The Female Man (Cover image via Beacon Press)
11. The Female Man
Joanna Russ, author of The Female Man and many more novels, short stories, and nonfiction books besides, was truly a pioneer in her field. She was one of the earliest science fiction authors to challenge common sci-fi tropes about gender, sexuality, and women in general.
Of course, that may also mean that The Female Man, published in 1970, could seem odd to its modern-day readers. It follows four different women living in parallel worlds, who are able to occasionally cross over into one another’s realities.
The novel begins when Janet arrives in the world of Jeannine Dadier. Janet hails from a place called “Whileaway”, where all men were killed by a plague centuries ago and women reproduce through parthenogenesis. Janet finds Jeannine and takes her to Joanna’s world.
Joanna, who lives in a place like 1970s Earth, is just beginning to get involved with feminism. Joanna shows Janet and Jeannine around, where Janet promptly knocks down a man for making a move on her. It’s hardly a good time.
At a later point, the trio of Janet, Jeannine, and Joanna are transported to a fourth world, that of Jael. It turns out that Jael, an ethnologist, has been studying all of them. She’s finally brought them all together in her world, where men and women are literally at war with each other. Jael reveals that she wants to create female-led bases in the other women’s worlds, without the knowledge of hostile male factions. Jeannine and Joanna enthusiastically agree while the pacifist Janet hesitates.
While the four negotiate this plan, it’s clear that they have all grown and changed their ideas of womanhood and self-identity. Janet, in particular, is a clear LGBTQIA+ character without shame or hesitation.