Sex and sexuality in science fiction

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Modern science fiction frequently involves themes of sex and sexuality. This was not always so. During the 1930s and 40s "golden age" of science fiction, sex was rarely, if ever, explicitly mentioned, although there was certainly no lack of innuendo and suggestion.

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[edit] The "New Wave"

Sex was rarely explicitly addressed as a topic until the New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 1970s, which reflected its times by attempting to break earlier taboos about what could and could not be the subject of science fiction. The men's magazine Playboy published regular serious science fiction stories throughout this period, by both male and female authors, offering them significantly more scope than some other publications.

Two different themes emerged: one trying to explore the boundaries of what "sex" could mean in a world of altered humanity and reality. Separately, many writers deepened the exploration of gender in science fiction, examining issues raised by the feminist and gay movements.

[edit] Movies and TV series

Numerous science fiction television series and science fiction films have used science fiction plots as an excuse to fit in gratuitous sexual or fetishistic content: one of the conventions of much filmed science fiction appears to be that the future will be peopled exclusively by attractive people wearing skin-tight clothing in shiny materials. Nevertheless, some science fiction-themed TV shows, such as Farscape, have been acclaimed for their handling of such themes. The series Lexx features sexual themes in almost every episode, one of the main characters of Firefly is a "companion" (courtesan), and Andromeda is imbued with the carefree sexual spirit that seems to characterize the spacefaring future (or, at least, screenwriters' hopes for it).

The various Star Trek series treat sexuality in different ways. James T. Kirk earned a pop-culture reputation for bedding countless green-skinned or otherwise exotic alien women portrayed in the soft lighting characteristic of 1960s romantic pulp. Star Trek: The Next Generation, usually regarded as a pinnacle of principled (i.e., less gratuitous) science fiction TV, featured a risqué theme in episode #2 that involved sex between female officer Tasha Yar and the android Mr. Data. The focus on sexy females was ramped up in all of the subsequent series (with increasing obviousness) - notably Voyager's Seven of Nine, and Enterprise's sultry T'Pol.

The re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica, by contrast, set out to portray sex in a more realistic fashion. The gratuity and fetishism of bad television "science fiction" were done away with in favour of more natural expressions of sexuality, both good and bad in nature. While initially ridiculed by some for its over-use of sex in certain areas, the producers were quick to point out that nothing happens on the show that hasn't been seen on shows like ER, NYPD Blue or Sex and the City multiple times already, only it was happening in space.

Leia's metalic bikini.
Leia's metalic bikini.

Sexuality in Babylon 5, in keeping with the rest of the show, was more implicitly realistic and experimental - even when used for comic effect. Interspecies mating, alien attitudes towards sex, and even alien sex and reproduction, were dealt with extensively. The series also explored purely human sexuality, including sex between telepaths, celibacy & virginity, and homosexuality.

Influential female sex symbols from movies include characters from the 1968 movie Barbarella as well as Princess Leia in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, where she wore a metallic bikini.

[edit] Themes explored

Some of the themes explored include:

