If you want to have all the info about women and sf at you fingertips, I suspect you could do a lot worse than start with Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, an encyclopedia in 2 volumes edited by Robin Anne Reid. For all the nifty contents, see Reid’s comments to a previous blog post, starting here.
Coming soon: a list of other non-fiction books on the topic that I’d love to own–and think you should, too. While I’m about other business, feel free to leave comments.
Some examples to get you started: In the Chinks of the World Machine, Sarah Lefanu, On Joanna Russ, Farah Mendlesohn, The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Justine Larbalestier.
Nicola Griffith 
Absolutely must read: Helen Merrick, The Secret FEminist Cabal: A Cultural Histories of Science Fiction Feminisms.”
I should be editing paper for submission, but this is so much more fun.
Here's one of my selected bibliographies on feminism and sf, women and sf, etc.
NOT complete but covers a fairly wide range of genre.
Armitt, Lucie, ed. Where No Man Has Gone Before: Women and Science Fiction. London: Routledge, 1991.
Atteberry, Brian. Decoding Gender in Science Fiction. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Bacon-Smith, Camille. Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. Press, 1992.
_____. Science Fiction Culture. Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media, and Political Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.
Barr, Marleen S. Alien to Femininity: Speculative Fiction and Feminist Theory. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1987.
_____. Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
_____, ed. Future Females: A Critical Anthology. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1981.
_____, ed. Future Females, The Next Generation: New Voices and Velocities in Feminist Science Fiction Criticism. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.
Barr, Marleen S. and Richard Feldstein. Discontented Discourses: Feminism/Textual Intervention/Psychoanalysis. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.
Barr, Marleen S. and Marge Piercy. Lost in Space: Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Barr, Marleen S. and Nicholas D. Smith, eds. Women and Utopia: Critical Interpretations. New York: Lanham, 1983.
Becker, Susanne. Gothic Forms of Feminine Fictions. Manchester: Manchester University Press; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.
Bell, Elizabeth and Lynda Haas. From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Brizzi, Mary T. Anne McCaffrey. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1986.
Brunsdon, Charlotte and Julie Acci. Feminist Television Criticism: A Reader. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.
Bucknall, Barbara J. Ursula K. Le Guin. New York: Ungar, 1981.
Robin
Carter, Margaret L. Dracula: The Vampire and the Critics. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1988.
Chronological Bibliography of Science Fiction History, Theory, and Criticism [Online September 2007]. Science Fiction Studies website .
Clery, E. J. Women's Gothic: From Clara Reeve to Mary Shelley. Tavistock, Eng.: Northcote House in Association with the British Council, 2000.
Clover, Carol J. Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Cornillion, Susan Koppelman. Images of Women in Fiction: Feminist Perspectives. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press,1972.
Cortiel, Jeanne. Demand My Writing: Joanna Russ/Feminism/Science Fiction. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999.
Cummins, Elizabeth. Understanding Ursula K. Le Guin. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1990.
Davies, Catherine. A Place in the Sun? Women Writers in Twentieth-Century Cuba. London: Zed Books; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.
DeLamotte, Eugenia C. Perils of the Night: A Feminist Study of Nineteenth-Century Gothic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Delaney, Samuel. The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Essays on Science Fiction. New York: Berkley, 1977.
_____. Silent Interviews: On Language, Race, Sex, Science Fiction, and Some Comics. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
_____. Longer Views: Extended Essays. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1996.
Donawerth, Jane L. Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997.
Donawerth, Jane L., Carol A. Kolmerten and Susan Gubar. Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1994.
Drew, Bernard A. Heroines: A Bibliography of Women Series Characters in Mystery, Espionage, Action, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Western, Romance and Juvenile Novels. New York: Garland, 1989.
Du Pont, Denise, ed. Women of Vision: Essays by Women Writing Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988.
Durant, David S. Ann Radcliffe's Novels: Experiments in Setting. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Robin
Ellis, Kate Ferguson. The Contested Castle: Gothic Novels and the Subversion of Domestic Ideology. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.
