What I mean by that is, that female scifi writers frequently bring a unique 'vision' to the science fiction universe. As women who live in a society which contain many historical and social imbalances, we are often forced to navigate through life observing the important areas OF life (work, politics, relationships, so on...) through the eyes of people who are not automatically deemed 'insiders'. This perspective on life becomes even deeper and more complex, when it comes to the experiences of women from different cultures, racial communities, nationalities and lifestyles.
Science fiction is a genre with NO limits. Anything you can imagine can have a form of legitimacy within the pages. The sheer freedom of this storytelling can bring out the best in writers, unlock their hopes, their fears, their anxieties, and their utmost creativity. All of the constraints, categorizations and limitations which are found in contemporary society, can be thrown off like the shackles they are when it comes to envisioning the future. I think this is why there is such a unique narrative female scifi authors bring to their storytelling.
The science fiction novel which was one of the books that convinced me to embark on my own writing journey was the penultimate scifi work from a female perspective, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
I traveled to this nightmare world of misogyny, oppression, and injustice, The Republic of Gilead. I followed the suffering and ultimate victory of the protagonist, Offred, used as a 'breeder' and denied as a human being with rights. Before I read Atwood's work, it didn't necessarily occur to me that science fiction can be used as an expression of protest. But the themes in The Handmaid's Tale such as violence against women, hypocrisy and sexual exploitation could all be found, in different contexts, in our own world. Her novel made a statement on present injustices and transformed them into a parallel universe, the worst qualities of humanity that could be taken to the final level if freedom was allowed to be eradicated and fear allowed to dominate a population.
To me, science fiction can be political and significant literature--and the visions of those writers who have been historically marginalized have the capability of bringing a level to the writing that is multi-layered and profoundly complex. A quality of creativity that pierces through the surface.
This is definitely NOT me saying that I don't love, admire, and enjoy the science fiction of male authors in the genre. Far from it! Rod Serling and Richard Matheson, just two examples out of many, are creators I've viewed as two of the greatest writers of fantasy and scifi of the 20th century. Their exploration of the human spirit and the darkness and catastrophe which often follows behind, was writing on the highest level.
What I'm saying is that our experiences shape our creativity. The way the world reacts to who we are influences the way we see the world in return...and our destinies.
Women in science fiction can have a powerful voice because of our place in a society that has traditionally assigned varying levels of 'worth' to a woman, a society that has been both greatly unjust and greatly transformed. How we use this voice is of the highest importance not just for modern readers and writers but for the continuing transformation of our society and for the benefit of the women who will come after us.
Have women writers been discriminated against? Such things are hard to quantify or prove, although most women in the field can cite occasional instances of sexism (the editor who declares that sf by women doesn't sell; the disgruntled author who scents a feminist conspiracy when his novel fails to win awards; the claim from an old-time fan that the values of Hard SF are being destroyed by female editors with an innately feminine preference for fantasy). More recently, a number of women writers of Hard SF have talked online about the difficulties of being accepted as a woman writing in this area, and the perceived benefits (to publishers at least) of using a gender-neutral name in this subgenre.On the whole the "Old Boy Network" of sf has been largely receptive to any women who care to join, even if various generations of male writers and editors have expressed surprise at sf's attraction to women writers and readers. Even after 40 years, there are still significant segments of the sf community that remain oblivious or indifferent to the work of women writers. Whether this stems from ignorance or implicit bias against women's writing, the result is the same: a view of the history and contemporary state of sf that fails to acknowledge the contributions of women in the field.- See more at: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/women_sf_writers
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