Gender&LitUtopiaDystopia Wiki

Gender Binary--Yeah.

Intersectionality--Gender is not free-floating, rather it is connected to other identities such as race, class, disability, and religious background. These aspects of intersectionality become part of our gender performance.

Gender Performance--Whether we want to argue that sex is biologicaly innate to us, gender is socially constructed. Our culture gives meaning to gender. We express this construction in our lives by performing it.

Gender and Literature--Literature can give the reader access to an experience other than his/her (oooh gender binary language) own. In addition, gender is tied up with the topic of gendered violence, control, and power. The gender hierarchy is enforced on people's bodies. So, why literature? Because trauma defies statistics and reports. Trauma requires a narrative. Literature can provie the fragmented, horrifying description of trauma.

Utopia/dystopia--Utopias give us a way to imagine and play with improving society. Literature gives us a place to do this playing. Dystipias give us the ability to reflect upon our own culture like in a fun house mirror. The specific attributes of dystopias relate to the attributes of the gender hierarchy.