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LITR 4368 Literature of the Future 
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Sample answers
for Essay 2:
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Timothy Morrow
23
April 2016
All Lilies Wither: Analyzing Sexual Representation and Violence towards
Women in Sci-Fi
Since traditionally Science Fiction started out as more of a “boy’s
club,” the perspective of women in its literature was presented with a more
sexist and oppressive depiction. In Karin Blair’s article, “Sex and Star Trek”,
she refers to a concept called the
femme-objet which is “caught in the constructs of the male imagination” and
“is created in the imagination of society: a certain Maidenform bustline, a trim
waist, Revlon-styled lips,
Mascara and eye shadow embellishments and
so on”(Blair). This is quite evident in the portrayal women have received in
past Narratives of the Future. The extreme hyper sexualized females in these
stories reflect the society from which they were made, a patriarchal “boy’s
club.” With the popularity of
futuristic and dystopian narratives in popular culture such as The Hunger Games
and Divergent comes the availability of new perspectives in story-telling for
young people to enjoy. These Narratives of the Future provide new heroines that
act as positive role models for women readers as well as giving proper
representations of the female gender. The future of female portrayal in these
narratives is addressed in Ghazel’s article “Science
Fiction is No Longer a Boys’ Club” which states that “female science
fiction characters aren’t just gaining momentum and mainstream acceptance.
They’ve also become more varied, and are less often reduced to the role of eye
candy” (Hamidi). As the decades roll by for the world of Science Fiction
literature, the depiction of women characters are adapting from the sexist view
point of being “eye candy” into becoming dynamic characters that are valued for
more than just their sexuality. Although the theme of sexualized and oppressed
women in Science fiction is on the decline,
as an English Major who wishes to teach not only teach literature, but also
touch on Women’s Studies, it is important to observe the depiction of exploited
women’s roles in narratives of the future as tools for escapism, in the stories,
“Stone Lives” Parable of the
Sower, the biblical book of Genesis,
“Johnny Mnemonic”, “House of Bones” as well as women’s portrayal in the
Science fiction films Blade Runner
and Forbidden Planet.
In
the Biblical book of Genesis, the female character, Eve, is instantly under
oppression of male possession from the moment she is created. When she is
introduced to Adam, he states “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man”
(MacArthur). This utopian narrative presents women as something created
from man, meaning not equal. As
viewed as by-products of man, women have been subjected to the patriarchal
society oppression towards them as below them. This portrayal is much like in
the short story “Stone Lives” when
Stone first meets June
in their own “paradise” subjects her to his ownership. The idea of viewing women
as property further oppresses women in these narratives. This negative
belittling depiction of women is continued in the Genesis when Eve eats the
forbidden fruit and offers it also to Adam, causing the fall of man (MacArthur).
Having women being the literal bearers of bad fruit to the world, and causing
mankind to be cast out of paradise bring women front and center as evil beings
that potentially seduced into destruction and portrays them in a negative light.
Not only are women’s sexuality and bodies negatively represented but are
continued as seen in a negative light in the apocalyptic text of the book of
Revelations. The verse states “you
tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and
seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacred to
idols” (MacArthur). Although much of
Revelations can be argued as merely metaphors and not literal things, it
should be noted on the negative contagions with the metaphors. Once again a
woman in an apocalyptic narrative is represented in a negative light. Her
sexuality is expressed as something wicked and corruptible. Much like how it is
viewed in popular culture that Eve seduced Adam into falling into sin, the
female character Jezebel is depicted as someone evil which, while not only is
she reduced to her sexuality, but is depicted as using it to leer men into evil.
This oppressive portrayal of women in narratives of the future is continued in
the Biblical narratives with both women being reduced to their sexuality as well
as being judged for it.
The
short story “Stone Lives” is an excellent example of the over sexualized and
oppressive portrayal of a female character. June Tannhauser is an assistant for
the boss of the Citrine Tower, one of the biggest corporations of a future quite
in disorder. So in retrospect, she is quite high in the business food chain.
