Genre fiction between 1890 and 1918 challenged ideas about gender to some extent. During this period, known as the "transitional age" or fin de siècle, Victorian writers were "in active rebellion against virtually everything the preceding generation stood for" (Keating, p. 4). Such rebellion can be seen in gender terms. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and HG Wells challenged ideas about gender. This article will argue that these writers challenged ideas about genres through their genre fiction by examining Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Wells's The War of the Worlds. First, the role of observation will be discussed with reference to gender. In Doyle and Wells' novel, observations play an important role – Holmes uses observations to solve cases. Yet in “Scandal in Bohemia,” Holmes' observation fails when he encounters Irene Adler, a victim of established ideas about gender. The narrator of The War of the Worlds also uses observations. The use of scientific observations makes everything she observes feminine (Attebery, pg52). This affects the perception of the Martians, leading to the fall of civilization. Through this, Wells demonstrates the treatment of women and brings it to the public's attention. Second, Doyle expresses the instability of the male patriarchy of the previous generation in “The Speckled Band.” This will be discussed in relation to the Woman's Property Act of 1870-1882 (Hall, p. 296), but also how Holmes represents a new age man, grounded in rationalization and scientific ideas. Finally, the androgynous Martians will be seen as a threat to gender ideas and hierarchies in Wells' novel. Since the Martians do not fit the narrator's view of gender, this disrupts the middle of paper......until 1890 – 1918. Both novels discussed used observation conveyed as a masculine trait to emphasize how observations can be misleading. In Doyle's "Scandal in Bohemia", Holmes' observation misleads him because he bases his observation on the superficial, seeing Adler as a simple woman, without seeing her intelligence which leads her to deceive him. Observation has a role in War of the Worlds, it places the observed in a false sense of security while observation places the observed as feminine. Second, Doyle conveys the dying nature of the old patriarchy through Dr. Roylott and highlights his physical dominance. Holmes manages to overcome this, but the women remain silent and entrusted to the care of another man. Finally, Wells uses androgyny to express how male figures fear a genderless society, because it means there would be no hierarchy and no gender roles could be established..