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Joanna Russ (born February 22, 1937) is the author of a number of works of science fiction (among other sorts of writing), including The Female Man, a meditation on how differing societies might produce very different versions of the same person, and how all might interact, particularly in the face of sexism.
Russ was a notable feminist writer in science fiction in the early 1970s, a time when women were starting to enter the field in larger numbers. It can be said that science fiction was a field dominated by male authors, often thought to be writing for a predominantly male audience, however Russ was one of the most outspoken authors to challenge male dominance.
A notable example is her novel, We Who Are About To, a clever variation on an established science fiction theme: a group of space travelers marooned on an uninhabited planet decide that they must form a colony and "propagate the species". One of the castaways is a woman who has no particular desire to be part of such an effort. When the others try to force her to be part of the colony, she rebels.
Along with her work as an sf and fantasy writer (much of her earliest published work is short horror fiction), she has been a playwright and essayist, much recognized for such nonfiction works as the collection Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts and the book-length study of modern feminism, What Are We Fighting For?
Other books include:
- The Adventures of Alyx (collection of shorter works)
- The Female Man
- And Chaos Died
- How to Suppress Women's Writing
See also Feminist science fiction.
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