(no subject)
Does anyone know of any feminist utopias that don't rely on eugenics? I just realized even Whileaway has eugenics in the form of "genetic surgeons" who correct physical "errors" and ensure that everyone has what would now be considered a genius IQ.
I'm talking only about utopias that were specifically designed to address feminism and gender, so I'm not counting things like the Valley and Ecotopia and those sf futures in which sexism just kind of fell off the boat.
Oh wait--maybe The Left Hand of Darkness counts? I don't think they have eugenics there. And maybe Misthea in the Silence trilogy--but we know almost nothing about them except that they export female pilots and they have a class system based on skin color, so that seems a little suspicious, and anyway they weren't designed as a utopia.
I guess the next question is why all the eugenics? Sheri S. Tepper makes it very clear why in The Gate to Women's Country, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman has a vaguely plausible reason in Herland (she interprets it as improvement in the general "quality" of the people, but it seems obvious to me that the Herlanders are breeding for people who will fit into the very specialized and restrictive environment of Herland) but the rest are a little vague. Whileaway especially--if everything's automated, why do they need all those supergeniuses, and what are they working so hard on?
I'm talking only about utopias that were specifically designed to address feminism and gender, so I'm not counting things like the Valley and Ecotopia and those sf futures in which sexism just kind of fell off the boat.
Oh wait--maybe The Left Hand of Darkness counts? I don't think they have eugenics there. And maybe Misthea in the Silence trilogy--but we know almost nothing about them except that they export female pilots and they have a class system based on skin color, so that seems a little suspicious, and anyway they weren't designed as a utopia.
I guess the next question is why all the eugenics? Sheri S. Tepper makes it very clear why in The Gate to Women's Country, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman has a vaguely plausible reason in Herland (she interprets it as improvement in the general "quality" of the people, but it seems obvious to me that the Herlanders are breeding for people who will fit into the very specialized and restrictive environment of Herland) but the rest are a little vague. Whileaway especially--if everything's automated, why do they need all those supergeniuses, and what are they working so hard on?