Index of themes

Reproduction, Sexuality, & Gender-Oriented Themes

• Gendered "Otherness" Experiences in the Body
• Sexuality, Reproduction, Family Arrangements

Aspects of Reproduction

• Menstruation
• Abortion
• Birth control
• Childbirth, Labor, Delivery
• Breastfeeding, Nursing, Breast Milk
• Infertility & Sterility
• see The Body

Methods of Reproduction

• Parthenogenesis
• Reproduction sans Men
• Three-Way Sexual Reproduction

Social Aspects of Reproduction

• Surrogacy
• Family Arrangements
• Adoption & Fostering

Gender & Sex

• Three-Way Sexual Reproduction seems to usually involve a third sex/gender
• Neuter & Androgynes
• Hermaphrodites & Intersexed
• Sex-Changing Societies or Species
• Individual Ability to Change Sex
• Transgendered Characters
• Gender Ambiguity - one or more characters in a story is gender-ambiguous (usually on purpose by the author)
• Gendered "Otherness" Experiences in the Body
• Other Gender Stories

Sexuality, Preferences, Orientations, & Behaviors

• Feminist SF Erotica
• Lesbian Romances
• Situational Lesbianism
• Same-Sex Sexuality

Gender & Society

• Gender Role Reversal
• Gender Ratios - women-only worlds, men-only worlds, scarcity of a sex
• Separatism - sexes living apart
• Matriarchies
• Patriarchies
• Sex Wars
• Coming of the Patriarchy
• Women's vs. Men's Magic/Technology/Skills
• Dystopias & Utopias
• Sotto Voce Feminism: Assuming without Examining

Rewritings, Herstory, telling untold stories

• Retold Fairy-Tales, Myths, Folk-Tales

Characterization

See Characterization

• The Super-Heroic Woman
• Reclaiming the Every-Day Heroic Women

Gender, the Body, Social Performance

• The Body (body image, beauty standards; body modification; menstruation, pregnancy, nursing; Aging; sexuality)
• Linguistics, Language & Sexism (see, e.g., Names & Naming, per and Naming Conventions)
• Sex, Erotica, Romance

Gender & the Other

• Women and Nature, the Wild, Animals

Gender & the Self

• Madness & Insanity

References

• Imagined Sexual Futures by Dr. Elisa Kay Sparks
• Quick Lists: Themes, Characters, Genres, and "if you like..." Lists by Laura Quilter and others at feministsf.org
• Women's Rights and Women's Images in Science Fiction by Christine Alice Corcos
• James Tiptree, Jr. Award lists
• Science Fiction & Fantasy by Women
• Alternative Sexualities in Fantasy and SF Booklist by Mary Anne Mohanraj

General works on SF themes

• Thomas Clareson. Many Futures, Many Worlds: Theme and Form in Science Fiction. (1977)