ABSTRACT
Published over the course of two decades during the heart of the women’s liberation movement in the United States, Frank Herbert’s Dune series presents a valuable case study for analysis of changes in the representation of women in science fiction (SF). Bodily discipline and autonomy are key features of the women of the all-female Bene Gesserit organization, and the series engages with similar concerns as second-wave feminist theorists and feminist SF writers in regard to women’s capabilities and strengths. This chapter traces the threads of second-wave feminism and conceptions of bodily agency in the series and shows that it offers a notable exception to the oft-stereotypical characterization of women in SF.
