John: my recommendations are, as always, Silicon Karma by Thomas Easton and Archangel by Sharon Shinn.

There was also an awesome book that looked at patriarchy and racism; I don’t remember the title, but it took place on a planet with three “races”: blue, white, and gold. The blues were almost like Indians (spots, not feathers) and matriarchal; the golds were obvious Nordics, with heavy influence from Arnold Schwarzenegger; I don’t remember much about the whites. The main character was a blue female who ends up working with a multi-cultural team and falling in love with a non-blue. The dynamics that surround the relationship & her work environment are part of what I love about SF. It’s such a non-judgmental mirror. Or judgmental, but in a good way. It shows us ourselves in a manner we cannot see without it.

Have you read Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness? It’s about a society of human androgynes and is perhaps one of the most profound works of SF I’ve ever read (and one of my personal faves). Also, feministsf.org has been especially helpful with my bibliography. It even has a pretty comprehensive list of queer sf.

Hey BiV! I’m more interested in your take, living as a woman embedded in two super-patriarchal traditions! Let’s make certain to compare notes.

Tepper’s “The Gate to Women’s Country” specifically explores life in a polygamist, patriarchal, fundamentalist enclave (among many other things), if that’s interesting to you. Although I’m now trying to think of a Tepper novel that doesn’t deal with patriarchy and religion on some level…