Fetterley, Judith. The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction. Boomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
Finch, Alison. Women's Writing in Nineteenth-Century France. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Fishburn, Katherine. The Unexpected Universe of Doris Lessing: A Study in Narrative Technique. Westport, CN: Greenwood, 1985.
Flanagan, Mary and Austin Booth. Reload: Rethinking Women and Cyberculture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.
Fleenor, Juliann E. The Female Gothic. Montreal: Eden Press, 1983.
Florescu, Radu. In Search of Frankenstein: Exploring the Myths Behind Mary Shelley's Monster. London: Robson Books, 1996.
Friedman, Lenemaja. Shirley Jackson. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1975.
Fry, Carrol L. Charlotte Smith, Popular Novelist. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Gallardo C., Ximena and C. Jason Smith. Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley. New York: Continuum, 2004.
Garrett, John. Gothic Strains and Bourgeois Sentiments in the Novels of Mrs. Ann Radcliffe and Her Imitators. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Ginn, Sherry. Our Space, Our Place: Women in the Worlds of Science Fiction Television. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2005.
Giorgio, Adalgisa. Writing Mothers and Daughters: Renegotiating the Mother in Western European Narratives by Women. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002.
Glut, Donald F. The Frankenstein Legend: A Tribute to Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1973.
Gordon, Joan and Veronica Hollinger, eds. Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. Philadelphia: University of Penn Press, 1997.
Grant, Barry Keith. The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1996.
Haraway, Donna J. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge, 1991.
Harris, Cheryl and Alison Alexander, ed. Theorizing Fandom: Fans, Subculture and Identity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 1998.
Hazen, Helen. Endless Rapture: Rape, Romance, and the Female Imagination. New York: Scribner, 1983.
Heiland, Donna. Gothic and Gender: An Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.
Helford, Elyce Rae, ed. Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.
Heller, Lynne Epstein. Ann Radcliffe's Gothic Landscape of Fiction and the Various Influences Upon It. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Heller, Tamar. Dead Secrets: Wilkie Collins and the Female Gothic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.
Herzog, Kristin. Women, Ethnics, and Exotics: Images of Power in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Fiction. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1983.
Hoeveler, Diane Long. Gothic Feminism: The Professionalization of Gender from Charlotte Smith to the Brontës. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998.
Hollinger,Veronica and Joan Gordon. Edging into the Future: Science Fiction and Contemporary Cultural Transformation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.
Hoppenstand, Gary and Ray Broadus Browne. The Gothic World of Anne Rice. Bowing Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996.
Horn, Maurice. Women in the Comics. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1977.
Horner, Avril and Sue Zlosnik. Daphne du Maurier: Writing, Identity and the Gothic Imagination. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
Howey, Ann F. Rewriting the Women of Camelot: Arthurian Popular Fiction and Feminism. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001.
Hunter, J. Paul, ed. “Frankenstein”: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Responses,
Modern Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996.
Ingram, Angela J. C. and Daphne Patai. Rediscovering Forgotten Radicals: British Women Writers, 1889-1939. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press,1993.
Robin
Inness, Sherrie A. Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture. Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media, and Popular Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
_____. Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Irons, Glenwood H. Gender, Language, and Myth: Essays on Popular Narrative. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.
James, Edward and Farah Mendlesohn. The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
Joannou, Maroula. Women Writers of the 1930s: Gender, Politics, and History. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999.
_____. Contemporary Women's Writing: From “The Golden Notebook” to “The Color Purple.” Manchester: Manchester University Press; New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.
Jones, Anny Brooksbank and Catherine Davies. Latin American Women's Writing: Feminist Readings in Theory and Crisis. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
King, Betty. Women of the Future: The Female Main Character in Science Fiction. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1984.
Kuhn, Annette. Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema. London: Verso, 1990.
Kuribayashi, Tomoko and Julie Tharp. Creating Safe Space: Violence and Women's Writing. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998.
Larbalestier, Justine. The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002.
Ledoux, Trish. The Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Film Directory and Resource Guide. Issaquah, WA: Tiger Mountain Press, 1997.
Lee, Stan. The Superhero Women. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977.
LeFanu, Sarah. In the Chinks of the World Machine: Feminism and Science Fiction. London: The Women’s Press, 1988.
