Anke wrote a Tumblr post on sexism in sf&f. I have complicated thinky thoughts related to this, and decided I should unpack them in my own post
( Read more... )
Spoilers for Ancillary Justice and The Left Hand of Darkness! I mean, I don't think it is too spoilery, I just talk about setting.
I have recently read two books where there are genderless/sexless or semi-genderless societies! First was Ancillary Justice (and Sword and Mercy). The main character comes from a society where there are sexes, but no cultural gender. There is only one gender pronoun, and it happens to be "she". The second book is The Left Hand of Darkness where there is a (mostly) sexless and genderless society. I say mostly because the humans do actually go into a sexual period where they develop sex characteristics (once a month, I believe), and they can develop into either sex. But outside of those periods, they are completely neuter. This book uses the gender pronoun "he" throughout. When talking about these books, I will use the pronoun that the author used.
I really like the Ancillary trilogy, because except for a couple of people, I don't think you ever find out the sex of anybody in the books. I love the idea that the main character can't even tell by looking at people what sex they are, which she tries to do several times. She was never taught that men look like this and women look like that. There are other prejudices in the books, but I love that that is not one of them. I don't recall that the book goes into having children, but I may have overlooked it. I've read reviews where some people claim that all the relationships are heterosexual ones, which I find completely unbelievable, and which is why I wonder about the issue of children. But in a society without gender, it is hard to have prejudices based on gender. As far as division of labor based on physical characteristics, it seems like most of the heavy lifting is done by the Ancillaries, which are not human anyway (but the book does go into whether or not they are _people_). That seems to be the main prejudice, humans against ancillaries.
It is a little different with Left Hand. The main character comes from a gendered society, and he has a hard time wrapping his mental model around the people in this new society. He has to confront his own prejudices. I actually feel like it should have impacted his interactions with the other characters more than just him thinking, "Ew gross, he is acting effeminate." Of course, the sexless society also has a prejudice against the main character, they consider him a pervert for constantly having a sex. Again, I feel like their acceptance of someone who they consider to be a pervert to be a bit too blasé.
I would say that there are two main prejudices in the Ancillary books: humans vs. ancillaries and the degree of civilization* of various human groups. The latter I see as a very typical colonial mode, taking a diverse society with distinct cultural groups and picking some to be favored and others to be disfavored, thereby creating (or exacerbating) division among people who might otherwise have common cause.
Have you read Too Like the Lightning? That one's set a few centuries in the future, and everyone uses 'them.' Except that the narrator keeps gendering people for Reasons. I found it very interesting, but am still not sure what I thought of it.
*Using the book's definition of 'civilized,' i.e. like the Radch.
I have recently read two books where there are genderless/sexless or semi-genderless societies! First was Ancillary Justice (and Sword and Mercy). The main character comes from a society where there are sexes, but no cultural gender. There is only one gender pronoun, and it happens to be "she". The second book is The Left Hand of Darkness where there is a (mostly) sexless and genderless society. I say mostly because the humans do actually go into a sexual period where they develop sex characteristics (once a month, I believe), and they can develop into either sex. But outside of those periods, they are completely neuter. This book uses the gender pronoun "he" throughout. When talking about these books, I will use the pronoun that the author used.
I really like the Ancillary trilogy, because except for a couple of people, I don't think you ever find out the sex of anybody in the books. I love the idea that the main character can't even tell by looking at people what sex they are, which she tries to do several times. She was never taught that men look like this and women look like that. There are other prejudices in the books, but I love that that is not one of them. I don't recall that the book goes into having children, but I may have overlooked it. I've read reviews where some people claim that all the relationships are heterosexual ones, which I find completely unbelievable, and which is why I wonder about the issue of children. But in a society without gender, it is hard to have prejudices based on gender. As far as division of labor based on physical characteristics, it seems like most of the heavy lifting is done by the Ancillaries, which are not human anyway (but the book does go into whether or not they are _people_). That seems to be the main prejudice, humans against ancillaries.
It is a little different with Left Hand. The main character comes from a gendered society, and he has a hard time wrapping his mental model around the people in this new society. He has to confront his own prejudices. I actually feel like it should have impacted his interactions with the other characters more than just him thinking, "Ew gross, he is acting effeminate." Of course, the sexless society also has a prejudice against the main character, they consider him a pervert for constantly having a sex. Again, I feel like their acceptance of someone who they consider to be a pervert to be a bit too blasé.
Reply
Have you read Too Like the Lightning? That one's set a few centuries in the future, and everyone uses 'them.' Except that the narrator keeps gendering people for Reasons. I found it very interesting, but am still not sure what I thought of it.
*Using the book's definition of 'civilized,' i.e. like the Radch.
Reply
Leave a comment