The Red Pen

Episode 1: The Cold War of Gender Theory

Episode Summary

In the first episode of The Red Pen, Austin drags Amanda straight into the radical gender theory of queer and feminist sci-fi/fantasy from 1960 to 2018. Topics of discussion include: Is a genderless society a utopia? What about a society in which everyone is free to choose their own gender—in theory? And what do the gender binary and the Cold War have in common? (A depressing amount, as it turns out.) Content warnings: This episode discusses misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic ideologies; the threat of nuclear war; and non-graphic gendered and homophobic violence.

Episode Notes

In the first episode of The Red Pen, Austin drags Amanda straight into the radical gender theory of queer and feminist sci-fi/fantasy from 1960 to 2018. Topics of discussion include: Is a genderless society a utopia? What about a society in which everyone is free to choose their own gender—in theory? And what do the gender binary and the Cold War have in common? (A depressing amount, as it turns out.)

Content warnings: This episode discusses misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic ideologies; the threat of nuclear war; and non-graphic gendered and homophobic violence.

Works cited:


Opening quote by Ursula K Le Guin

Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

The Tensorate series by JY Yang

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The Red Pen is produced by Amanda Jean.