiness, so we would be worthy to be filled: with grace, with love, with
self-denial, semen and babies (251). In a literal way, their bodies will
become filled with a child, but their personalities, values, goals, and dreams
have to be eradicated as well to make room for their purpose as a Handmaid.
One could argue that Gilead is very woman-centered because it places
so much value and importance on women. Wouldnt this be an improvement

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from the way that women are devalued in our society and placed below men
in their level of importance, since without the Handmaids, humanitys
potential to reproduce is significantly reduced? Isnt feminism looking to
increase the worth of women? Yet Gileads idea of woman-centered means
that everything revolves around the worth of a woman's body, not a
womans potential as a person and as an equal to men. Feminism wants to
level the playing field and see men and women as equals; Gilead does quite
the opposite, placing men in positions of power and giving them the sole
decision-making capabilities while women simply conceive, bear children,
and eventually die. Each world, ours (in terms of feminism) and Gilead, looks
at the worth of women in completely different ways. Gileads argument for
valuing women is completely destroyed when the reader realizes that only
healthy and child-bearing women are important: women unfit for birthing
children or for being trophy wives to prominent men are cast aside into
designated places called the Colonies, where they are forced to do hard
manual labor, sometimes cleaning up dead bodies or radioactive spills, with
an increased chance of death. The Colonies are the dumpster for useless
women. A Handmaids reward for bearing a healthy child is that Shell never
be sent to the Colonies, shell never be declared Unwoman (Atwood 163).
The Handmaids are further objectified and devalued when their
Commanders take them to an underground, secret club called Jezebel. Here,
the men parade their women around as trophies to prove their masculinity
and power. One of the women at Jezebel, not a Handmaid but a sort of

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prostitute, explains that the men like to see [the Handmaids] all painted up.
Just another crummy power trip (Atwood 316). Offred, upon being taken to
Jezebel and walking around in a promiscuous, ridiculous pin-up outfit under
the guiding hand of her Commander, realizes that he is showing me off, to
them, and they understand that, they are decorous enough, they keep their
hands to themselves, but they review my breasts, my legs, as if theres no
reason why they shouldnt (Atwood 307). His ownership of her is even more
evident when the reader realizes that her Commanders name is Fred,
leading to her being named Offred Of Fred while she is his Handmaid.
The other men at the club approve of each Commander bringing his
Handmaid to prove that he is still a man, that he has control of women, and
that he has possession of his Handmaid. There are no reasons why they
should not continue to objectify and evaluate the women based on their
bodies when that is their entire role in society. Women readers will recognize
and understand Offreds unease at the mens prying eyes as it is something
we experience in our world as well.
In Gilead, the women are taught that they deserve these injustices
from men around them. During Handmaid training, the Aunts and the
Handmaids themselves had to convince victims of rape that they deserved it
and had led on their rapist. At first, the victims insisted that they were
innocent and did not deserve blame, but when one of the Aunts asks the
crowd, But whose fault was it? the other Handmaids-in-training chant, Her
fault, her fault, her fault (Atwood 92). This might sound like an event far

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removed from our reality, but victim blaming occurs very often in our own
society. Some individuals believe that the victim was asking for it due to
her (or his) clothing or behavior, even though no one wants to be sexually
violated against their will. This passage reminds readers that their reality is
not so different from the world that the Handmaids experience; cruelty and
injustice toward women exist in both Gilead and our world.
Women may continue to be objectified in Gilead, but sex is not a
choice or a freedom for the Handmaids. In their role as surrogate mothers,
they perform a Ceremony with the Commander and his Wife in which the
Commander has sex with the Handmaid, who is laying on the Wife. These
positions are strict and required, and no physical contact besides what is
necessary is permitted. As Offred explains, It has nothing to do with passion
or love or romance or any of those other notions we used to titillate
ourselves with. It has nothing to do with sexual desire (Atwood 122). It is
simply a ritual to have the Commander impregnate the Handmaid. If the
Handmaids try to make their own sexual choices, they are taken away by law
enforcement. Offred, in her desperation to have some choices in her life and
do things for herself instead of for others, visits the Commanders chauffeur,
Nick, for sex. She explains herself: I went back to Nick. Time after time, on
my own, without [the Wife] knowing. It wasnt called for, there was no
excuse. I did not do it for him, but for myself entirely (Atwood 344). She
makes these choices in order to have control and agency, but she also feels
shame for behaving in this way. This is not a Gilead-only trait; women in our