_____. Feminism and Science Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
LeGuin, Ursula K. Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places. New York: Perennial, 1999.
Lentz, Harris M. Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits: Over 10,000 Actors, Actresses, Directors. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1983.
Lewes, Darby. Dream Revisionaries: Gender and Genre in Women's Utopian Fiction, 1870-1920. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1995.
Lewis, Lisa. The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
McIntyre, Clara Frances. Ann Radcliffe in Relation to Her Time. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1970.
Melzer, Patricia. Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2006.
Meyers, Helene. Femicidal Fears: Narratives of the Female Gothic Experience. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001.
Miles, Robert. Ann Radcliffe: The Great Enchantress. Manchester: Manchester University Press; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.
Mise, Raymond W. The Gothic Heroine and the Nature of the Gothic Novel. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Modleski, Tania. Loving with a Vengeance: Mass-Produced Fantasies for Women. New York: Methuen, 1984. Reprint, New York: Routledge, 1990.
Muller, Gilbert H. Nightmares and Visions: Flannery O'Connor and the Catholic Grotesque. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press,1972.
Murray, E. B. Ann Radcliffe. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972.
Mussell, Kay. Women's Gothic and Romantic Fiction: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1981.
Olander, Joseph D. and Harry Martin Greenberg. Ursula K. Le Guin. New York: Taplinger, 1979.
Chronological Bibliography of Science Fiction History, Theory, and Criticism [Online September 2007]. Science Fiction Studies website .
Palmer, Paulina. Lesbian Gothic: Transgressive Fictions. London and New York: Cassell, 1999.
Palumbo, Donald. Eros in the Mind's Eye: Sexuality and the Fantastic in Art and Film. New York: Greenwood, 1986.
_____. Erotic Universe: Sexuality and Fantastic Literature. New York: Greenwood, 1986.
Parker, Emma. Contemporary British Women Writers. Cambridge, Eng: D. S. Brewer, 2004.
Patten, Fred. Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge, 2004.
Paxton, Nancy L. George Eliot and Herbert Spencer: Feminism, Evolutionism, and the Reconstruction of Gender. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
Penley, Constance and Elizabeth Lyon. Close Encounters: Film, Feminism, and Science Fiction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.
Pinedo, Isabel Cristina. Recreational Terror: Women and the Pleasures of Horror Film Viewing. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997.
Powers, Katherine Richardson. The Influence of William Godwin on the Novels of Mary Shelley. New York: Arno Press, 1972. Reprint, 1980.
Prickett, Stephen. Victorian Fantasy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979.
Radstone, Susannah, ed. Sweet Dreams: Sexuality, Gender and Popular Fiction. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1988.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Anne Rice Reader. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.
Redmond, Sean. Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader. London: Wallflower, 2004.
Reid, Robin Anne. Arthur C. Clarke: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997.
_____. Ray Bradbury: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000.
Reid, Suzanne Elizabeth. Presenting Ursula K. Le Guin. New York: Twayne Publishers; London: Prentice Hall International, 1997.
_____. Presenting Young Adult Science Fiction. New York: Prentice Hall, 1998.
Robbins, Tina. The Great Women Superheroes. Northampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press, 1996.
_____. From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999.
Roberts, Bette B. The Gothic Romance: Its Appeal to Women Writers and Readers in Late Eighteenth-Century England. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
_____. Anne Rice. New York: Twayne Publishers; Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan Canada, 1994.
Roberts, Robin. A New Species: Gender and Science in Science Fiction. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1993.
_____. Anne McCaffrey: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
Rohrlich, Ruby and Elaine Hoffman Baruch, eds. Women in Search of Utopia: Mavericks and Mythmakers. New York: Schocken, 1984.
Rosinsky, Natalie M. Feminist Futures: Contemporary Women's Speculative Fiction. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1982. Reprint, 1984.
Rubenstein, Roberta. “Nature and Nurture in Dystopia: The Handmaid's Tale.” In Margaret Atwood: Vision and Forms, ed. Kathryn Van Spanckeren and Jan Garden Castro, 101-112. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1988.