Yet, when Stone shows up in the story, she is instantly subjected to the male’s
perception of her being a submissive sexual being, rather than someone with more
value and experience. When he asks her for her name, she gives it and he instant
replaces her sir name with his own first name (Filippo). Rather than being
observant of her identity and respecting her heritage, he begins placing his
name with hers, almost in an act of ownership those in a relationship might take
liberty to do. By the first instance of the two meeting, Stone has subjected the
female character to being dominated by him almost the moment he even learns her
name. This action on his part foreshadows the treatment of women this story
entails. Soon later in the story, Stone has an intimate encounter with June, yet
the experience is hyper sexualized for the reader, defining June once more to
her sexuality rather than her as a character. The passage states “Her lips are
warm and complaisant under his. Her nipples seem to burn through her shirt and
into his chest. His left leg is trapped between her thighs” (Filippo). This
quote mentioned above further
emphasizes the role June is in this story, not of a flesh out character that can
help further the plot, but a character defined by her flesh and the fantasies of
the man that wrote her. This objectification of June’s body is a clear sign of
her being a femme-objet,
and instead of being a well-rounded
character, respected for her experience in the Citrine Tower, she is portrayed
in the sexualized manner shown above. Rather than given the opportunity to
express her feelings and thoughts in the narrative, she is exploited by the
author and Stone for her fanciful sexuality. Furthermore at the end of the short
story, the Citrine building is attacked and blown apart. Stone, when waking up,
asks about June only to find that she had committed suicide when the raiders
tried to capture her. Stone reflects with a proficient verse then continues with
his life, not a syllable more reflection on the woman he had exploited. He soon
learns that he is the newest owner and master of the Citrine and his focus
focuses solely upon his new found responsibility rather than June’s lost life.
This portion of the narrative truly shows how little June’s life was valued in
the story rather than her sexualized body and depiction of that.
In
The Parable of the Sower, the reader
is given a different approach to women in the narratives of the future. Although
women are still subjected to society’s view of their sex and bodies, they are
represented in an earthier and rawer sense. In the second chapter of the novel,
the reader is presented with the reality of how women are treated in this
apocalyptic setting. When trekking to get baptized, Laura sees a woman on the
street, remarking that she is “young” “naked” and “afraid, and while acting
drowsy it is possible that she was “raped so much that she was crazy” (Butler
9). This depiction of women in the possible future is quite repulsive. Rather
than having the possibility that there are women outside of the “wall” that
could have detailed characters, the first opportunity the author has in
representation women of the future,
she presents them as
victims to their sexuality and prisoners to a world that views them by their
bodies. As Laura continues further on her journey she observes more female life
and notices “a little girl, naked, maybe seven years old with blood running down
her bare thighs. A woman with a swollen bloody, beaten face….” (Butler 13). Once
again women are not represented in the narrative by their other attributes that
might add to provoke thought of how women may evolve in society as the world
advances, but instead are bound down by their sexuality. The violence and
sexualized depictions of the female gender in Science fiction continues with the
passage mentioned above. The young girl being a victim to rape as well as the
portrayal of the battered woman continues this theme. Not only are these women
being violated through the depiction of them as walking sex objects, but also
presented physically beaten and abused. Although
The Parable of the Sower addresses
the theme of women as sex objects differently in the novel, they are still
subjected and demeaned to that role, without given other traits.