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society often feel shameful for having sexual freedom, or others around them
shame them. ItsIt is ingrained in everyone, in both Gilead and our world,
that if a woman wants to do anything sexual or have sex for her own
reasons, then shesshe is a slut, horrible, and deserving of shame. Men do
not face this stigma; they are encouraged to be sexually promiscuous
because that increases their masculinity. These double standards enforce the
gender binary and inequality between the sexes.
Gilead adheres strictly to gender roles, which is already evident
through the existence of Handmaids as baby carriers. There are women in
charge of the house as well, a Wife for each Commander, and the
Commander himself, who runs the house and contributes directly to society.
Atwood is reestablishing the traditional roles of women as another facet of
their oppression in this society: home-makers, mothers, and trophies. Instead
of allowing them to do things outside of their gender role, enforcing the
traditional gender roles sticks them more firmly in their boxes. They must
play the part of a true woman and that means acting like a woman. There is
no room for deviance and it is accepted that everyone does what they are
expected to do; no one can risk acting outside of their gender roles. The men
are constrained too, and it is important to remember that they are affected
by the oppression of women as well. Commanders are supposed to be
respectful, follow the rules, and run the household perfectly, but Fred breaks
rules by changing some scripted roles, like the Ceremony where he is not
supposed to have any emotional or sexual connection with the Handmaid, in

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an attempt to have control of his situation instead of being controlled by
society.
He also brings her to Jezebel and allows her to visit him privately to
engage in discussions, games, and illicit activities like reading and writing.
Jezebel is another example of the performance of gender roles; although
everyone feels like they have gained agency by breaking rules by visiting
and being promiscuous, they are essentially moving into different assigned
roles. The women who work there are performing their role of prostitutes.
The men, the Commanders, are performing their role as a powerful,
masculine, in-control figure. The Handmaids are performing their role as
objects to be paraded around the club. The societys emphasis on
performance and roles continues to separate genders and encourage the
oppression of women.
Atwood also makes use of language to show the oppression of women.
Women in Gilead are not allowed to read or write, and certain words and
phrases are banned while others are required in situations. Language is used
to control thought and shape perceptions about the world. Merja Makinen
observes that feminist SF has tried to challenge patriarchal language
structures (147), and Atwood is no exception. Offred spends a lot of time
considering words and implications. When Offred is in her bedroom, she
explains that The night is mine, my own time, to do with as I will, as long as
I am quiet. As long as I dont move. As long as I lie still. The difference
between lie and lay. Lay is always passive.I lie, then, inside the room

League 22
(Atwood 49). Choosing the active verb gives her agency over her actions
instead of continuing to be controlled by society. Her obsession with
language is the one thing she holds onto because she has control over it:
control over her knowledge, thoughts, meaning, and uses of language, even
though it is so entirely controlled by society.
When she visits town, she sees that In front of us, to the right, is the
store where we order dresses. Some people call them habits, a good word for
them (Atwood 33). Habits reflects the structured nature of the society and
how the Handmaids function in habitual ways. When she remembers the
past, she says, They [the people before Gilead] wore blouses with buttons
down the front that suggested the possibilities of the word undone. These
women could be undone; or not. They seemed to be able to choose (Atwood
33), considering how clothing reflects choice and how women in Gilead are
no longer able to make choices. When she says goodbye to her shopping
partner Handmaid, the Handmaid replies, Under His Eye, which Offred
notes is The right farewell (Atwood 59). Their conversations are rigid and
only certain phrases and responses are acceptable, showing how the
language has cut off any real communication between women and forces
them to adhere to their roles. Controlling the language controls what people
can say and communicate to each other. The expected responses that the
Handmaids have to say to each other are completely limited by what society
deems appropriate and correct. Complete control of the language is
complete control of the people. Rita Felski, in Beyond Feminist Aesthetics,

League 23
notes the the constraining, legislative, and socializing aspects of language
(34) as well, lending credibility to Atwoods manipulation of language and its
effects on the inhabitants of Gilead. The Handmaids end up creating a code
within the closed system of language in Gilead to create a kind of
womens language, using phrases like Mayday, already acceptable to
indicate the first day of spring, to signal distress. Maneuvering within the
patriarchal and oppressive language structure is difficult for the Handmaids
and can lead to imprisonment or death if they are caught but they do it
anyway to have agency, freedom, and communication.
Writing is powerful too; women are not allowed to write, and when
Offred offers to spell a word for the Commander and write it, he hesitates at
this novel idea. Possibly he doesnt remember I can (Atwood 240). Writing,
as an indicator of power and knowledge, is no longer associated with women,
thus demoting them to a lower and less respectable position. When she
holds then pen, she says, The pen between my fingers is sensuous, alive
almost, I can feel its power, the power of the words it contains (Atwood
241). She realizes the power and control that the pen gives her over
language, communication, and meaning. Reading is a luxury not afforded to
women, either; the entirety of literacy is not theirs to claim. Women are
incapable of learning through words at all due to the barriers on spoken
language, writing, and reading. When Offred reads with the Commander, she
says, I read quickly, voraciously, almost skimming, trying to get as much
into my head as possible before the next long starvation (Atwood 239). The

