The Sex Is Out of This World

by Ginn, Sherry; Cornelius, Michael G.

• ISBN13: 9780786466856
• ISBN10: 0786466855
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-11-01
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

This book is a collection of new essays, with the general objective of filling a gap in the literature about sex and science fiction. Although some work has been published, none of it is recent. The essays herein explore the myriad ways in which authors writing in the genre, regardless of format (e.g., print, film, television, etc.), envision very different beings expressing this most fundamental of human behaviors."Science fiction" can be translated into "real unreality." More than a genre like fantasy, which creates entirely new realms of possibility, science fiction constructs its possibilities from what is real, from what is, indeed, possible, or conceivably so. This collection, then, looks to understand and explore the "unreal reality," to note ways in which our culture's continually changing and evolving mores of sex and sexuality are reflected in, dissected by, and deconstructed through the genre of science fiction.

Author Biography

Sherry Ginn teaches psychology at Rowan-Cabarrus Community Colleges. She has published a book on the works of Joss Whedon as well as essays on science fiction television series, including Doctor Who, Torchwood and Farscape. Award-winning novelist Michael G. Cornelius is the author or editor of numerous books. He serves as chair of the department of English and Mass Communications at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. viii
Introduction: Sexing Science Fiction	p. 1
Alien Sex
The Future, in Bed with the Past: Miscegenation in Science Fiction Film and Television	p. 17
Alienating Sex: The Discourse of Sexuality in the Works of Octavia Butler	p. 34
"We pair off! One man, one woman": The Heterosexual Imperative in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis Trilogy	p. 50
Love at First Contact: Sex, Race and Colonial Fantasy in Star Trek: First Contact	p. 62
"They teach you that in Whore Academy?" A Quantitative Examination of Sex and Sex Workers in Joss Whedon's Firefly and Dollhouse	p. 86
The Evil Wet Nurse: Pre¿dipal Development and Primo Levi's Science Fiction	p. 102
Techno Sex
Patriarchy, Paternity and Papas: Reproductive Technologies and Parenthood in Science Fiction	p. 117
"I have worked hard at her head and brain": Dr. Moreau and the New Woman	p. 134
"Are we not men?" Degeneration, Future-Sex and the Time Machine	p. 152
Space Apes Want Our Women! Primate Lust in American Science Fiction	p. 170
Technology as a Nexus for Homoerotic Desire in Boys' Series Books	p. 187
(Inter)Mediated Sexuality in the Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard	p. 204
Human, Alien, Techno - What Next? Evolutionary Psychology, Science Fiction and Sex	p. 221
Conclusion: Sexing Science Fiction, Take Two	p. 238
About the Contributors	p. 243
Index	p. 247
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