Editing Utopian and dystopian fiction (section)

===Feminist utopias===
{{See also|Utopia#Feminism}}
Another subgenre is ''feminist utopias'' and the overlapping category of [[feminist science fiction]]. According to the author [[Sally Miller Gearhart]], "A feminist utopian novel is one which ''a.'' contrasts the present with an envisioned idealized society (separated from the present by time or space), ''b.'' offers a comprehensive critique of present values/conditions, ''c.'' sees men or [[Patriarchy|male institutions]] as a major cause of present social ills, ''d.'' presents women as not only at least the equals of men but also as [[Reproductive rights|the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions]]."<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/womeninsearchofu0000unse/page/296|title=Women in Search of Utopia: Mavericks and Mythmakers|last=Gearhart|first=Sally Miller|publisher=Shoken Books|year=1984|isbn=0805239006|editor-last=Baruch|editor-first=Elaine Hoffman|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womeninsearchofu0000unse/page/296 296]|chapter=Future Visions: Today's Politics: Feminist Utopias in Review|editor-last2=Rohrlich|editor-first2=Ruby}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/feminist-utopia-dystopia-3529060|title=A Look at Feminist Utopia and Dystopia Literature|last=Napikoski|first=Linda|website=ThoughtCo|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref>

Utopias have explored the ramification of gender being either a societal construct or a hard-wired imperative.<ref name=WSEncyc1442>{{cite book|title=Women's studies encyclopedia|last=Tierney|first=Helen|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|page=[https://archive.org/details/womensstudiesenc0001unse/page/1442 1442]|isbn=978-0-313-31073-7|url=https://archive.org/details/womensstudiesenc0001unse/page/1442}}</ref> In [[Mary Gentle]]'s ''[[Golden Witchbreed]]'', gender is not chosen until maturity, and gender has no bearing on social roles. In contrast, [[Doris Lessing]]'s ''[[The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five]]'' (1980) suggests that men's and women's values are inherent to the sexes and cannot be changed, making a compromise between them essential. In ''My Own Utopia'' (1961) by [[Elisabeth Mann Borgese]], gender exists but is dependent upon age rather than sex — genderless children mature into women, some of whom eventually become men.<ref name=WSEncyc1442/> [[Marge Piercy]]'s novel ''[[Woman on the Edge of Time]]'' keeps human biology, but removes pregnancy and childbirth from the gender equation by resorting to [[assisted reproductive technology]] while allowing both women and men the nurturing experience of [[breastfeeding]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Piercy |first=Marge |title=Woman on the Edge of Time |date=May 1976 |publisher=Fawcett Crest }}</ref>

Utopic [[single-gender world]]s or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Attebery |first=Brian |title=Decoding gender in science fiction |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-317-97147-4 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |oclc=868068199}}</ref> One solution to [[sociology of gender|gender oppression]] or [[social issue]]s in feminist utopian fiction is to remove men, either showing isolated all-female societies as in [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]]'s ''[[Herland (novel)|Herland]]'', or societies where men have died out or been replaced, as in [[Joanna Russ]]'s ''A Few Things I Know About Whileaway'', where "the poisonous binary gender" has died off.  In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of a technological or mystical method that allows female [[parthenogenesis|parthenogenetic reproduction]]. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers. Many influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s;<ref name=":2" /><ref name=erotic1189>[[Gaétan Brulotte]] & John Phillips, ''Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature'', "Science Fiction and Fantasy", p.1189, CRC Press, 2006, {{ISBN|1-57958-441-1}}</ref><ref name =Utop101/> the most often studied examples include Joanna Russ's ''[[The Female Man]] and'' [[Suzy McKee Charnas]]'s ''[[The Holdfast Chronicles]]''.<ref name =Utop101>Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", [[Robin Anne Reid]], p. Het  101 {{ISBN|0-313-31635-X}}</ref> Such worlds have been portrayed most often by lesbian or feminist authors; their use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from [[patriarchy]]. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all — ''Herland'' (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a famous early example of a sexless society.<ref name=erotic1189/> Charlene Ball writes in ''Women's Studies Encyclopedia'' that use of speculative fiction to explore gender roles has been more common in the United States than in Europe and elsewhere.<ref name=WSEncyc1442/>

Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes rather than separation.<ref name=Utop102>Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", Robin Anne Reid, p. 102 {{ISBN?}}</ref>