[edit] Notable works with sexual themes

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[edit] Written Works

Year Author Title Comments Ref
1921 Yevgeny Zamyatin We Sex frequency and partners are selected by the government [citation needed]
1932 Aldous Huxley Brave New World Only promiscuity is socially acceptable and sex is completely separated from reproduction [citation needed]
1948 Lisa Ben (pseud.) New Year's Day Depiction of futuristic utopian world in which homosexuality and gay identity are accepted [citation needed]
1949 George Orwell (pseud.) Nineteen Eighty-Four Depiction of futuristic dystopian world in which people are indoctrinated to experience sex as joyless and mechanical in order to prevent the formation of any strong inter-personal bonds. [citation needed]
1953 Theodore Sturgeon The World Well Lost Alien homosexuality. [citation needed]
1953 Philip José Farmer The Lovers Arguably the first science fiction story to feature sex as a major theme
1960 Philip José Farmer Strange Relations A collection of five stories about human/alien sexual relations [citation needed]
1960 Philip José Farmer Flesh To counter declining male fertility, a hypermasculine antlered man ritually impregnates legions of virgins [citation needed]
1960 Theodore Sturgeon Venus Plus X A contemporary man awakens in a futuristic place where the people are hermaphrodites. [citation needed]
1961 Robert A. Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land A form of group marriage in the fictional inspiration for the "Church of All Worlds" [citation needed]
1961 Brian Aldiss The Primal Urge Emotion Register on forehead tells others when you experience sexual attraction [citation needed]
1962 Naomi Mitchison Memoirs of a Spacewoman Interspecies mating during shore leave; aliens that change their sex [citation needed]
1966 Samuel R. Delany Babel-17 Starship crews bonded by group sex; sexual relationships with the "discorporate" spirits of the dead [citation needed]
1967 Harlan Ellison, ed. Dangerous Visions A collection of taboo-breaking science fiction stories [citation needed]
1968 Philip José Farmer Image of the Beast Sexual sadism on a par with de Sade, committed by shape-shifting creatures from another world [citation needed]
1968 Samuel R. Delany Nova First major science fiction novel with a gay male protagonist [citation needed]
1969 Ursula K. LeGuin The Left Hand of Darkness Set in a world of androgynous people who become male or female a few days a month. [citation needed]
1969 Philip José Farmer A Feast Unknown Superheroes' higher level of existence forces them to resort to extreme violence combined with extreme sex [citation needed]
1969 Norman Spinrad Bug Jack Barron Graphic depiction of oral sex coupled with the publishing magazine being funded by the Arts Council leads to parliamentary question [citation needed]
1970 Robert Silverberg Tower of Glass Genetically engineered slaves are sterile but superior in every way to their creators - graphic descriptions [citation needed]
1970 Ira Levin This Perfect Day Programmers of "UniComp," a master computer, control every aspect of marriage and procreation; women do not grow breasts, men do not grow beards [citation needed]
1971 Robert Silverberg The World Inside Promiscuity and procreation are culturally enforced in a world of giant city-towers [citation needed]
1972 Thomas M. Disch 334 Flexible sexual relationships, but compulsory contraception; male pregnancy [citation needed]
1972 James Tiptree, Jr. (pseud.) 'And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill's Side' Humans become fixated on sexual relationships with aliens [citation needed]
1972 Harlan Ellison, ed. Again, Dangerous Visions A sequel to "Dangerous Visions", a collection of taboo-breaking science fiction stories [citation needed]
1974 Samuel R. Delany Dhalgren Sexual freedom and exploitation in all conceivable combinations [citation needed]
1974 Joe Haldeman The Forever War Homosexuality becomes universal, originally adopted as a form of population control but later becoming the norm by convention [citation needed]
1975 Naomi Mitchison Solution Three Privileged homosexuality in a future society used as meditation on privileged heterosexuality [citation needed]
1975 Joanna Russ The Female Man Four parallel universes, one without men, one with male sex slaves [citation needed]
1978 Gardner Dozois Strangers Human must be surgically changed to alien to mate with his alien lover [citation needed]
1978 Douglas Hill, ed. The Shape of Sex to Come Anthology of stories dealing with sex and sexual relations, featuring Brian Aldiss, Thomas M. Disch and Michael Moorcock. [citation needed]
1978 Elizabeth A. Lynn A Different Light (novel) Gay sexual relationship [citation needed]
1979 Diane Duane The Door Into Fire Gay sexual relationship; high fantasy [citation needed]
1979 Elizabeth A. Lynn Watchtower Gay sexual relationship; high fantasy [citation needed]
1981 Elizabeth A. Lynn The Sardonyx Net Plot revolves in large part around central character's sexual sadism [citation needed]
1982 Tanith Lee Silver Metal Lover Human-robot sex [citation needed]
1983 Isaac Asimov The Robots of Dawn Human-robot sex (not explicit), culture largely free from sexual taboos [citation needed]
1983 Norman Spinrad The Void Captain's Tale Starship FTL drive powered by female orgasm [citation needed]
1984 Samuel R. Delany Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand Love, individuality and humanity are explored in this romance of a "cultural plague" survivor with cosmically idiosyncratic sexual preferences [citation needed]
1984 Jeffrey M. Elliot Kindred Spirits First anthology highlighting gay and lesbian SF [citation needed]
1984-86 Mike Resnick Tales of the Velvet Comet Four novels set on a spaceship bordello [citation needed]
1985 Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale Women are subjugated by men in a theocratic America; five classes of women, one only for procreation [citation needed]
1985 Geoff Ryman The Warrior Who Carried Life Transgendered protagonist; gender issues [citation needed]
1986 Theodore Sturgeon Godbody Religious sexuality [citation needed]
1986 Joan L. Slonczewski A Door Into Ocean Humans engineered into an aquatic parthenogenetic race [citation needed]
1986 Lois McMaster Bujold Ethan of Athos Reproductive scientist on a planet with no women [citation needed]
1989 Spider Robinson Callahan's Lady A time-travelling madam runs a unique house of prostitution [citation needed]
1990 Ellen Datlow (editor) Alien Sex: 19 Tales Notable theme anthology [citation needed]
1991 Marge Piercy He, She and It (also published as City of Glass) A woman trains a cyborg in what it means to be human; this leads them to a sexual relationship [citation needed]
1993 David Brin Glory Season Sexual vs. asexual reproduction [citation needed]
1995 Neal Stephenson The Diamond Age An orgiastic culture of "drummers" in a sort of neural net functions as a means of technological advance [citation needed]
1997 Nicola Griffith & Stephen Pagel (editor) Bending the Landscape: Fantasy The first in three genre-themed gay and lesbian anthologies [citation needed]
2002 Greg Egan Schild's Ladder A culture in which sexual identity is an irrelevance as genital couplings are malleable, uniquely molding partners together. [citation needed]

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[edit] Cinema and television

Year Written by Title Comments
1968 Terry Southern & Roger Vadim Barbarella Celebrated 1960s film of a science fiction comic book heroine and her sexual adventures
1968 Meyer Dolinsky "Plato's Stepchildren" (Star Trek episode) First inter-racial kiss shown on US television, between Lt Uhura and Captain Kirk
1971 George Lucas & Walter Murch THX 1138 'Soma-like drugs used to suppress emotion, including sexual desire; characters include a holographic porn actor and scenes include a female character's use of an upright electronic device for providing sexual stimulation
1973 Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman Sleeper Orgasmatron orgasm booths after all men, except those of Italian descent, become impotent and all women become frigid
1974 Jason Williams & Suzanne Fields Flesh Gordon A campy erotic spoof of the Flash Gordon serial films from the 1930s
1982 Anne Carlisle & Slava Tsukerman Liquid Sky A comedic science fiction film in which space aliens land to feed off of endorphins released during orgasm
1995 Dennis Feldman Species An alien mimics a human in order to reproduce
2004 Carlos Atanes FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions Not only sex, but physical contact between human beings is forbidden.
2006 Russell T Davies, et al. Torchwood Every character has both heterosexual and homosexual experiences, however fleeting: 1950s time travellers allow different attitudes to sexuality and sexual conduct to be explored

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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