- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: The Women's Press; 1st edition (1 April 1985)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0704339498
- ISBN-13: 978-0704339491
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11.2 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 451,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Female Man (S.F. Masterworks)
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Review
'The Female Man is not only known as a science fiction classic but also as a work of immense significance to feminist literature' Sunday Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Four women living in parallel worlds, each with a different gender landscape. When they begin to travel to each other's worlds each woman's preconceptions on gender and what it means to be a woman are challenged. Acclaimed as one of the essential works of science fiction and an influence on William Gibson, THE FEMALE MAN takes a look at gender roles in society and remains a work of great power.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jael and Janet are from the future (but not our future), Jeannine is from the present (but of another past), and Joanna is from now (or, rather from 1970). They meet, interact and communicate: the plot as such doesn't exist. We are very much in the realm of 70s cutting-edge, modernist sci-fi.
This novel is a modern classic in at least two categories: it's a notable sci-fi title, and an important feminist novel. But most of all it's such a typical book from the 70s!
The style is what might be called innocently modern, with a mixture of stream of consciousness, straight first person and even third person narration. The transition between perspectives is very fuzzy, often times one doesn't know which exactly of the four alternative characters (Jael, Janet, Joanna and Jeannine) is talking/being narrated. It actually reminded me quite strongly of this other 70s cult title, The Dice Man, not because it's actually technically similar, but because it stems from the same spirit of the time.
Russ concentrates on the cultural and psychological side of male dominance: and occasionally, especially when sketching little scenes of a male-female dialogue, the satirical edge is brilliantly sharp and very funny.
Ideologically, it's interesting: firstly, because it's a historical account of feminist concerns at a particular time in a particular social grouping; and secondly, because it allows us to look from the perspective of almost 40 years (Russ's book was originally written in 1970) and try to judge to what extent the concerns are still valid.
Possibly surprisingly, the biggest difference is perhaps in the attitudes to homosexuality; and possibly unsurprisingly, the least progress is in the women's own attitudes to marriage and breeding.
Most still are, but most seem, at least to me, rather petty: there is no mention of the ACTUAL discrimination, of the effect of poverty on women, of reproductive rights, of equal pay, of colonisation of women's bodies...of hundreds of concerns that seem rather more valid to me than cultural dominance of the idea that woman who doesn't marry and have children is a failure as a human being. It is possible of course that the fact that I see is a petty is one of the symptoms of progress we have achieved. I personally think it's more a question of Ross's concentration on issues important for middle class Westerners, so typical for a lot of feminist movement in general, and especially in those times.
As a sci-fi, the book works only to some extent: there is too much psychological and ideological rumination and not enough world building or plot.
It's really 3.5 stars not 4, but Amazon won't let me have a half point rating, so I decided to be charitable.
This novel is a modern classic in at least two categories: it's a notable sci-fi title, and an important feminist novel. But most of all it's such a typical book from the 70s!
The style is what might be called innocently modern, with a mixture of stream of consciousness, straight first person and even third person narration. The transition between perspectives is very fuzzy, often times one doesn't know which exactly of the four alternative characters (Jael, Janet, Joanna and Jeannine) is talking/being narrated. It actually reminded me quite strongly of this other 70s cult title, The Dice Man, not because it's actually technically similar, but because it stems from the same spirit of the time.
Russ concentrates on the cultural and psychological side of male dominance: and occasionally, especially when sketching little scenes of a male-female dialogue, the satirical edge is brilliantly sharp and very funny.
Ideologically, it's interesting: firstly, because it's a historical account of feminist concerns at a particular time in a particular social grouping; and secondly, because it allows us to look from the perspective of almost 40 years (Russ's book was originally written in 1970) and try to judge to what extent the concerns are still valid.
Possibly surprisingly, the biggest difference is perhaps in the attitudes to homosexuality; and possibly unsurprisingly, the least progress is in the women's own attitudes to marriage and breeding.
Most still are, but most seem, at least to me, rather petty: there is no mention of the ACTUAL discrimination, of the effect of poverty on women, of reproductive rights, of equal pay, of colonisation of women's bodies...of hundreds of concerns that seem rather more valid to me than cultural dominance of the idea that woman who doesn't marry and have children is a failure as a human being. It is possible of course that the fact that I see is a petty is one of the symptoms of progress we have achieved. I personally think it's more a question of Ross's concentration on issues important for middle class Westerners, so typical for a lot of feminist movement in general, and especially in those times.
As a sci-fi, the book works only to some extent: there is too much psychological and ideological rumination and not enough world building or plot.
It's really 3.5 stars not 4, but Amazon won't let me have a half point rating, so I decided to be charitable.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is very much a product of the 70's. These characters are all beautiful, intelligent women who, for one reason or another, don't really have men in their lives.
On first glance, the issues mentioned seem to be a touch out of date but while reading, I could not help myself from wondering if women are really as powerful nowadays as much as we would like to think or if, on the other hand, we have managed to tip the balance so far that men are now at a disadvantage - just like in "Whileaway". Still it would be truly a sad world if women all end up like "Jael".
This is a beautifully written book with good insight into the 70's feminist imagination! Enjoy!
Format:Paperback
The Female Man is one of the more disjointed and repetitive books I've ever read in SF. I got to the end, only just, irritated by the (at times) stream-of-consciousness type approach to the narrative. Perhaps much of what the book contains may have heartened feminists when it was first written, however, now it comes across as anachronistic and somewhat twee; a rather more sophisticated discourse pervades gender studies in the modern day. Not one I would recommend.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An Intriguing Book
I bought this book because I read somewhere that it was a classic or that it changed the world or something like that. It had a big build up. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Angel House
disappointing
I wanted to like this book, I really did. I have a special interest in sci-fi written by women, and I was vaguely surprised that I had never read any of Joanna Russ's books... Read more
Published 12 months ago by H. Ashford
A confusing narrative.
Perhaps it's because I'm a thick-headed, linear, rude mechanical of a man, but I couldn't finish this book. Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2009 by Behan
An interesting theory about how sex began
Unlike the previous reviewer, I don't think this is a novel! In a nutshell, the book describes how in the beginning, there were only females, who reproduced by sort of hatching... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 1999
A masterpiece
One of the best novels about sexual roles ever written. Any man that wishes to understand women should read this.
Published on 12 Jan 1999
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