Russ, Joanna. Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans and Perverts: Feminist Essays. Trumansburg, NY: Crossing Press, 1985.
_____. What Are We Fighting For? Sex, Race, Class, and the Future of Women. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
_____. To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Sargent, Pamela. Women of Wonder: Science Fiction Stories by Women about Women. New York: Random Vintage, 1975.
Schlobin, Roger C. Urania's Daughters: A Checklist of Women Science Fiction Writers, 1692-1982. Mercer Island: Starmont House, 1983.
Scodari, Christine. Serial Monogamy: Soap Opera, Lifespan, and the Gendered Politics of Fantasy. Cresskill, N.J.: Hampton Press, 2004.
Sellers, Susan. Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Women's Fiction. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave, 2001.
Shaw, Debra Benita. Women, Science and Fiction: The Frankenstein Inheritance. New York: Palgrave, 2000.
Sherman, Leona F. Ann Radcliffe and the Gothic Romance: A Psychoanalytic Approach. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Robin
Shinn, Thelma J. Worlds Within Women: Myth and Mythmaking in Fantastic Literature by Women. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.
Slusser, George Edgar. The Farthest Shores of Ursula K. Le Guin. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1976.
_____. Between Two Worlds: The Literary Dilemma of Ursula K. Le Guin. San Bernadino, CA: Borgo Press, 1996.
Slusser, George Edgar and Eric S. Rabkin. Shadows of The Magic Lamp: Fantasy and Science Fiction in Film. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985.
Small, Christopher. Ariel Like a Harpy: Shelley, Mary and Frankenstein. London, Gollancz, 1972.
_____. Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein”:Tracing the Myth. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press 1973.
Smith, Jennifer. Anne Rice: A Critical Companion.Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
Smith, Nelson C. Ann Radcliffe's Major Novels. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Spivack, Charlotte. Ursula K. Le Guin. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984.
_____. Merlin's Daughters: Contemporary Women Writers of Fantasy. New York: Greenwood, 1987.
Staicar, Tom. The Feminine Eye: Science Fiction and the Women Who Write It. New York: Ungar, 1982.
Thomas, Sheree R., ed. Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. New York: Aspect, 2004.
Thurston, Carol. The Romance Revolution: Erotic Novels for Women and the Quest for a New Sexual Identity. Urbana: University of Illinios Press, 1987.
Tompkins, J. M. S. Ann Radcliffe and Her Influence on Later Writers. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Tropp, Martin. Mary Shelley's Monster: The Story of Frankenstein. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
Weedman, Jane B., ed. Women Worldwalkers: New Dimensions of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech Press, 1985.
Westfahl, Gary. Science Fiction, Children's Literature, and Popular Culture: Coming of Age in Fantasyland. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000.
Wilcox, Clyde and Donald Hassler, eds. Political Science Fiction. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1997.
Winter, Kari J. Subjects of Slavery, Agents of Change: Women and Power in Gothic Novels and Slave Narratives, 1790-1865. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1992.
Wolmark, Jenny. Aliens and Others: Science Fiction, Feminism and Postmodernism. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1994.
Wolstenholme, Susan. Gothic (Re)Visions: Writing Women as Readers. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993.
Wood, Susan, ed. The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction. New York: Berkley, 1980. Reprint, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1979.
Yntema, Sharon. More Than 100 Woman Science Fiction Writers. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1988.
Robin
And, any encyclopedia is limited (page length–we were lucky enough to get approval for doubling the original limits to add in the essays)–but I think it's a good start. However, I can say that there is enough in the various media that there should be a Women in SF/F film and tv encyclopedia, Women in SFF graphics novels/comics, etc.,–and while I tried to stuff in as much international and non-English language stuff as possible (am esp. happy with the entries on SF in China and SF in Russia), it's heavily weighted toward English language sff and US/UK works.
RObin
It's depressing that so few of the books on Robin's bibliography were published this century. Or even in the last ten years.
Robin, wow.
Anon, I think SF as a genre has become less concerned with feminism. I think there's less written about it now, in the second decade of the 21st C, than in the late 20th C. But I haven't been paying very close attention; I could be talking through my hat.
