Critique of present-day hierarchies In multiple interviews and essays, Butler explained her view of humanity: inherently flawed by an innate tendency towards
hierarchical thinking which leads to
tribalism,
caste, intolerance, violence and, if not checked, the ultimate destruction of our species. "Simple
peck-order bullying", she wrote in her essay "A World without Racism", "is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to
racism,
sexism,
ethnocentrism,
classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world." Her stories, then, often replay humanity's domination of the weak by the strong as a type of
parasitism. Specifically, Butler's stories feature
gene manipulation, interbreeding,
interracial marriage and
miscegenation,
symbiosis, mutation, alien contact,
rape,
intersectionality, contamination, and other forms of hybridity as the means to correct the sociobiological causes of hierarchical violence. As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai note, "in [Butler's] narratives the undoing of the human body is both literal and metaphorical, for it signifies the profound changes necessary to shape a world not organized by hierarchical violence." The evolutionary maturity achieved by the bioengineered hybrid protagonist at the end of the story, then, signals the possible evolution of the dominant community in terms of tolerance, acceptance of diversity, and a desire to wield power responsibly.
Relationship to Afrofuturism Butler was known for blending science fiction with African American spiritualism. Butler's work has been associated with the genre of
Afrofuturism, a term coined by
Mark Dery to describe "
speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th-century
technoculture". Some critics, however, have noted that while Butler's protagonists are of African descent, the communities they create are multi-ethnic and, sometimes, multi-species. As
De Witt Douglas Kilgore and
Ranu Samantrai explain in their 2010 memorial to Butler, while keeping "an
afro-centric sensibility at the core of narratives", her "insistence on hybridity beyond the point of discomfort" and grim themes deny both the ethnocentric
escapism of afrofuturism and the sanitized perspective of white-dominated
liberal pluralism.
Point of view Butler began reading science fiction at a young age, but quickly became disenchanted by the genre's unimaginative portrayal of ethnicity and class as well as by its lack of noteworthy female protagonists. She determined to correct those gaps by, as De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai point out, "choosing to write self-consciously as an African-American woman marked by a particular history" she resisted being branded a
genre writer. Her narratives have drawn attention of people from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. She claimed to have three loyal audiences: black readers, science-fiction fans, and feminists. == Critical reception ==