In the following excerpt, Helford examines "Bloodchild" in terms of Butler's treatment of issues of gender, race, and species. Emphasis on the metaphoric impregnation of human males in "Bloodchild" makes the process of gynesis central to the story. In a 1986 article on Butler in Ms. magazine, Sherley Anne Williams reports that Butler "gleefully" describes "Bloodchild" as her "pregnant man story." Williams interprets the story as an exploration of "the paradoxes of power and inequality," as Butler portrays "the experience of a class who, like women throughout most of history, are valued chiefly for their reproductive capacities." I'd add that this "class" must be examined through issues of race and species as well as gender; however, Williams describes well the imaginative feminist space which makes the story so compelling a site for the study of gynesis in popular culture. Although human women tend to have more body fat...