The Female Man by Joanna Russ
The Female Man, widely regarded as Joanna Russ’s magnum opus, is the thrilling, unexpected, darkly hilarious, and brazenly subversive account of what transpires when Jeannine, Janet, Joanna, and Jael—all existing in different realities—meet. In a future where the Great Depression never ended, librarian Jeannine is waiting to get married. In the 1970s, Joanna is a feminist, while in a future where male and female cultures are at battle with one another, Jael is a warrior with claws and teeth. Their ideas about gender and identity are permanently contested when the four ladies start visiting one another’s worlds.
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
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It’s the tale of three ladies who lived in various eras, sort of like alternate histories. As the story progresses, we begin to wonder if perhaps these women are all the same. One is in a 1930s-style parallel reality. One of them is a warrior from a time in the future when feminists and patriarchists are at war. In an effort to make a difference, she travels back in time to the 1960s, the “current day,” where she ends up having an unclear romantic relationship with one of the ladies there.
Additionally, this time travel tale is topped off with the traditional “I’ve come to warn you about a perilous future” tale. It also serves as a chronicle of all the commonplace microaggressions that women encounter in a variety of settings. That was the thing that really struck me. Joanna Russ is such an excellent observer of human behaviour, and she has a keen awareness of the various gender-based insults and aggressions that have been perpetrated throughout history.
Joanna is an aspirational woman who blends into a male-dominated workplace thanks to her aptitude for her work and status as “one of the boys.”
The difficulty with Jeannine is that she now only sees herself as a mirror of a guy. She has made it her life’s mission to seduce a man. Her ideas, words, and deeds are evaluated in light of how they contribute to that objective.
Janet comes from Whileaway, a culture where women predominate after a plague took out all of the men. Even though it appears to be the ideal society, despite its independence, it isn’t quite perfect in Whileaway, which reveals its weaknesses. When each gender is there but not acknowledged or honoured, something is lost.
In a future where men and women are fighting a real, bloody war, Jael works as an assassin. Because of how long the dispute has lasted, neither side really understands the nature of the other gender.
Russ’ characters can border on becoming two-dimensional or caricatures as a result of the necessity to separate the distinctive qualities of each female character. In hindsight, there may have been a need to straddle that line in order to ensure that each of the four accurately represented a specific problematic component of femalehood.
Although not exactly entertaining, this was an intriguing, thought-provoking, and instructive read. It addresses a serious issue and does so seriously. However, there are times when comedy is inserted into the conversation.
This book’s main lesson, in my opinion, is that society’s expectations may mould and shape every woman to the point where a woman’s self-worth, identity, and aspirations are completely replaced by those of society.
It doesn’t really have a story arc, but I believe that was sacrificed on the altar of conversation in order to highlight the plight of women. I would characterize it as a novel with an agenda, given the year it was published. The intentional and regular stream-of-consciousness commentary is undoubtedly a sign. In fact, one auto-commentary asserts that freedom and victory would result from the book being irrelevant.
