Editing Dune (novel) (section)

===Gender dynamics===
[[Gender role|Gender dynamics]] are complex in ''Dune''. Herbert offers a multi-layered portrayal of gender roles within the context of a feudal, hierarchical society, particularly through the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. Although the Bene Gesserit tend to hold roles that are traditionally associated with women, such as wives, concubines, and mothers, their characters transcend stereotypes as they play politics and pursue long-term strategic goals. Full gender equality is not depicted in ''Dune'', but the Bene Gesserit use specialized training and access to high-ranking men to gain agency and power within the constraints of their environment. Their training in prana-bindu allows them to exert control over their minds and bodies, including over pregnancy, and they are skilled in hand-to-hand combat and use of the Voice to command others. Jessica's disobedience in bearing a son instead of daughter and training him in the Bene Gesserit Way is a major plot point that sets in motion the events of the novel.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Kara |title=Women's Agency in the Dune Universe: Tracing Women's Liberation through Science Fiction |date=2021 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-030-89204-3 |edition= |location=Switzerland |pages=124, 131}}</ref><ref name=":6"/> By setting up certain women with leaders of certain Houses in the Imperium, the Bene Gesserit can control bloodlines across generations through their secret breeding program.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Semler |first=Stephanie |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/663953010 |title=Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat |date=2011 |publisher=Open Court |isbn=978-0-8126-9715-5 |editor-last=Nicholas |editor-first=Jeffery |series=Popular Culture and Philosophy |location=Chicago |pages=17 |oclc=663953010 |access-date=May 4, 2024 |archive-date=May 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531173745/https://search.worldcat.org/title/663953010 |url-status=live }}</ref> Even within the male-dominated Imperium, then, the Bene Gesserit wield reproductive power and choose which genetic markers to continue into the future.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McReynolds |first=Leigha High |title=Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert's Epic Saga |date=2022 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8201-3 |editor-last=Nardi |editor-first=Dominic J. |series= |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |pages=145–155 |chapter=Locations of Deviance: A Eugenics Reading of Dune |editor-last2=Brierly |editor-first2=N. Trevor}}</ref>

Reverend Mother Mohiam uses skills in Truthsaying to act as the Emperor's official Truthsayer and advisor. Her role can be considered similar to that of [[abbess]]es in the medieval Church. Before Princess Irulan appears as a character who agrees to a political marriage with Paul, she acts as a historian who shapes the reader's interpretation of the story and Paul's legacy due to the excerpts from her writing that frame each chapter.<ref name=":5"/><ref name=":6"/>

Among the Fremen, women have roles as mothers and wives and also exercise agency through combat and religious authority. Fremen women and children have a reputation for being just as violent and dangerous as Fremen men. Chani travels with Stilgar in his military party, armed like the others. After becoming Paul's concubine, she kills one of the men who comes to challenge him. Alia leads an attack against the Emperor's Sardaukar and kills Baron Harkonnen with a gom jabbar. Women also take on the role of religious leaders. Chani is a Sayyadina who presides over tribal rituals such as Paul's worm-riding test, and Reverend Mother Ramallo carries the tribe's memories and passes them along to Jessica through the [[Water of Life (Dune)|Water of Life]] ceremony. Within the male-led sietches, Fremen women find different avenues of authority.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Kara |title=Frank Herbert's Dune: A Critical Companion |date=2022 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-031-13934-5 |series=Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon |location=Switzerland |pages=80–84}}</ref>

The gom jabbar test of humanity is administered by the female Bene Gesserit order but rarely to males.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schwartz|first=Susan|date=2014|title=A Teaching Review of Dune: Religion is the Spice of Life|journal=Implicit Religion|volume=17|issue=4|pages=533–538|doi=10.1558/imre.v17i4.533}}</ref> The Bene Gesserit have seemingly mastered the unconscious and can play on the unconscious weaknesses of others using the Voice, yet their breeding program seeks after a male Kwisatz Haderach.<ref name=":3"/> Their plan is to produce a male who can "possess complete racial memory, both male and female," and look into the black hole in the collective unconscious that they fear.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Miller|first=David M.|title=Frank Herbert|publisher=Starmont House|year=1980}}</ref> A central theme of the book is the connection, in Jessica's son, of this female aspect with his male aspect. This aligns with concepts in [[Carl Jung|Jungian]] psychology, which features conscious/unconscious and taking/giving roles associated with males and females, as well as the idea of the collective unconscious.<ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Reilly|first=Timothy|title=Frank Herbert|publisher=Frederick Ungar Publishing|year=1981|isbn=978-0-8044-2666-4}}</ref> Paul's approach to power consistently requires his upbringing under the matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who operate as a long-dominating [[Shadow government (conspiracy)|shadow government]] behind all of the great houses and their marriages or divisions.<ref name=":4"/> He is trained by Jessica in the Bene Gesserit Way, which includes prana-bindu training in nerve and muscle control and precise perception.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Kennedy|first=Kara|date=September 8, 2021|title=Frank Herbert, the Bene Gesserit, and the Complexity of Women in the World of Dune|url=https://www.tor.com/2021/09/08/frank-herbert-the-bene-gesserit-and-the-complexity-of-women-in-the-world-of-dune/|access-date=|website=Tor.com|language=en-US|archive-date=October 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021085928/https://www.tor.com/2021/09/08/frank-herbert-the-bene-gesserit-and-the-complexity-of-women-in-the-world-of-dune/|url-status=live}}</ref> Paul also receives Mentat training, thus helping prepare him to be a type of androgynous Kwisatz Haderach, a male Reverend Mother.<ref name=":4"/>

In a Bene Gesserit test early in the book, it is implied that people are generally "inhuman" in that they irrationally place desire over self-interest and reason.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} This applies Herbert's philosophy that humans are not created equal, while equal justice and equal opportunity are higher ideals than mental, physical, or moral equality.<ref name="Genesis">{{cite web|last=Herbert|first=Frank|url=http://www.frankherbert.org/news/genesis.html |title=''Dune'' Genesis|access-date=February 14, 2014 |publisher=FrankHerbert.org|work=[[Omni (magazine)|Omni]]|date=July 1980 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107220342/http://www.frankherbert.org/news/genesis.html |archive-date=January 7, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>