Humanities › History & Culture Feminist Utopia/Dystopia Science Fiction Sub-Genre Print Mads Perch / Getty Images History & Culture Women's History Feminist Texts History Of Feminism Important Figures Key Events Women's Suffrage Women & War Laws & Womens Rights American History African American History African History Ancient History and Culture Asian History European History Genealogy Inventions Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century View More By Linda Napikoski Linda Napikoski Journalist J.D., Hofstra University B.A., English and Print Journalism, University of Southern California Linda Napikoski, J.D., is a journalist and activist specializing in feminism and global human rights. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on March 20, 2018 Feminist Utopia Feminist utopia is a type of social science fiction. Usually, a feminist utopia novel envisions a world in stark contrast to patriarchal society. Feminist utopia imagines a society without gender oppression, envisioning a future or an alternate reality where men and women are not stuck in traditional roles of inequality. These novels are often set in worlds where men are entirely absent. Feminist Dystopia Often, a feminist science fiction novel is more of a dystopia. Dystopic science fiction imagines a world gone terribly wrong, exploring the most extreme possible consequences of current society’s problems. In a feminist dystopia, the inequality of society or oppression of women is exaggerated or intensified to highlight the need for change in contemporary society. Read More Feminist Literary Criticism By Linda Napikoski Explosion of a Subgenre There was a great increase in feminist utopian literature during the second-wave feminism of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Feminist science fiction is often seen as more concerned with societal roles and power dynamics than the technological advances and space travel of “typical” science fiction. Examples Early feminist utopias: City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Contemporary feminist utopia novels: Works by Marge Piercy The Wanderground by Sally Miller Gearhart Feminist dystopia novels: Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood There are also many books, such as Joanna Russ’ The Female Man, that explore both utopia and dystopia. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Napikoski, Linda. "Feminist Utopia/Dystopia." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/feminist-utopia-dystopia-3529060. Napikoski, Linda. (2020, August 26). Feminist Utopia/Dystopia. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/feminist-utopia-dystopia-3529060 Napikoski, Linda. "Feminist Utopia/Dystopia." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/feminist-utopia-dystopia-3529060 (accessed March 29, 2024). copy citation