ABSTRACT
The relationship between feminism and popular fiction has received a great deal of critical attention in the last few years, most of which has been directed towards romance fiction as the genre in which female desire is most clearly foregrounded. This chapter discusses some key writing strategies used by feminist writers of science fiction to subvert the generic stability of science fiction, thereby creating an environment of uncertainty within which conventional constructions of sexual difference can be questioned. The combination of computer technology and the oppositional ethos of punk and rock music that gave rise to cyberpunk are, like science fiction itself, inscribed with the masculine. The work of Joanna Russ has been particularly important in this respect, and her science fiction novel The Female Man, first published in 1975, has had a considerable impact on the genre in general, including cyberpunk.
