Sex and sexuality in speculative fiction

Modern science fiction frequently involves themes of sex, gender and sexuality. This was not always so. During the 1930s and 40s "golden age" of science fiction you would be lucky to find males and females mentioned in the same paragraph, let alone having sex.

The New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 1970s reflected its times by attempting to break earlier taboos about what could and could not be the subject of science fiction. The girlie magazine Playboy published regular serious science fiction stories throughout this period, by both male and female authors, offering them significantly more scope than some other publications.

Two different themes emerged: one trying to explore the boundaries of what "sex" could mean in a world of altered humanity and reality, and another of exploring the position of women in science fiction and feminist issues in what was traditionally a form of fiction written by and for men.

Signficant use of sexual themes in serious science fiction include:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Several stories in Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Flesh by Philip Jose Farmer
Strange Relations, a collection of short stories by Philip Jose Farmer
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
Dhalgren by Samuel Delany
Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg
Titan by John Varley
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Some of the themes explored include:

Sex with aliens, machines and robots
Reproductive technology including cloning, artificial wombs and genetic engineering
Sexual equality of men and women
Male and female dominated societies
Polyamory
Changing sex roles
Homosexuality and lesbianism
Androgyny and sex changes
Sex in virtual reality

A number of works of mainstream erotica, including the Gor novels by John Norman, have also used the science fiction format. There is now a separate sub-genre of science fiction erotica that aims to integrate the two genres: writers in this genre include Cecilia Tan, whose small-press Circlet Press caters especially to adult science fiction fans.

Numerous science fiction television series and science fiction films have used science fiction plots as an excuse to fit in gratuitous sexual or fetishistic content: one of the conventions of much filmed science fiction appears to be that the future will be peopled exclusively by attractive people wearing skin-tight clothing in shiny materials. Nevertheless, some science fiction-themed TV shows, such as Farscape, have been acclaimed for breaking away from the political correctness of the more popular Star Trek.