Joanna Russ (born February 22, 1937), American writer and feminist, is the author of a number of works of Science Fiction (among other types of writing), including The Female Man, an aclaimed SF novel and pioneering 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. February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economic situation. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... The Female Man is a feminist science fiction novel by Joanna Russ. ... The sign of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all differentiations based on sex. ...

Russ first came to be noticed in the Science Fiction world in the early 1970s, a time when women were starting to enter the field in larger numbers. It can and has been said that SF was a field dominated by male authors, often thought to be writing for a predominantly male audience; by contrast Russ was one of the most outspoken authors to challenge this male dominance of the field. The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ...

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 a Science Fiction and Fantasy writer (much of her earliest published work is short horror fiction), she has also been a playwright and essayist, much recognized for such nonfiction works such as the essay collection Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts and the book-length study of modern feminism, What Are We Fighting For? Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. ... Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the reader. ... A playwright is someone who writes for the theatre. ... An essayist is an author who writes compositions which can be about any particular subject. ... Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economic situation. ...

Published Writings:

Novels

• Picnic on Paradise (1968)
• And Choas Died (1970)
• The Female Man (1975)
• We Who Are About To... (1977)
• Kittatiny: A Tale of Magic (1978)
• The Two of Them (1978)
• On Strike Against God (1980)

Short Fiction The Female Man is a feminist science fiction novel by Joanna Russ. ...

• The Adventures of Alyx (1976)
• The Zanzibar Cat (1983)
• (Extra)ordinary People (1985)
• The Hidden Side of the Moon (1987)

Nonfiction

• How to Supress Women's Writing (1983)
• Magic Mammas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans and Perverts: Feminist Essays (1985)
• To Write Like a Woman (1996)
• What Are We Fighting For?: Sex, Race, Class, and the Future of Feminism (1997)
• The Country You Have Never Seen (2005)

See also Feminist science fiction. Although women had always been represented among science fiction writers (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has been called the first science fiction novel), it was not until the 1960s and 1970s that authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Joanna Russ began to consciously explore feminist themes in works such...

External link

• Joanna Russ at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database