Single-gender worlds

Many authors have used the freedoms offered by science fictional settings and plot devices to explore themes which, while not strictly gay, are closely related. A common motif in speculative fiction is the existence of single gender worlds or societies.

Female-only worlds

In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of technology or mystical method that allow female parthenogenic reproduction. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers.

Such worlds have been portrayed most often by lesbian or feminist authors; their use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from patriarchy. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all - a famous early example being "Herland" (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Some lesbian separatist authors have used female-only societies to additionally posit that all women would revert to lesbianism if left unmolested by men, as in "Ammonite" (1993) by Nicola Griffith. The enormously influential "The Female Man" (1975) and "When It Changed" (1972) by Joanna Russ portrayed a peaceful arable society of lesbians who resent the later intrusion of men.

James Tiptree Jr., a bisexual women writing secretly under a male pseudonym, explored the sexual impulse as her main theme;Clute & Nicholls, p. 1088 "Sex"] in her award-winning "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" (collected in "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever"), she presents a female only society after the extinction of men from disease. The society lacks stereotypically "male" problems such as war, but is stagnant. The women reproduce via cloning and consider men to be comical.

Consider Her Ways

Male-only worlds

Male-only worlds are much less commonly found in SF than female-only worlds. Early examples written by men have most often shown the existence of an immoral or corrupt society, with the resultant homosexuality being purely situational or unnatural, and linked to depravity or violence. Such depictions have been called homophobic.

Ethan of Athos by Lois Bujold, inspired by the real world male-only religious society of Mount Athos, shows a world in which men have isolated their planet from the rest of civilisation to avoid the corrupting effect of women. Children are grown in uterine-replicators, and the majority of the fundamentalist population is gay and misogynistic. This is a rare example of a male-only world with a positive portrayal of the gay protagonist in mainstream science fiction.

Genderless or hermaphroditic worlds

A prime example is the "Wraeththu" (1987-89) trilogy by Storm Constantine, in which much of the male portion of the human race is converted to a new species of physiologically hermaphroditic post-humans. Other examples of alternative but not strictly gay sexuality in science fiction include Theodore Sturgeon's "Venus Plus X" and Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness".

John Varley, who also came to prominence in the 1970s, is another writer of importance to sexual themes. In his "Eight Worlds" suite of stories (many collected in "The John Varley Reader") and novels, humanity has achieved the ability to change sex with at a whim. Homophobia is shown to initially inhibit uptake of this technology, as it engenders drastic changes in relationships, with homosexual sex becoming an acceptable option for all.

Gender segregation

Segregation of genders is another common trope of speculative fiction - physical separation can result in societies that are essentially single gender, although the majority of such works focus on the re-unification of the genders, or otherwise on links that remain between them, as with Sheri S. Tepper's "The Gate to Women's Country", David Brin's "Glory" and Carol Emshwiller's "Boys".

Sometimes the segregation is social, and men and women interact to a limited extent. For example, when overpopulation drives the world away from heterosexuality in Charles Beaumont's short story "The Crooked Man" (1955), first published in Playboy inhumane homosexuals begin to oppress their heterosexual minority - a relationship between the male protagonist and a women is unlawful.

List of works

Female worlds

Houston, Houston, Do You Read?

The Female Man, When It Changed

Herland
Consider Her Ways

Ammonite, Nicola Griffith

Male worlds

Forever War

Ethan of Athos

Genderless or hermaphroditic worlds

Wraeththu

Venus Plus X

The Left Hand of Darkness

ee also

Gender in speculative fiction

Homosexuality in speculative fiction

Sex in science fiction

References

External links

List of female/lesbian worlds at lesbiansciencefiction.com [http://www.lesbiansciencefiction.com/LSFWorldbyAuth0001.html]