Genly and Gethenians

In order to talk about Genly's struggle with Gethenian culture and biology, you will need to look at it three different ways- Genly's way, Gethen's way, and "our" way.

            The Gethenian people were created through an experiment.  They're essentially modified humans with a mating cycle.  They're also quite a bit shorter when compared to non-Gethenian humans. When they were left alone for a long time, they developed their own culture and mythology.

            Gethen is advanced in that there is no gender (and all the problems associated with it). Because of the mating cycle, a Gethenian is only fertile (and can access his reproductive organs) during "kemmer," and can't have sex outside of this timeframe, so there isn't rape. In addition, Gethen is probably  more productive since they're not concerned with sex most of the month.  A small percentage of the population is in a constant state of kemmer.  These people are known as "perverts" that have their reproductive organs all the time, and, since most people of Earth are like that, Genly is considered an anomaly.  A pervert is equated as being morally inferior.

            Genly is a human from Earth.  Humans don't have a cycle like that. Humans are more fertile at some times than others, but it doesn't stop them from having sex.  Genly, although he lives in the future, is still accustomed to pronouns and gender roles associated with the set of reproductive organs Earth people are born with.  Genly has been on Gethen for about two years but he still struggles to not use gendered pronouns,  Another important point to make is that he only uses the male pronouns, no matter how effeminate or masculine a person might be, so that's a start.  However, the lack of a gender-neutral pronoun unique to the book makes it more difficult for us to really see a truly gender-neutral world.

            In traditional patriarchal societies such as our own, the women are expected to birth and raise children and carry out domestic work.  The men are perceived as the stronger sex and are expected to support the household. On Gethen, a person is gender-neutral until they randomly adopt a gender during kemmer. A Gethenian can both father and mother a child, though after weening the child, the "mother" can return to a neutral state. These gender roles do not apply on Gethen.

            Perhaps Genly is a reflection of the audience experiencing a gender-neutral society. It's important to remember that this book was written in the sixties, and it probably would have attracted negative attention. Also, this book would have been much more confusing if Ms. Fletcher hadn't told us that the Gethenians had no gender in the first place.

            Another important point to make is that although Genly refers to the Gethenians as "he," he notes that some of the Gethenians have some more feminine mannerisms and Genly doesn't think highly of them. His thoughts about Estraven are quite negative and send the message that women are deceiving.

            The premise of any science fiction book begs the question "what if?"  It also presents realistic fictional science to  1) develop the plot, and 2) make it more believable and interesting. Science fiction bends the rules and norms we are used to and changes the variables in the story to see the outcome. Sci-Fi novels offer a glimpse into the author's perception of human nature.  The question Le Guin poses is, "What if there were no genders?" And Genly is experiencing the answer as a man from Earth on a different planet.  We can see that even without gender, there are still huge problems on Gethen regarding border disputes, xenophobia, and insane kings.