Consequently this gendered notion of the world, and more specifically science and technology, has affected who can write and what are the suitable themes for science fiction. An exchange of knowledge and perspectives exists, fed by the concerns of society at large. Feminism has helped to explode the myth that patriarchal institutions, be it science, literature or science fiction, exist as self-contained structures unaffected by the social structures of everyday life. Before explaining my understanding of feminist literary theory and the methods which I will use to question the texts, we need a workable definition of the term sf. Classifying the genre has developed as a valid area of study as, at the moment, no single definition has been universally agreed upon.
Difficulties arise when trying to set out more specific boundaries.
One example of this strategy is Angela Carter's novel Heroes and Villains , which has not been labelled as science fiction.