Nicola, No, I think you're right. And from my perspective, not only is sf less concerned with feminism, almost everything seems to be. The only widely discussed book on feminism published in Sweden so far this year is by a male, Per Ström, is entitled “Six Feminist Myths”, and argues that women are no longer opressed, but males are, and that it's time to “challenge the problem definition monopoly of the [feminist] gender industrial complex”. While, as I said somewhere else recently, virtually all overtly feminist works from the 1970s and 1980s are now out of print. My view is that there is a strong backlash going on, gathering strength.
Feminism and sf:
I think that as with all social movements, “feminism” has changed over time (not to mention it was never homogeneous!)–I think that slowly and painfully the white sf community is starting to realize that simply being aware of feminism (if by feminism, the focus is on women) is not sufficient–the debates about race/racism in sf, the growing number of published authors of color, the work of the Carl Brandon society, all are evidence that as Merrick says in her last chapter that sf needs to move beyond gender in the 21st century.
But if “not as concerned with feminism,” one means “all nice and happy and egalitarian,” then no.
For one thing, a whole lot of feminist work from the last century is not known, and there were profound areas of backlash (how many women say, “I'm not a feminist, but…”).
Watching feminist blogs by younger (than me) white women (meaning in their twenties and thirties), it's painful to see some of the same rhetorical racisms that were critiqued by feminists of color starting in the 1980s (I haz another bibliography if anyone wants!) still going on–though, again, it should not surprise anybody. It's not as if feminist works are taught in schools, are widely circulated, are still in print, are popularly known, etc.
And as always, assuming there is “one sf” is also a problem–the sf I read which is predominantly by women (white women and women of color) and the blogs/journals by the authors I follow is very involved with intersectional issues including feminisms.
But I'm quite sure there are people who read a lot of sff who never have to think about it because the texts never question any of the kyrarchical ideologies.
Link for kyriarchy which is not that well known a term in many circles:
http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/word-of-the-day-kyriarchy/
*points up*
Robin again.
Datedness of bibliography:
The bibliographic entries listed above were a part of the general bibliography for the encyclopedia (I selected for specific focus on women/feminist authors, and topics).
Each entry in the encyclopedia has its own Works Cited–and some of those will reflect much more recent scholarship.
The encyclopedia was published in 2008; a lot of the bibliographic work was done in years preceding it, and neither the list above nor the encyclopedia can be comprehensive.
I'll do some quick database searches and provide more up to date stuff in a few moments!
In terms of scholarly values, the fact that people have been writing about sf, and women in sf, for some decades, makes it a more canonical aka respectable topic. (Now if you want cutting edge weird, I can talk about studying fan fiction! SF is marginalized in the academy; a lot of the courses are still heavily dominated by white male authors, esp. if teachers take a historical or “best of the best” approach–I don't, but then I don't teach science fiction courses, just insert speculative fiction texts into many of the classes I teach). But fanfic is totally unknown in many places and elicits giggles and confusion. I like to say I started out doing feminism and sf, and though that changed in 2003 somewhat, I still consider it feminism and sf, just not the same feminist theory, and not just published authors!
Robin
Little did they know….*cues ominous music*
In response to Anon's comment about datedness above (and again, datedness is not necessarily a bad thing in humanities scholarship–one is expected to know what has been published!) (and I am approaching all this as a queer woman who is a fan, who is an academic, etc.), I did a search on the primary literature and languages databases.
I was surprised myself–when I entered the search terms “women” and “science fiction”, and gave the dates of 1995-2009, and no other limits, I got over 270 hits, including dissertations, articles, anthology chapters, bibliographies, interviews, etc.
These can be difficult to track down if you don't have access to an academic library OR one of the public libraries that subscribes to the databases such as EBSCO, etc.
And I posted on my Dreamwidth (because I could not face mondo spamming again!).
http://robin-anne-reid.dreamwidth.org/44216.html?#cutid1
I can remember a time when I could buy ALL the English sff by women on a clerical salary.
I could also buy all the feminist theory in English on the same salary.
That was….a long time ago.
