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"SERVANTS. OF. THE. RACE": GENDER AND SEX PERFORMATIVITY AND UTOPIAN POSSIBILITIES IN FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION By ALLISON MARIE GRAVES A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of English MAY 2015 © Copyright by ALLISON MARIE GRAVES, 2015 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by ALLISON MARIE GRAVES, 2015 All Rights Reserved ii To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the thesis of ALLISON MARIE GRAVES find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ______________________________ Carol R. Siegel, Ph.D., Chair ______________________________ Donna M. Campbell, Ph.D. ______________________________ Thomas V. Reed, Ph.D. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank my thesis committee members for all the help they have provided for this project. Without the guidance and feedback from Donna Campbell and T.V. Reed, I would not have been able to do these texts justice. I especially want to thank my chair, Carol Siegel, for her tireless effort in guiding me through this crazy thing called academia. All the time she spent going over drafts (and lengthy ones, at that) means so much to me, as well as the advice she has given me along the way. I could not have asked for more. I also want to thank those individuals who listened to me ramble and rant crazily throughout the year as I worked on this project. My mind has been spacey and I have been distracted and forgetful, so it was not an easy task for them. Amber Strother, thank you for taking me under your wing. I would never have found my passion if you had not shown me the light. #LitforLife iv "SERVANTS. OF. THE. RACE": GENDER AND SEX PERFORMATIVITY AND UTOPIAN POSSIBILITIES IN FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION Abstract by Allison Marie Graves, M.A. Washington State University May 2015 Chair: Carol R. Siegel "'Servants. Of. The. Race'": Gender and Sex Performativity and Utopian Possibilities in Feminist Science Fiction" analyzes how twentieth century feminist science fiction challenges and reconfigures officially sanctioned gender and sex identities. During the twentieth century, women faced constant pressure from their societies to conform to heteronormative gender and sex scripts. The first and second waves of feminism allowed women to explore new ways to reconfigure their identities and created the opportunity for feminist authors to utilize science fiction to explore new worlds in which a multitude of identities flourish. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, Joanna Russ's The Female Man, and Marge Piercy's He, She, and It are three important novels for examining manipulation of gender and sex identities throughout the twentieth century, as well as Judith Butler's theory on performativity. These authors redefine women's roles within mothering, sexuality, and cyborg theory to show that women cannot be confined to heteronormative identities but must be allowed to determine their own gender and sex roles. While the characters in the novels are often successful at rewriting their identities, they face constant discrimination from their respective societies. Consequently, we are able to look ahead to Piercy's novel as a dystopian critique of the social conservative takeover in the 1980s after the sexual revolution. Even though our society is not yet ready for multiple gender and sex v identities, as argued by Jose Esteban Muñoz in his work on queer futurity, these novels inspire hope in women and other minority cultures for a utopian existence. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ iv CHAPTER Introduction: But Why Science Fiction?...........................................................................1 1. A (Brief) Historical Overview of Twentieth Century Feminist Politics and Gender and Sex Theory ...............................................................................11 2. Gilman and Herland ...................................................................................................28 Dystopian Maternity in Marge Piercy‟s He, She, and It .....................................52 3. Russ and The Female Man ..........................................................................................60 Cyborg Identity to the Extreme: Blurring the Conception of Gender and Sex ...................................................................................................89 4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................95 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................98 vii Dedication This is for you, mom, dad, and Jill. You've been there the whole way. 1 Introduction: But Why Science Fiction? In science fiction, identity is not always easily accessible. Science fiction authors can manipulate what we would consider normal human behavior with technology, animalistic qualities, or simply oppose the traditional norms that we subscribe to in our communities. But the genre calls for a manipulation of the normal in regards to how we define ourselves both socially and physically. Donna Haraway's work focuses on how the technological, postmodern body can be easily manipulated in science fiction, as well as the social and political implications of the cyborg. Her Cyborg Manifesto promotes a new idea of human—organic flesh interconnected with technology to create an identity that escapes traditional norms. Because cyborgs are “oppositional, utopian...[not] structured by the polarity of public and private,” they inhabit a liminal space of revolt against traditional ideas of social relation, including those relations developed in the household (Haraway 430). Cyborgs reject the norms under which we are restricted because they are not completely flesh and blood. Even authors who predate Haraway's 1985 manifesto play with the idea of humans defying their societal and biological conditions in order to create their own definitive identities in society. Feminist writers are no exception to the list of authors who find relief in science fiction from gender and sex norms and ways to explore identity formulation. In writing about Joanna Russ's novel, The Female Man, Amanda Boulter claims that science fiction enables women "to reinterpret dominant histories and...allegorize the contemporary world" (153-154). The genre is not constrained by realistic boundaries. Instead, fantastical worlds flourish, enabling authors to manipulate reality however they please. Feminist authors can also satirize their marginalized social positions through these other-worldly elements. Because of science fiction's fluidity, 2 female authors can explore various political agendas and call attention to inequalities in their respective societies. The purpose of this work is to examine how feminist science fiction authors manipulate gender and sex in order to free themselves from the traditional scripts imposed on them by their respective societies. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland was written during a period of great unrest among women as they fought for the right to vote and would later push for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Women contested claims that they were socially and biologically inferior; in her novel, Gilman addresses these plights by creating a group of women who have progressed both socially and biologically so they no longer depend on men for procreation or economic sustenance. Russ's The Female Man continues the fight for women's rights into the 1970s. Her female characters represent the struggles women faced during the sexual revolution as they explore lifestyles outside of patriarchal heteronormativity. This is also where we see the incorporation of the cyborg in science fiction--Russ's cyborg challenges the biology we understand as female because, in order for one of her characters to survive in a violent and male-dominated world, she has to undergo physical alterations to fend off attackers. Marge Piercy's dystopian novel He, She, and It comes after the sexual revolution when politicians shifted to more socially conservative views on gender and sex. So, Piercy's novel embraces the cyborg as a creature who disrupts traditional gender and sex norms in a world controlled by powerful corporations. During the twentieth century, many women opposed societal structures and fought for equal rights in order to live freer, more fulfilling lives. While these women were attacked by many who believed their cause to be ridiculous, they overcame this antagonism through relentless protests and consistent challenges to what their culture 3 defined as "woman." And through science fiction, women were able to make known the damage caused by restrictions their current gender and scripts placed upon them. In the first chapter, I provide a brief historical background of the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on the first wave of feminism and the sexual revolution. The historical premise helps readers contextualize feminist science fiction novels to better understand representations of gender and sex. In addition, a study of the sexual revolution highlights the belief in utopian futures, which is ultimately what feminist science fiction authors
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