DeGraw, Sharon. “‘The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same’: Gender and Sexuality in Octavia Butler’s Oeuvre.” Femspec (Cleveland, Ohio), vol. 4, no. 2, 2004, pp. 219-.
– This article discusses Butler’s reputation for challenging traditional power structures in her fiction, particularly in terms of gender, race, and class. While Butler is recognized for creating alternate speculative societies where men and women are considered equal, feminist critics have raised concerns about her female characters embodying traditional gender roles and compromising themselves by aligning with strong males in patriarchal settings.

PICKENS, THERÍ A. “Octavia Butler and the Aesthetics of the Novel.” Hypatia, vol. 30, no. 1, 2015, pp. 167–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24542065. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.
– The article is about how race, gender and disability intersect and inform each other in the novel. The article talks about how Lauren’s ability to pass as a man is an indication of the fact that identity categories are fluid and coextensive. Butler doesn’t ascribe stable characteristics to either ability or gender because gender is performative.

Blazan, Sladja. “‘Something Beyond Pain’: Race, Gender, and Hyperempathy in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Gender Forum, no. 82, 2022, pp. 34–34.
– The article talks about how Butler intertwined gendered identities with race in order to foreground the intersecting nature of oppressive social structures. It explores the fact that Lauren has to pass as male as a means of survival, and the fact that she has to travel as Zahra’s heterosexual partner and both pretend to be traveling with “their white friend” in order to avoid the attention and persecution of fellow travelers. In addition, Butler uses Lauren’s Earthseeh group as a means to redefine racial and gendered difference as an asset rather than a liability.