Gender in Science Fiction

Course content

What does gender have to do with aliens, monsters, or robots?
Since its very beginning, science-fiction has suggested solutions to the threat of “the other”. The genre invites us to think about different solutions to situations of conflict, distress, and crises, which is always a good skill to have. But the genre also plays with society’s views of “the other”. That is why the course will explore the changing construction of gender throughout the history of the sci-fi genre. We will look at the development of the common “love interest” trope and how it relates to notions of medieval court romances, the Victorian “angel in the house”, and the ideal of the 1950s housewife. It will become evident that sci-fi narratives not only question (and simultaneously reaffirm) established gender norms but also use gender to racialize (non-human) individuals and collectives. King Kong, anyone? We will ask what sci-fi texts can say about white masculinity, racialized sexuality, and the subject position of racialized women venturing into Afro- and Africanfuturism. Science-fiction not only shows the socio-historic specificity in the construction of gender and race, but it also highlights its intersectional character.