SEARCHING FOR WONDER WOMEN: EXAMINING WOMEN'S NON-VIOLENT POWER IN FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION Maria D. DeRose A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2006 Committee: Radhika Gajjala, Advisor Robert Buffington Graduate Faculty Representative Jeffrey A. Brown Lesa Lockford © 2006 Maria DeRose All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Radhika Gajjala, Advisor Searching for Wonder Women: Examining Women’s Non-violent Power in Feminist Science Fiction, examines how works of Feminist Science Fiction (from various media, especially literature, film, and television) can be used as engaged, critical pedagogical tools for teaching a wide variety of feminist and critical race theories concerning issues of power / empowerment and subjectivity. In each chapter, I describe how I have used particular FSF works in the classroom and how each one fosters discussion on the particular topic / issue. In Chapter I, “Examining Power, Violence, Masculinity and ‘Tough Girls,’” I deconstruct commonly held definitions of power (especially those with links to violence, patriarchy and hegemony) and demonstrate how works of FSF can encourage students to think about cultural power in relationship to the dispersal of resources. Through an analysis of Charmed, this chapter also displays the complexities of examining the links between violence and power. Chapter II, “Telling Our Stories: Women’s Voices in Feminist Science Fiction,” focuses on the power of language to construct alternate realities in opposition to non- inclusive, “dominant” cultural narratives, and also on storytelling as a means to literally “give voice” to marginalized groups. Chapter III, “‘The Women Men Don’t See:’ Women's Strategic Invisibility as Potential Empowerment,” analyzes stories of literal and metaphorical invisibility in order to discuss issues of women's subjectivity and voice, invisibility / hypervisibility through iv sexualization and objectification, and also “passing" as a member of the dominant race / gender / sexuality. Finally, my chapter “Ecofeminism as Anti-domination Activism” examines the “culture of domination” present in how cultural ideologies treat both women (and other marginalized groups) and the environment. Throughout my dissertation, I use personal narratives and references to students’ discussion comments in order to demonstrate how, after studying various feminist theories of media, identity, and voice, they all discovered their own non-violent source and definition of power. I use their stories and analyses to discuss society's potential to construct more diverse, inclusive definitions of power. v For Kevin vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If it takes a village to raise a child, then I can certainly admit that it took an entire community at BGSU to get this dissertation completed. First, I’d like to say thank you to my committee. Thank you, Dr. Radhika Gajjala, for agreeing to take on a student you didn’t even know. Your advice and guidance certainly made this project what it is, but I am also so grateful for your belief in me and all the encouragement you have given me throughout the years. I may not have enjoyed the not-so-subtle pushing at the time, but it all helped just to know that you thought my work and I were ready for others to see. I’d also like to thank Dr. Jeff Brown for seeing potential in an early project and sticking with me (and it) for all this time. His classes prepared me to think about women’s roles in media and the place media has in society. I appreciate the space those classes gave me to work through various pieces of this project, even if I didn’t know they would make it into the dissertation at that point. To Dr. Lesa Lockford, I’d like to say “thank you for seeing something in me and not letting me get lost in the shadows.” Her confidence in me drove every project further than I thought it could ever go, and her attention to detail greatly benefited me, especially in the final editing stages of the writing process. Finally, I’d like to thank Dr. Rob Buffington who did so much more than just “put his time in” as the graduate representative, but rather put so much time and thought into his suggestions for me. Sometimes, the people who contribute the most to our academic success aren’t directly associated with that one dissertation project. Even though Dr. Jeannie Ludlow was never a member of my committee, she has been one of my greatest supporters since, literally, day one of my graduate school years. Jeannie, not only are you an amazing vii professor, teaching supervisor, and radical feminist extraordinaire, but you were a mentor, friend, and all-around “person I would like to be like when I grow up.” Your consistent advice, support and friendship has carried me through my time at BGSU, and your pedagogy class made a lasting impression on me as a teacher and even found its way into this dissertation. Dr. Mary Krueger, another feminist extraordinaire, mentor and friend, allowed me to be a part of BGSU’s amazing Women’s Center staff and supported every step of my dissertation writing, teaching, job search, and retention of my sanity. Mary, I don’t know where I would be without your daily affirmations, support and humor. Others who have given me their time, support, and friendship include: The Women’s Dissertation Writing Support Group. I am so honored to be a small part of this group which has seen so many talented women succeed. Those who finished before I was an official member provided an “of course we can do it” atmosphere. Those in the group with me, especially Dr. Teresa Karparick-Postellon and Tracy Barton, pushed, pulled, and carried me through the really difficult points of the writing process. Life support members: thank you to all of those friends who loaned me books, cajoled me, let me vent, went out for waffles and asked me how things were going (or knew better than to ask), dog sat so I could put in guilt-free long hours at the computer lab, and who celebrated each step with me. Special thanks to Julia Mason, Christina Gerken, Kyoko Kishimoto, Jane Rosser, Cynthia Mahaffey, Amy Beltano, Heath Huber, Sheri and Jason Wells-Jensen, Leo Huisman, Sue Eberly and Gayra Ostgaard. I’d also like to thank my family for all the emotional and financial support over the years and, even if they didn’t understand what I was doing, for believing that it was viii worthwhile. To my sister, Michelle, I’d like to add that you were my role model for how to be a smart, independent young woman and I might never have imagined that I could finish this degree if you hadn’t shown me that it can be done. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that I would also like to thank my Lucky dog for being a constant source of unconditional love, a reminder that I shouldn’t sit for too long in front of the computer without taking a break for a walk or a good wrestle, and for supplying endless entertainment and stress relief. Thanks to him I did this whole dissertation without caffeine, anti-depressants, or cold feet. He never need wonder if he earned his keep. I’d also like to thank my students from Intro to Women’s Studies and from Feminism through Science Fiction for exploring so many issues important to my project with me, for constantly supplying me with ideas and stories which found their way into these pages, and for showing me with their own FSF stories that my hope for teaching to transgress through FSF is a possible one. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I. EXAMINING POWER, VIOLENCE, MASCULINITY AND “TOUGH GIRLS” ............................................................................................................ 18 Defining and Theorizing Power................................................................................. 20 Resistance as Power................................................................................................... 23 “Power is Power:” Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The New Atlantis” ................................... 26 The Links between Power and Violence ................................................................... 29 The Links between Power and Masculinity............................................................... 33 How “Tough Women” in Media Have Been Theorized............................................ 38 We Sisters Three: The Transformative, Transgressive Heroic Women of Charmed 44 “Can’t We Just Watch the Movie Instead?” Film vs. Literature ............................... 52 CHAPTER II. TELLING OUR STORIES: WOMEN’S VOICES IN FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION ............................................................................................................ 59 Liberation through Language: the Native Tongue Trilogy ........................................ 63 Herstory: Questioning Dominant “Truth” in Egalia’s Daughters and The Handmaid’s Tale................................................................................................. 70 CHAPTER III. “THE WOMEN MEN DON’T SEE:” WOMEN’S STRATEGIC INVISIBILITY AS POTENTIAL EMPOWERMENT......................................................... 81 Invisibility as Power for Some, Oppression for “Others”.......................................... 84 “Where No Man Has Gone Before:” Women’s (In)visibility in FSF........................ 89 CHAPTER IV. ECOFEMINISM AS ANTI-DOMINATION ACTIVISM ......................... 103