Serhat-Sawitzki, Dilara2025-11-192025-11-192025http://hdl.handle.net/2003/4431210.17877/DE290R-26080This dissertation explores how gender functions as a foundational cultural feature in the literary works of Carl Djerassi, a chemist-turned-author who sought to educate non-scientists through fiction and thereby bridge C. P. Snow’s ‘Two Cultures’ of science and the humanities. While Djerassi’s stated aim was science pedagogy, his novels and plays offer a deeper critique: using his insider knowledge as a former scientist, his literary works present a detailed portrayal of the hermetic culture of the sciences. The natural sciences in Djerassi’s literary works are practiced within a distinct culture, resembling tribal features. As a tribe, Djerassi’s scientists share a specific code of conduct, predominantly governed by gender-specific constructs which, disguised as rationality and objectivity, excludes women from the sciences. Across his novels and plays – from Cantor’s Dilemma (1989) to Phallacy (2012) – Djerassi portrays female scientists who both navigate and resist this male-dominated environment. While some characters criticize the exclusionary culture of science, others challenge issues of scientific ethics, motherhood, and intersectionality, emphasizing the power – but also limits – of bonds of female solidarity in the natural sciences. Through these portrayals, Djerassi challenges the myth of male scientific genius and exposes the erasure of women’s contributions from scientific history. Ultimately, Djerassi emerges as an ally to feminist science critique. Drawing on Ben Almassi’s theory of male feminist allyship (2022), this dissertation argues that Djerassi uses his insider authority to question science’s claim to objectivity and to introduce feminist perspectives into scientific discourse. The thesis concludes by proposing an interdisciplinary model for using Djerassi’s ‘Science-in-Literature’ works in secondary education, linking gender, ethics, and science through drama-based learning.enhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Women in scienceGenderThe two culturesScience in literature420PhDThesisCarl DjerassiNaturwissenschaften (Motiv)Geschlechterrolle (Motiv)Feministische Literaturwissenschaft