Women in science fiction

Abstract

Science fiction has become an important medium of communication for new ideas and values concerning sex roles, and the influx of women into this previously male literary subculture is a change of significance for popular culture. This article uses the first large well-collected body of social science survey data to examine the ideological orientations of women readers and authors. None of the leading women authors write the traditional Hard-Science variety of science fiction that explores innovations in physicial science and technology, and there is a slight tendency for women readers to prefer this type less than men do. Women authors tend to write either Sword-and-Sorcery, a variety of heroic fantasy, or New-Wave science fiction, a politically liberal and stylistically progressive form. Many of the women authors use their fiction as a medium for advocating social change from a feminist perspective. Science fiction has become a forum for women authors' uninhibited public analysis of contemporary sex roles and consideration of options for the future.