SF also occurs in more than print media–sf scholarship on feminism, gender, etc. these days is as likely to be done on movies, television, graphic novels, or films (to the great Disgruntlement of Certain Male SF academics I know who have begun grumbling about kids these days not reading the classics).
The scholarship in my quick'n'dirty bibliography shows work done in more than English, on a variety of authors and characters (women characters of male authors), in multiple media, with a range of critical/theoretical approaches, and if anything, I think, shows the growth in what I might loosely call feminist sf over the past decade plus.
I find it downright heartening myself.
p.s. I know there are sf fans who are all about “keep sf in the gutter where it belongs and don't ruin our lovely genre you nasty academics.”
I ignore them–I've been reading sff since I was five, introduced by my geologist father, and I got a Ph.D. in part so I could say, aha, I'm an English prof, and I teach sf.
Robin
p.s. from robin: i posted about recent scholarship on women and sf, with link to my dreamwidth account–perhaps it was caught in moderation due to link?
Robin, I see that the 'kyriarchy' entry on Wikipedia is a stub. Would you consider expanding it?
Hi NIcola: I refuse to participate in Wikipedia (the very little wiki energy I have, I wanted to devote to the feminist spaces and fanlore, and then I got involved in trying to use wikis in my teaching which sucked away all my wiki energy). I don't refuse to participate because, omg academics hate wikipedia, but because of their sexism/misogyny, and the ongoing “you must only cite reputable sources,” i.e. mainstream media which is hardly reputatble, and not other kinds of sources.
Robin
MLA database list of sources on “women” and “science fiction” from 1995-2009.
Trying to post this info again! I did have a much longer post, but need to run out to walk dogs and get lunch, so will just post link.
http://robin-anne-reid.dreamwidth.org/44216.html
If i have time later, I'll recreate post about changes in sf, scholarship, etc.!
Robin
Robin, ah well.
Justine Larbablestier's Daughters of Earth is a brilliant starting point for reading the history of the genre: the format is a selection of important stories by women from different decades, and each is paired with a critical essay. It worked for me because of the immediacy of reading the work AND a piece of scholarship about the work, whereas most 'women in SF' books provide the fiction or the essays.
I also love the Wiscon Chronicles for a sense of where the modern discussions of gender & feminism have gone – and of course my annual pilgrimage to the Aqueduct Press website always pulls up new awesomeness.
I'd hate to think it was true that SF talks less about feminism than it used to… it wouldn't surprise me, but it's a very depressing thought. We regularly discuss issues of feminism in with the SF news, etc. in our podcast Galactic Suburbia, and I have to say this fortnight has provided so many links to relevant discussions that the next episode is going to be very long indeed!
Tansy, I think the genre as a whole doesn't think or talk much about feminism in comparison to other things. But I think there are strong feminist threads/groups out there–as you say, Wiscon and Aqueduct, and the re-emergent fem-sf group (now tweeting under #FeministSF). But, as I've said before (and will–one day–find time to blog about), it's dangerous to only talk to ourselves. And I'm not convinced it's a Good Thing to conflate feminist sf and sf by women. (I'm not always clear when I write which I mean. Mea culpea. I'll try to be better.) They're not nearly the same thing.
I don't know exactly what this is or how greenwood might be involved or what the cost of membershp is–but, um, free e-book version of my encyclopedia? (Just came up today on google alerts).
http://ebooktrial.com/book/women-in-science-fiction-332679
robin
Robin, cool! Just tweeted that. Thanks.
I tried it even though it looked suspicious. That has to be some kind of ripoff selling stolen works for a subscription, right? After I signed up I became more convinced. I downloaded the encyclopedia and converted it to Kindle format, but it loses too much of the formatting to be useable.
Just a taste to make me want to read from the real thing!
Thanks for all the hard work on this stuff Robin. And Nicola and everyone else!
And BTW, Nicola, they also have your books on there! In PDF or rtf form.
jennifer, thanks for the info. Goddammit!
I know! Bastards! Unbelievable that they are charging people to download stolen stuff.
Well, rats — I'd best notify Greenwood, though I'd be surprised they don't know.
Was a bit suspiscious myself (too good to be true…).
Thanks!
Robin