Issue 10.2 is Now Available

Femspec is happy to announce that our newest issue 10.2  is now available to order.  This scholarly journal covers a range of intriguing topics, such as speculative imagery that challenges gender and people's views of gender, gender experimentation or role switching such as female masculinities, witchcraft, the Tarot, transcendence, the goddess and the Divine, and themed space. 

The content within this compelling issue provokes questions about the meaning of gender and how it's presented in literary works of not just science fiction and fantasy genres, but all works of literature in any genre.  The journal can prompt one to examine what we've been taught about gender, and the rules or stereotypes that seem to box us into a tight role or identity in which those of the free-thinking variety wish to break free from.  We cannot be true to ourselves, nor have a true voice if we succumb to such labels and limitations.

The authors in the issue allow an awareness to take place within the reader, in which one may learn to grow from experiences to develop into a more cohesive self, and that cultural oppression, sadly, still exists as we struggle to overcome traditional and narrow views on gender.  The journal may cause one to look at both male and female points of view which exist in society, and how differing assumptions can complicate objective examinations of feminist literature, as well as what feminism is all about.

The issue also presents material that is strange yet entertaining, and unusual yet compelling and reflective, such as a fiction piece about love shared between two beings from different planets.

The issue poses such questions as: Why does female masculinity exist in children's fantasy? Why are female characters in literature considered powerful or adequate only when they exhibit characteristics that are traditionally male? What effect does fairy-tale literature have on gender theories within different cultures? Is it too late for us to change our thinking regarding gender, or are the rules, roles and meanings too much set in stone?

As a collective whole, issue 10.2 portrays how gender has significant contributions to the world and how we choose to live in it, how we identify ourselves and others, and how we may be able to break free from existing gender constraints, initiating a change in outdated and current mindsets or ways of thinking.

~Kelly VanBuren


10.2 Contributors/Authors:
Emily Auger, Anne Balay, Ritch Calvin, Shari Evans, Ardys Delu, Daniel Hill, Phillipa Kafka, K.A. Laity, Gillian I. Leitch, Lani Ravin, Maria Shine Stewart, Susana Sussman, Batya Weinbaum, Li Weinbaum.

Femspec journal is edited by:
Batya Weinbaum

Contributing Editors:  Diane DiPrima, Marleen S. Barr, Samuel R. Delany, Gloria Orenstein, Darko Suvin.

Advisory Board: Suzy Charnas, Florence Howe, Joanna Russ, Pamela Sargent,
Editorial Board:
Cristina Bacchilega, Beatriz Badikian, William Clemente, Kathe Davis, Joan Gordon, Veronica Hollinger, Phillipa Kafka, Sylvia Kelso, Laurel Lampela, Lynne Reed, Gina Wisker.

Prepress Production by Ritch Calvin

For more information on this issue, visit http://www.femspec.org

To subscribe or make a donation, you can do so at http://www.femspec.org/06_involvement.html#donations

Note: Our new Femspec site is still currently under development