Written by vehement feminist Joanna Russ, The Female Man is a science fiction novel published in 1975. It is extremely notable for its challenging of traditional gender roles and sexist views during the 1900's.
The Female Man centers around four women living in distinct parallel universes. However, when they travel to each other's worlds, and experience each others' contrasting environments, they find their own perspectives on womanhood challenged and reshaped. Their universes are very dissimilar, varying from a world where a plague has killed all men on the planet, to a world just commercing its grassroots feminist movements. The storyline follows the women as they jump between universes, experiencing many different situations and attempting to fix problems in each.
The Female Man was critically well-received. It won a wide array of awards, including the prestigious 2002 Gaylactic Spectrum Hall of Fame Award. Russ's novel has become extremely influential in feminist literature, becoming a distinct staple of the 1970's feminist movement.
