The Female Man
Four women from parallel worlds confront gender roles.
Joanna Russ, a vocal feminist who challenged sexist attitudes through her fiction and nonfiction, wrote *The Female Man* in 1970, and it was published by Bantam Books in 1975. The novel centers on four women from parallel universes, each set in a different time and place. These women travel to one another’s worlds and are shocked by the contrasting beliefs about gender roles and what it means to be a woman, leading them to reconsider their own lives. The title comes from the character Joanna, who becomes a “female man”—a woman with a man’s mind but a female body and soul—to gain respect and be seen beyond her sex. This transformation reflects her choice to reject women’s dependence on men, a journey mirrored by the other protagonists.
The story includes several fictional worlds. Joanna’s world resembles Earth in the 1970s. Jeannine’s world is set in an alternate 1969, generally understood to be an unnamed American city often associated with a Midwestern or generic urban setting, where the Great Depression never ended and World War II never happened, resulting in a perpetual depression with no significant feminist movements. Janet’s world, Whileaway, is an all-female utopia set ten centuries in the future. A sex-specific plague supposedly killed all men 900 years before the novel begins, though the character Jael later suggests the plague was a lie and the men were killed. Whileaway’s language is “Pan-russian,” unlike 20th-century Russian. Women in lesbian relationships use technology to merge ova for procreation. Whileaway is technologically advanced but mostly agrarian, prioritizing safety over equality: there is no sexual assault or murder, and children play naked without fear. Duels, sometimes to the death, are a common way to settle disputes. Jael’s world, Womanland, is a dystopia where men (Manlanders) and women (Womanlanders) have been at war for forty years. They trade with each other, especially children: Womanlanders keep female children and exchange male children for resources. To manage male sexual desires, some boys deemed not masculine enough undergo sex change surgery. Womanlanders like Jael use automatons or pursue lesbian relationships.
The plot begins when Janet Evason appears and then vanishes in Jeannine’s world. Janet, from Whileaway, takes Jeannine to Joanna’s world, where the three meet in a cocktail lounge and watch Janet’s televised
- Author
- Joanna Russ
- Published
- 1975
- Publisher
- Bantam Books
- Genre
- Feminist science fiction
- Nationality
- American
- Known for
- Challenging sexist views through speculative fiction
Lore & Background
The novel includes several fictional worlds: Joanna's World, similar to Earth in the 1970s; Jeannine's World, set in an alternate 1969 in an unnamed American city (often associated with a Midwestern or generic urban setting) where the Great Depression never ended; Whileaway, an all-female utopian Earth ten centuries in the future where all men died from a sex-specific plague (though the final chapter suggests the plague may have been a lie and the men were killed); and Womanland, a dystopia where men and women are in a literal 'battle of the sexes'. The plot follows Janet Evason from Whileaway as she visits other worlds, encounters different gender norms, and eventually meets Jael, who reveals that the four women are versions of the same woman and seeks their help in overthrowing patriarchal societies.
Reader's Guide
The Female Man is significant as a landmark feminist science fiction novel that uses parallel universes to critique gender roles and explore women's liberation. Its structure—following four versions of the same woman in different worlds—allows Russ to examine how social and historical contexts shape women's identities and opportunities. The novel challenges essentialist views of womanhood and presents Whileaway as a thought experiment of a society without men, though the final revelation that the plague may have been a lie complicates this utopia. The work remains influential in feminist literary criticism and science fiction studies for its experimental narrative and radical political themes. Russ's broader body of work, including her nonfiction, contributed to second-wave feminist discourse.
Did You Know?
- The novel was originally written in 1970 but not published until 1975.
- Whileaway's language is 'Pan-russian', described as nothing like 20th-century Russian.
- In Whileaway, women use technology to genetically merge ova for procreation.
- The character Joanna is named after and based on the author Joanna Russ.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote The Female Man and when was it published?
American author and feminist Joanna Russ wrote the novel in 1970, and Bantam Books released it in 1975. It is widely regarded as a landmark of feminist science fiction.
What is the basic premise of The Female Man?
The novel follows four women who exist in parallel universes with very different social structures and attitudes toward gender. They end up traveling into each other's worlds and are forced to confront how their own societies define and constrain womanhood.
What does 'The Female Man' in the title refer to?
The title refers to the protagonist Joanna, who adopts the identity of a 'female man'—a woman who thinks and operates with a man's mindset while retaining her female body and soul. She does this because she finds that only by performing masculinity can she be taken seriously in her world.
How does The Female Man's story end?
After the four women have each experienced the others' realities, they return to their own worlds with a transformed understanding of gender and power. The novel closes on a note of collective awakening rather than a single hero's triumph, emphasizing that liberation is a shared, ongoing process.
Why is The Female Man important in feminist science fiction?
Published in 1975, it used the speculative-fiction framework to directly interrogate how societies construct and enforce gender roles, making it one of the most pointed feminist novels of its era. Joanna Russ's work challenged readers to see patriarchy not as natural but as a chosen, changeable system.
More in Feminist science fiction novels 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record