Paradise Imagined: The Divine Woman and Her Garden of Life
Introduction
On June 22, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed their decision in Roe v. Wade, revoking the constitutional right to abortion (Palaniappan et al.). According to Justices Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Clinton, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, “from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of. A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term even at the steepest personal and familial costs." (Totenberg). Marxist sci-fi scholar Darko Suvin defined Feminist Speculative Fiction as an exercise in “cognitive estrangement”, where ceasing disbelief so as to jump into the unreal made it “a genre showing how ‘things could be different'” and therefore quintessentially political (Elephant Magazine). It is through genres like speculative fiction in which one is able to reckon with the complexities and challenges of the real world. Studies conducted in 2023, estimated 118,000 additional births that can be expected in the US per year (Palaniappan). What sort of implication does forcing motherhood have on a society? The novums of these literary works challenge the very fabric of this social norm. Literary texts such as The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan, Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, referred to as"one of the earliest 'self-consciously feminist' utopian stories written in english by a woman" (Jahan, 1), and Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are all examples of feminist utopian literature that examine these very issues. By taking a hermeneutic approach, we might gather a better sense of the authors' accomplishments.
Feminist Utopias
What sort of implication does forcing motherhood have on a society? The novums of these literary works challenge the very fabric of this social norm. In Herland, three men stumble across a secret civilization composed entirely of women in the Amazon. The women take them in and teach the men about their customs and history, while simultaneously learning theirs. The men discover that the women do not need men to reproduce, as they have developed an ability to reproduce asexually, referred to as Parthenogenesis (Gilman). Sultana’s Dream observes a total subversion of the social expectation of motherhood, as well as the observance of purdah, or feminine seclusion. A Bengali woman named Sultana falls asleep and dreams of an alternate reality called Ladyland in which the men are kept secluded and shut indoors while the women are free to come and go as they please. When inquiring about the nature of the new world, she is told by her guide, Sara, "And do you not think it wise to keep sane people inside an asylum and let loose the insane?" (Hossain, 9). In the Book of City of Ladies, what begins as Christine’s despair over her gender transforms after she is visited by three feminine virtues: Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. They help her build a new civilization while dismantling her own internalized misogyny, therefore empowering her womanhood and allowing her the ability to choose a life for herself. Once the City of Ladies is built, it is none other than the Blessed Virgin Mary herself who is selected to rule over the kingdom, ensuring divine sovereignty and magnificent power. Van, the narrator of Herland, notes, “Under all our cultivated attitudes of mind toward women, there is an older, deeper, more 'natural' feeling, the restful reverence which looks up to the Mother sex." (Gilman, 232). Here, a connection to the divine feminine emerges, as women are portrayed as the source of life, as well as the determinators of it. Women create life inside them, and this ability is seen as the most powerful ability of all in each of the stories.Reproduction
By denying women the right to abortions, it is not difficult to understand why women would fantasize about controlling their own bodies, and reflect that desire in their literary works. Herland makes grand references to female autonomy by introducing the concept of Parthenogenesis in humans, although there is no evidence of such cases in the real world. In a sort of divine, virgin birth, the women of Herland reproduce only daughters. They all come from one common ancestor, a woman whose womb was blessed, not unlike the allegory of the Virgin Mary. Not only are the later generations of women able to reproduce asexually, but they are also able to collectively decide whether or not they even want to reproduce. In Herland, one woman says to Van, "We certainly do not assume a Big Woman somewhere, who is God. What we call God in a Pervading Power, you know, an Indwelling Spirit, something inside of us that we want more of.” Then she innocently asks, “Is your God a Big Man?" (Gilman, 202). By being ignorant of a “bi-sexual society,” as the women refer to the world from which the men hail, the women are almost blissfully unaware of the social conditioning that comes from living in a patriarchal society. As such, they do not hold unequal values in gender, instead choosing to focus on an individual’s strengths as a contributing member of their society. This results in a very interesting subversion of the nature of reproduction, as sexual dimorphism does not exist in Herland, which changes the very fabric of their nature of socialization.Motherhood
All three of these feminist utopias reference women as mothers, with references to the Virgin Mary as well as Eve, the first woman to be created in the Book of Genesis. The women of Herland prioritize the care of their daughters with a sacred sort of reverence, even though the men do not recognize it as such. Referred to as a "motherliness, which dominated society, which influenced every art and industry, which absolutely protected all childhood, and gave it to most perfect care and training, did not seem motherly — to Terry" (Gilman, 132). "Those nation-loved children of theirs compared with the average in our country as the most perfectly cultivates, richly developed roses compare with-tumbleweeds. Yet they did not seem "cultivated" at all- it had become a natural condition" (Gilman, 130). In utopia, childhood is sacred, and so is being a mother. Women are not sinful regardless of their status, knowledge, or ability to reproduce. Their capabilities are worshipped as recognized for their power, and they are fully autonomous. Through communal motherhood, the women are bound in solidarity and like-mindedness. They share the same common goal: to thrive in the world they are given, and love one another.
