Gynotopias

This page is still under construction; in the future, there will be far more images, reviews, and links to works of fiction revolving around the perenially fascinating concept of the all-female society, so please check back!

At least since the ancient Greeks told each other stories about the Amazons, the concept of an all-female society has fascinated men and women both. In the literature of the last couple of centuries, a few clear patterns in our fantasies about gynotopias have emerged. The most well-known classic of the genre, Herland, actually features a conversation between the three male explorers encapsulating three of them:

Jeff was a tender soul. I think he thought that country - if there was one - was just blossoming with roses and babies and canaries and tidies, and all that sort of thing.
For some reason, we tend to project our most Utopian fantasies onto all-female societies. The details of the Utopia vary, but the idea that a world without men would be one recurs again and again.

And Terry, in his secret heart, had visions of a sort of sublimated summer resort - just Girls and Girls and Girls - and that he was going to be - well, Terry was popular among women even when there were other men around, and it's not to be wondered at that he had pleasant dreams of what might happen. I could see it in his eyes as he lay there, looking at the long blue rollers slipping by, and fingering that impressive mustache of his.
This trend had its heyday in the 50's, when astronauts were always landing on planets full of sex-starved women who were just waiting for men to show up and make their lives complete. Not that I'm denying that for straight women, having no men around would get awfully frustrating, but the genre tends to high camp.

Then there are the more realistic versions, which didn't really get written until the last couple of decades:
"You're all off, boys," I insisted. "If there is such a place--and there does seem some foundation for believing it--you'll find it's built on a sort of matriarchal principle, that's all. The men have a separate cult of their own, less socially developed than the women, and make them an annual visit--a sort of wedding call. This is a condition known to have existed--here's just a survival. They've got some peculiarly isolated valley or tableland up there, and their primeval customs have survived. That's all there is to it."

Gynotopian Fiction
Gynotopian Movies
All-Male Societies in Fiction
Gynotopian Links
Real-Life Gynotopia in Africa!