The Secret Feminist Cabal

“The Secret Feminist Cabal” examines the community in which Joanna was “first among equals” and her importance to feminist fandom, before focusing on the remarkable “Khatru symposium on women in science fiction” in which a group of established writers, newcomers, and one man, Chip Delany, plus one supposed man “James Tiptree Jr.” (Alice Sheldon) discussed, in circulated letters, not only the place of women in sf but also feminism’s entire agenda: including childcare, motherhood, ecology issues, sexual harassment, male heroines, female heroes, the gender pay gap, power struggles, and coercive legislation. Joanna’s most powerful expression of her political manifesto appears here. Stories and essays discussed include “Towards an Aesthetic of Science Fiction,” “The Zanzibar Cat,” and “The Autobiography of My Mother.”