I don't think it's supposed to be that most people identify as nonbinary
Oops, sorry, I didn't really have the vocabulary to say what I intended. I didn't mean to say that people identify as nonbinary in the way I'd mean today, in considering themselves nonbinary, as opposed to predominantly male or female. But everyone dressing in ways not reflecting a sex, and using pronouns not reflecting a sex, even if they consider themselves male, female or something else inside.
But it seemed strange that, if they avoid mentioning sex differentiation, that *more* people don't identify as non-binary, like people without a strong gender identification being nonbinary-by-default instead of cis-by-default, even if many people do see themselves as male or female even if that's not as major a component of their identity (or at least, it's not polite to admit it).
like hair colour - some trait people have that might affect whether you want to have sex with them but not really part of people's identities.
That was about my interpretation, at least of how it was *supposed* to work.
It's entirely plausible that "that's the polite thing to say, but what people think hasn't caught up" is a stage we'll go through, just like now, we're theoretically supposed to teach that people are equally capable of succeeding in home building or career building regardless of gender, but many people still cling to old gender roles, and the stereotypes are still prevalent even if (hopefully) slowly weakening.
But it seems like, after hundreds of years (I'm not sure quite how long it's supposed to be in the books?) I'd expect there to be enough people who's sexuality isn't hardwired to care so much that people get the idea that a binary division is something SOME people are secretly inclined towards, not ALL people are secretly inclined towards. Saying that DOESN'T happen seems to imply that all these sexists attitudes really are biologically hardwired, which seems like a really depressing viewpoint for the book to endorse, regardless of the specifics of its confused society.
people's prurient interest in Sniper's biological sex
It sort of fits. Like, "have you had cosmetic surgery" isn't part of most people's gender identity, but it's something that gossip magazines obsess over for celebrities.
But what gets me is that some people are naturally intersex, many people are nonbinary gender identified, in a society where (at least notionally) that's no more weird than identifying as a cis gender, surely people would be aware those people exist? So however prurient, why do people expect Sniper to conform to some specific expectation?
To your list of concerns,
I want to emphasise, those were nowhere near exhaustive, almost every aspect of the book raised relevant questions with me, but I only had time for so many giant deconstructions of aspects of society :)
I'd add "what about Africa?"
For the sake of my nerves, I'm going to assume that's the exception and Africa in general is as mixed as everywhere else. I think I'd throw something if not...
Oops, sorry, I didn't really have the vocabulary to say what I intended. I didn't mean to say that people identify as nonbinary in the way I'd mean today, in considering themselves nonbinary, as opposed to predominantly male or female. But everyone dressing in ways not reflecting a sex, and using pronouns not reflecting a sex, even if they consider themselves male, female or something else inside.
But it seemed strange that, if they avoid mentioning sex differentiation, that *more* people don't identify as non-binary, like people without a strong gender identification being nonbinary-by-default instead of cis-by-default, even if many people do see themselves as male or female even if that's not as major a component of their identity (or at least, it's not polite to admit it).
like hair colour - some trait people have that might affect whether you want to have sex with them but not really part of people's identities.
That was about my interpretation, at least of how it was *supposed* to work.
It's entirely plausible that "that's the polite thing to say, but what people think hasn't caught up" is a stage we'll go through, just like now, we're theoretically supposed to teach that people are equally capable of succeeding in home building or career building regardless of gender, but many people still cling to old gender roles, and the stereotypes are still prevalent even if (hopefully) slowly weakening.
But it seems like, after hundreds of years (I'm not sure quite how long it's supposed to be in the books?) I'd expect there to be enough people who's sexuality isn't hardwired to care so much that people get the idea that a binary division is something SOME people are secretly inclined towards, not ALL people are secretly inclined towards. Saying that DOESN'T happen seems to imply that all these sexists attitudes really are biologically hardwired, which seems like a really depressing viewpoint for the book to endorse, regardless of the specifics of its confused society.
people's prurient interest in Sniper's biological sex
It sort of fits. Like, "have you had cosmetic surgery" isn't part of most people's gender identity, but it's something that gossip magazines obsess over for celebrities.
But what gets me is that some people are naturally intersex, many people are nonbinary gender identified, in a society where (at least notionally) that's no more weird than identifying as a cis gender, surely people would be aware those people exist? So however prurient, why do people expect Sniper to conform to some specific expectation?
To your list of concerns,
I want to emphasise, those were nowhere near exhaustive, almost every aspect of the book raised relevant questions with me, but I only had time for so many giant deconstructions of aspects of society :)
I'd add "what about Africa?"
For the sake of my nerves, I'm going to assume that's the exception and Africa in general is as mixed as everywhere else. I think I'd throw something if not...
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