Feminist Science Fiction: A Study of Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness

This paper presents a study of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness as a text that comes under Feminist Science Fiction. This genre serves as a vehicle for promoting feminist thought by constructing realms in which the potentials of women are recognized and their participation and contributions are valued and appreciated.  It raises fundamental questions about the way society constructs gender identities and offers instead a vision of a reality free of sexism and exploitation. The organizing principle of Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness is the feminist theoretical vision of androgyny. Feminist androgyny is instrumental in restoring balance and reclaiming justice in a world disheveled by the patriarchal systems and gender ideologies. If men and women are ambisexual, they would become equally empowered in their roles; socially, politically, legally and economically. At this point, society would be crucially changed. Like all feminist science fiction, Le Guin’s text endeavors to achieve the goals of feminist thought.