Joanna Russ stands out even among the New Wave as a writer of considerable technical sophistication. Although the contemporary reception of her works is occasionally marred by reviews of critics who may be unduly influenced by her feminist subject matter...

Do men have any use for female hormones, known as oestrogens? Yes, say scientists - the tiny amount produced naturally keeps them fertile. This could also shed new light on fears over 'environmental oestrogen'. Charles Arthur investigates. Fears that man-made chemicals which mimic...

Byline: ROBERT IMRIE Associated Press A Green Bay man who amended his birth certificate to change his sex to female failed Tuesday in efforts to have it revised again to identify him as male. Stephanie Calewarts asked for the latest change...

In her previous novels, "Picnic on Paradise" and "The Female Man," Joanna Russ used science fiction as a vehicle for the most intelligent, hard-minded commentary on feminism that you are likely to find anywhere. Her premise seemed to be this: If the war between the sexes is really a war, women are never going to win (or even hold their own) unless they are willing to mobilize their minds and bodies. People who declare war when they are unready to fight deserve the disaster that a...

["The Female Man" may be categorized as serious "women's lib S.F." The author Joanna Russ] has never been one to deny the importance of basic biological facts in determining sex roles; she also understands how easily such facts can be compensated for once their existence is acknowledged. For instance, her heroines tend to be castrating females in the most literal sense. They take for granted that Tarzan will never really consider Jane an equal as long as he feels he can be...

[The Female Man] is not a novel—it's a scream of anger, sustained for 214 pages. It's unfair, it's maddening, it's depressing. I hated it for months after I read it. There's no plot, just four women whose names begin with "J" (Joanna, Jeannine, Janet and Jael) free-floating through a mirror-maze of events and characters. Some of the book is set in the present, some in a recognizable future, some in alternate presents and futures. Hatred of men is the o...