League 24
chance to read comes sto rarely to her that she has to take advantage of it
and binge read when she can.
The Commander also lets her play Scrabble with him, which Offred
enjoys because it gives her power over language. She can use Scrabble to
retain her hold over her language and demonstrate her proficiency in it even
though everything she says otherwise has to follow strict, controlled
guidelines. As she plays, she says, I hold the glossy counters with their
smooth edges, finger the letters. The feeling is voluptuous. This is freedom,
an eyeblink of it. Limp, I spell. Gorge. What a luxury. The counters are like
candies, made of peppermint, cool like that. Humbugs, those were called. I
would like to put them into my mouth (Atwood 180). There is an almost
erotic pleasure in regaining control of language and embracing the power
that comes with it. Being able to use and mold language is normally so
beyond the role of women in Gilead that when she is able to regain that
aspect of her previous life and achieve some semblance of power and
agency, she must savor it. Offreds attempts to gain power and live life for
herself point to the lack of freedom she has in her world and the parallels in
our world. Readers can draw connections, see trajectories of our society even
as we move forward in time from the publication of this novel, and
understand Atwoods critiques about patriarchy.
Conclusion
These two texts demonstrate how feminist SF critiques and raises
awareness about the condition of women in our world. Even though SF, on

League 25
the surface, primarily concerns itself with worlds and situations far removed
from our present reality, there is an underlying connection and commentary
about our own world and the conditions in which we live. Feminist SF brings
this connection to another level as it highlights aspects of a womans
existence that seem normal but, once exaggerated and shown through SF,
are revealed to be unfair, oppressive, and unequal to the benefits that males
receive from the patriarchy. Through the experiences of the women in these
SF worlds, readers can see how feminism is important and necessary to end
the subordination of women. These texts, although dated, still resonate with
readers who can recognize their own experiences in the stories of these
women and see how far we have or have not come in these few decades.
The messages of these older novels are even more crucial because they are
still relevant and descriptive of conditions that women today face.
But feminist SF is more than just a commentary. As we might expect,
these texts have another purpose: to inspire real-world change (Barr 8).
Feminist SF writers are not writing into a vacuum; readers can take what
they learn from these texts and apply it to the real world, instigating change.
In The Cambridge Introduction to the Novel, Marina MacKay explains that
these texts act upon us all and potentially change the world in the act of
describing it (14). By changing our perspective of our world, feminist SF can
change the way we act in our world: when we feel right, we act rightly
(MacKay 14). Once readers understand the underlying messages in feminist
SF, they can work to change the world around them and do what is right for

League 26
the inhabitants of our planet. Social change can be inspired by SF simply
because SF really does contain information about the conditions around us
and critique aspects that need improvement. With this information, readers
can start to speculate about and discuss, potentially even fix, what is wrong
with the world around them. Awareness, action, and change are the ultimate
goals of these feminist SF texts. As Russ says while addressing her own
novel, Do not complain when at last you become quaint and old-fashioned
Do not get glum when you are no longer understood, little book. Do not curse
your fateRejoice, little book! For on that day, we will be free (214). When
we can say that these depictions of reality are no longer talking about our
reality, and that feminist writings do not resonate deep within readers, we
can celebrate the progress our society has made and know that these
inequalities in the lives of people around us are dated and gone.

Works Cited

League 27
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaids Tale. New York, Ballantine Books: 1986.
Print.
Barr, Marleen S. Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond.
Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press: 1993. Print.
Canavan, Gerry, and Priscilla Ward. "Preface." American Literature 83.2
(2011): 237-249. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
Cranny-Francis, Anne. Feminist Fiction: Feminist Uses of Generic Fiction. New
York, St. Martin's Press: 1990. Print.
Felski, Rita. Beyond Feminist Aesthetics. Cambridge, Harvard University
Press: 1989. Print.
Lamarque, Peter, and Stein Haugom Olsen. Truth, Fiction, and Literature.
New York, Oxford
University Press Inc.: 1994. Print.
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness. New York, The Berkley
Publishing Group: 1969. Print.
MacKay, Marina. The Cambridge Introduction to the Novel. New York,
Cambridge University Press: 2011. Print.
Makinen, Merja. Feminist Popular Fiction. New York, Palgrave: 2001. Print.
Russ, Joanna. The Female Man. Boston, Beacon Press: 1975. Print.
Shaw, Debra Benita. Women, Science and Fiction: The Frankenstein
Inheritance. New York, Palgrave: 2000. Print.