Women's Celibacy and the Propagation Imperative in Irish Science Fiction.
This article considers the literary exploration of women's celibacy through the prism of science fiction, beginning with an overview of the genre's often-retrograde engagements with the subjects of marriage, reproduction and heteronormative ideology. Alongside this genre context, a 19th-century Iris...
| Publicado en: | Humanities (2076-0787) Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 73 - 82 |
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| Formato: | Literary Criticism |
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MDPI
Jun2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=194909571&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 194909571 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 20760787 FDTT jtl: Humanities (2076-0787) issn: 20760787 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 15 iid: 6 pid: 97109 pub: MDPI artinfo: ui: 194909571 10.3390/h15060073 ppf: 73 ppct: 9 formats: tig: atl: Women's Celibacy and the Propagation Imperative in Irish Science Fiction. aug: au: Fennell, Jack affil: School of English, Irish, and Communication, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland su: Sexual abstinence Irish literature Social norms Literature Human reproduction Marriage Acts of Union, Great Britain, 1800 Irish history Ireland sug: subj: Ireland Sexual abstinence Irish literature Social norms Literature Human reproduction Marriage Acts of Union, Great Britain, 1800 Irish history keyword: 19th century gender heteronormativity marriage science fiction utopian literature ab: This article considers the literary exploration of women's celibacy through the prism of science fiction, beginning with an overview of the genre's often-retrograde engagements with the subjects of marriage, reproduction and heteronormative ideology. Alongside this genre context, a 19th-century Irish historical context is outlined, juxtaposing genre history with the 'matrimonial' rhetoric that arose following the 1801 Act of Union, which framed the merging of Ireland into the United Kingdom as a 'marriage' between Ireland and Great Britain, with Ireland represented as the bride. In the overlap between these two contexts, this article identifies several future-set Irish novels that address this rhetoric directly, while also tracing its (perhaps unconscious) impact in other texts, before moving on to consider one novel in particular: Mercia, the Astronomer Royal (1895) by Amelia Garland Mears. The article concludes by arguing that science fiction's past missteps with regard to marriage and sex can be explained by the fact that traditional, patriarchal marriage is in fact fundamentally unsuited to a genre primarily concerned with the future, resulting in reactionary overcompensation. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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