The representation of women in demeaning and sexualized gender roles
continues within science fiction through the Ecotopian short story, “House of
Bones.” The story tells of a time traveler who is trapped in the distant past,
and becomes a member of an early man village. These cavemen like people whom he
lives with are basic and barbaric. Although they have two forms of language,
masonry as well as weapons, they rely on primal reactions when interacting
socially. The women in the narrative have little to no speaking roles in the
story but are still used to by the author to elevate the reader’s attention with
aggressively provocative portrayals of the females in the village. When telling
the time traveler of the mating activities of the Neanderthals, Zeus, the chief
of the village grabs “the nearest woman, pushing down, pretends to hump her from
behind. Everyone laughs, cheers, stamps his feet” (Silverberg). This aggressive
behavior towards women is unacceptable. The nameless woman in the example above
is sexually harassed while the men of this hunter gatherer society cheer and
“stamp [their] feet.” With science fiction being an adventure tale of things
that could be, “House of Bones” acts as a fantasy for reader to use as escapism
to a different world than their own. This becomes problematic when women in
these narratives are being exploited. Although it could be argued that the
portrayal of women in this short story are used to contrast the time travelers
much more evolved culture from the future, that would be false. The time
traveler in “House of Bones” continues the exploitation of women when he
describes his wife. He states, “Sally is far and away the best-looking woman in
the tribe, high firm breasts, long supple legs, alert, inquisitive face”
(Silverberg). The time traveler in the story perfectly describes the
stereotypical Wasp-like figured women Science fiction is known for. Rather than
optimistically having a different perspective and attitude towards women than
the cave people he abides with, the time traveler instantly reduces his wife to
her body, and showing her worth in his eyes as her sexual appeal. “House of
Bones” continues the theme of sexualizing women and reducing them to the
femme-objet which abides heavily
within the boy’s club style of science fiction.
The short story, “Johnny Mnemonic” surprisingly escapes from the current
trend in Science fiction of overly sexualized women, diverting from the norm of
the genre. Admittedly the narrative introduces a female character named Molly
Millions and does a good job in describing her features without focusing on the
more sexually prized attributes. The narrator describes Molly as “a thin girl
with mirrored glasses, her dark hair cut in a rough shag. She wore black
leather, open over a T-shirt slashed diagonally with stripes of red and black”
(Gibson). Gibson makes a unique choice in his writing to escape the status quo
of portraying female characters in overly sexualized appearance, but instead
gives his female character a respectful description. Although the author decided
to appeal Molly in leather, he gives her a jacket rather than a cat suit. This
may seem like a small detail, but it should be recognized when an author escapes
his genres stereotypes and boldly makes a character that not only diverts from
the overly sexualized portrays women in Science Fiction are victim to, but also
takes the lead as the savior of the male protagonist, rather than him saving the
damsel. Although the short story “Johnny Mnemonic” describes its feminine hero
respectfully without going in depth over her anatomy, this is an exception to
the rule of Science Fiction normally using women as a form of escapism in the
boy’s club fantasy.
The exploitation and sexual representation of women in Science Fiction is
apparent not only in the literature of ideas, also in films of the same genre.
One prominent representation of sexual violence towards women in Science Fiction
movies would be adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,
known as Blade Runner. Much like the
novel, the narrative follows the bounty hunter Decker, who lives in a dystopian
Los Angeles while hunting runaway androids.
The most disturbing scene of aggressive sexual activity towards women in
the movie happens when Decker and the android Rachel are in his apartment. After
Rachel expresses her confliction of not truly knowing if she honestly knowns how
to play the piano, or if it is just programing, the recently intoxicated Decker
tries to arouse her, hoping for intimacy; feeling uncertain about the situation
she tries to escape his apartment which he blocks the exit from, and forces her
to not only make love to him, but express affectionate words to him (Blade
Runner). Under the influence of a crisis of identity, Decker exploits the
android Rachel’s sexuality in order to find comfort in the human aspect of
intimacy. Although one could argue that Rachel is an android without humanity
and sexually assaulting a robot is not as vile as to a human, they would be
false in their assumptions. Rachel was a unique android at first believing that
she was purely human and possessed many of the feelings and emotions a female
human would have. The scene mentioned above is concerning because it doesn’t
just have the female character being forced into sexual acts, but the scene uses
this as a way for Decker to unleash his built up frustration and give a sort of
catharsis for the audience. Much in the same style of the science fiction
mentioned above, being adventure novels written by boy’s clubs, portray women in
sexually compromising situations as a way to higher the intrigue of their
narratives.
