ABSTRACT
Both Octavia E. Butler and Nalo Hopkinson boldly traverse topics of sexuality, racial and gender inequalities, and sexual violence in their respective speculative fictions. Placing Butler and Hopkinson in conversation with Black feminist theorist Jennifer C. Nash, this chapter examines the multitude of feminist imaginaries within these fictional worlds as one way of thinking beyond white-centered perspectives, specifically focusing on non-normative conceptions of sexual desires and pleasures. Utilizing Butler’s Xenogenesis/Lilith’s Brood trilogy (2000) as well as Hopkinson’s The Salt Roads (2003) and Falling in Love with Hominids (2015), this chapter engages with fictional expressions of sexual desire and pleasure that also speak to historical and present-day legacies of anti-Black racism and misogyny. In the speculative visions presented by Butler and Hopkinson, protagonists explore alternative avenues of pleasure, experimenting with ecstasy even in the midst of gendered and racialized violence. Bodily pleasures typically neglected or devalued are no longer overlooked or discarded, and sexual desires persevere beyond prevailing discourses on exploitation and ownership. Ultimately, this chapter looks to the fictional worlds penned by Butler and Hopkinson to further theorize and expand our understandings of gender, race, sexual desires, and pleasures.
