The School for Good Mothers

“Speculative fiction” is an umbrella term for fiction that conveys human themes but not in an entirely realistic way—including genres like fantasy, science fiction, and magic realism, where aspects of the setting or plot deviate from what’s possible in real life. Speculative fiction gives authors the opportunity to imagine what the world could be like if magic existed, or if science became more advanced. Often, these genres build either dystopian or utopian societies and worlds, offering opportunities for social critique that highlights issues in the real world. Because of this, a wide array of feminist speculative fiction has been written to explore issues that affect women or focus on gender/sex, such as marriage, motherhood, medical ethics, economic inequality, and how race and sexual orientation inform or intersect with womanhood.

Since the second wave of feminism beginning in the late 1960s, feminist speculative fiction has been prominent. Notable examples of this genre include The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (1969), The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975), Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (1976), Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979),