Autonomy
When woman have autonomy, or self-government, they are capable of fulfilling their own needs and creating an idyllic life for themselves. In her short story, Hossain argues for the education of women, with a specific focus on the access to science and mathematics. In Ladyland, the men were overpowered "by brain" (Hossain, 12). By learning how the men operated, the women were able to not only anticipate their next move, but use their own weaknesses against them and confine them, as if in a cage. In the realm of Herland, "what one knew, all knew" (Gilman, 116). Jahan suggests that Hossain wrote the short story "to create a sense of self confidence among the very vulnerable Bengali women... That women may possess faculties and talents equivalent to or greater than men-that they are capable of developing themselves to a stage where they may attain complete mastery over nature without any help from men and create a new world of perfect beauty, great wealth and goodness" (2). In this sense, the women transcend gender entirely, because their society does not recognize it. They simply do what needs to be done in order to live enriching lives. And in fact, radical feminism explains that, “a feminist utopia cannot exist if inequalities exist due to gender binaries and discrimination. It advocates for imagining a feminist utopia which provides a critique of gender itself” (Sharma). In this way, utopia serves as a solace for many women, a safe space in which they cannot be mistreated or misunderstood. It is a space that is free of judgment, shame, objectification, or the brutal nature of patriarchy and toxic masculinity. The nature of biopolitics is denied and therefore, rendered obsolete. By restoring autonomy to the woman, she can finally self-actualize. When everyone is given access to self-actualizing, it is possible that a more harmonious peace can be achieved, with mutual respect and consideration of each other.
Final Thoughts
Utopias exist as solace, or places to hide from the world. They are beautiful, secret worlds that exist as the manifestation of dreams. True growth exists in community, solidarity, and the ability to choose for oneself. Feminist utopian literature exists to provide catharsis for an underserved group of individuals. Through feminist utopian literature, women can imagine a world where they are not forced to reproduce, and are allowed total autonomy and control over their own bodies, to decide to do with what they please. When the women of Herland reflect on their past, and are asked whether or not they are concerned about the wishes of their predecessors, they reply, "Why no, why should we? They are all gone. They knew less than we do. If we are not beyond them, we are unworthy of them-and unworthy of the children who must go beyond us." (Gilman, 198). According to Totenberg, the GOP’s decision of ripping away women’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions is “dark and extreme”. There is not only despair for the way things are in reality, but perhaps also a small beacon of hope as we dare to dream of better worlds, and learn from our past. Life deserves to be something to celebrate, not an unwanted burden that can be forced on someone. Those who can create life deserve the right to choose whether or not they want to. We can succeed the ones who came before us, and create a society in which everyone thrives. If we can believe in utopia, we can achieve it. By examining utopias, perhaps we can come to build one of our own here on earth: a world filled with love and universal understanding.
Bibliography
[1] Agnew, R. 2021. Utopia Now: How Speculative Fiction Can Provide Hope in a Crisis. Elephant Magazine.
[2] Campanella, Tommaso. 2001. The City of the Sun. Project Gutenberg. Print.
[3] Pizan, Christine De. 1982. The Book of the City of Ladies. 1st ed. New York: Persea Books. Print.
[4] Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. 2010. S.l: The Floating Press. Print..
[5] The King James Bible. 2004. Salt Lake City, UT: Project Gutenberg. Print.
[6] Marin, Louis. 1973. “Utopiques: jeux d'espaces”. Paris, Minuit. 145-6.
[7] Palaniappan, Ashwin, et al. “Overturning Roe v. Wade.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, vol. 81, no. 7, 2023, pp. 703–04, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2022.11.046.
[8] Rokeẏā, Hanna Papanek, and Roushan Jahan. 1988. Sultana’s Dream: And Selections from The Secluded Ones. New York: Feminist Press. Print.
[9] Sharma, D. 2017. “Sultana’s Dream And Its Conception Of A Feminist Utopia.” Feminism in India. https://feminisminindia.com/2017/10/04/sultanas-dream-feminist-utopia/
[10] Totenberg, N. 2022. “Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Ending Right to Abortion Upheld for Decades.” National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn
[11] Yuanming, Tao. 2012. 陶淵明 桃花源 Translation: The Peach Blossom Spring (Prose), by Tao Yuanming | East Asia Student. (n.d.).
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