Once again the film medium fails to escape the Science Fiction genre
stereotype of representing women as sex objects in their narratives with the
film Forbidden Planet. In the movie,
a space ship’s crew checks on an old settlement to see if there is any life. In
their search they find Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira, both of whom have
lived alone in this planet with zero interaction for decades. While
investigating the odd disappearance of the colony, Commander Adams is introduced
to Altaira who is portrayed as fascinated, not with the different cultural
elements of the travelers, but instead with kissing; and so, both Commander
Adams, as well as a few others in the crew help teach Altaira an education in
making out (Forbidden Planet).
Altaira, rather than being an example for young women to be curious about
cultures differing from themselves,
is reduced to being represented as a woman focused primarily on her
sexual urges, unable to make reasoning thoughts about the travelers. Altaira
embodies the femme object with not
only wearing revealing garments and the wasp-like figure, but also portrayed
sexually as a physical object the male protagonists can exploit for their
pleasures as well as the viewing audiences.
The idea of women being represented as sexual objects in art is not a new
one, but the pattern of sexually representing and exploiting female characters
in Science Fiction narratives is something that should be addressed.
In the scripture utopian book of Genesis; as well the apocalyptic book of
Revelations, women’s sexuality is portrayed as something sinful and evil, with
much of it being factors to the downfall of man. In the short story “Stone
Lives” the main female protagonist June, although having power and rank in the
post-apocalyptic world, is quickly reduced and represented as a sexual object
for the male protagonist Stone to have his way with. Instead of being
represented for her intellect or skills which led her to being second in command
of the new society, she is described explicitly by her body and sexuality.
Although the protagonist in Laura Butler’s
Parable of the Sower is an
independent female who survives much of the apocalyptic environment, many of the
women characters in the book as confined to play the role of their sexuality,
which plays a heavy part of their existence. The short story “House of Bones”
continues the theme of sexual exploitation towards female characters in Science
Fiction. Not only do the cave men sexually harass the women in their community,
but when the time traveler has a chance to contrast from their culture as a
modern man, he fails by viewing his wife’s value strictly by her attractiveness.
It is worth mentioning that William Gibson’s “Johnny Mnemonic” diverts from the
current theme the Sci-Fi genre of representing women sexually primarily and
instead develops Molly Millions as an independent bad-ass who doesn’t have to
show her bust-line to get a prominent scene in the narrative. The films
mentioned above unfortunately do not follow Gibson’s pattern but instead show
sexually exploited women in their movies, both with Racheal as well as Altaira.
Although the genre of Science fiction is slowly leaving its origins of being a
boys club, it continues to have the explicit figures of women whose sexuality is
being exploited and used to further the intrigue of the reader and attract the
male crowd.
Works
Cited.
Blair, Karin. "Sex And Star Trek." Science Fiction Studies 10.3 [31] (1983):
292-297. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 23 Mar. 2016
Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower.
New York: Warner Books, 2000. Print.
Filippo, Paul Di. “Stone Lives.” 1985.
Handout.
Hamidi, Ghezal. "Science Fiction Is No Longer a Boys’ Club." Saloncom RSS. Salon
Media Group, Inc., 31 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2016
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study
Bible English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2010. Print.
Silverberg, Robert. “House of Bones.” Ed. Robinson, Kim S.
Future Primitive : the New Ecotopias.
New York: TOR, 1997. Print.
Gibson, William. “Johnny Mnemonic” Web.
Blade
Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer. Warner Bros.,
1982. DVD.
Forbidden Planet. Dir. Fred M. Wilcox. Perf. Leslie Nielson and Anne Francis.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, 1956. DVD.
