O (ne)poslušnim kćerima: žene i rod u diskursu naučne fantastike
On (dis)obedient Daughters. Women and Gender in Science Fiction Discourse

Author(s): Iva Nenić
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Customs / Folklore, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Sociology of Culture
Published by: Srpski genealoški centar
Keywords: genre; cyberpunk; cyborg; female Messiah; science fiction
Summary/Abstract: Discursive constructions of gender and femininity in science fiction point to the close ties of science fiction’s "secondary worlds" to the living practices and experiences considering technology and cultural articulation of the difference. Early science fiction novels featured female characters somewhere in the back of the stage, but new wave in science fiction tended to disbalance stereotypes concerning gender, thus making path for cyberpunk and "hard" science fiction from the mid-1980s and on to disperse once unified notion of gender by thematizing effects on technology on human subject. Figure of human-machine hybrid today isusual part of both science fiction and theoretical imaginary, where key contribution stems from the work of feminist theorist Donna Haraway and her view of cyborg as symptom-metaphor of female emancipation through pact with technology. But who owns cyborg’s pleasure? Answer to this question could be found in two science fiction series which proved to be influential in changing genre’s paradigm – in William Gibson’s cyberpunk trilogy "Sprawl", and in Dan Simmons’ tetralogy "Songs of Hyperion" – where key for dealing with fears (and hopes) regarding human relation to technology lies in female characters.

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