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alias_sqbrOk you are all fired for not making me read this book of short stories before now. So much delicious science fictiony exploration of gender and sexuality and the complex interplay between biology and society. Like Octavia Butler, Ursula K Le Guin is pretty obviously a romantic sexual straight cis woman who doesn't really get other (existing, human) kinds of gender/sexuality, and that limits the writing. She also has SUCH A THING FOR MARRIAGE OMG. I mean, I'm married! Marriage is great! But it's still a bit much.
That said she obviously tried to expand her horizons in the decades since she wrote "The Left hand of Darkness", there is human!queerness and alien!queerness and the intersections between the two, though generally only one at a time so far (I'm about halfway through the book).
It still feels very much like a second wave feminist understanding of gender, albeit one softened by modern ideas, anthropological education, and compassion. Gender is almost entirely a social construct while biological sex is simple, unambiguous, and inescapable (with the exception of the briefly mentioned and rare monosexed pseudo-humans amongst the usually dual-sexed Gethenians) There's a tendency for characters to be genderqueer but heterosexual deep down under whatever conditioning they get from society. She explores how homosexuality/bisexuality/heterosexuality and (to a lesser extent) monogamy fits into her worlds, but I keep wondering about intersex, trans, and non binary gendered people. Or aromantic/asexual people, or other new equivalents like Gethenians whose kemmering doesn't fit the "become the opposite sex to the person you're around and desire sex with them" pattern. Like, what if you became the SAME sex? Or entered a sexually mature non binary gendered state?
I still have a few stories to go, but wanted to get my thoughts out now while they were fresh. I've been quite enjoying reading short fiction while out on public transport, I find it hard to keep track of novels. Alas my tastes on short fiction are very narrow, but I'm sure I can find more to read once I'm done with this and Steampowered 2.
That said she obviously tried to expand her horizons in the decades since she wrote "The Left hand of Darkness", there is human!queerness and alien!queerness and the intersections between the two, though generally only one at a time so far (I'm about halfway through the book).
It still feels very much like a second wave feminist understanding of gender, albeit one softened by modern ideas, anthropological education, and compassion. Gender is almost entirely a social construct while biological sex is simple, unambiguous, and inescapable (with the exception of the briefly mentioned and rare monosexed pseudo-humans amongst the usually dual-sexed Gethenians) There's a tendency for characters to be genderqueer but heterosexual deep down under whatever conditioning they get from society. She explores how homosexuality/bisexuality/heterosexuality and (to a lesser extent) monogamy fits into her worlds, but I keep wondering about intersex, trans, and non binary gendered people. Or aromantic/asexual people, or other new equivalents like Gethenians whose kemmering doesn't fit the "become the opposite sex to the person you're around and desire sex with them" pattern. Like, what if you became the SAME sex? Or entered a sexually mature non binary gendered state?
I still have a few stories to go, but wanted to get my thoughts out now while they were fresh. I've been quite enjoying reading short fiction while out on public transport, I find it hard to keep track of novels. Alas my tastes on short fiction are very narrow, but I'm sure I can find more to read once I'm done with this and Steampowered 2.
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Date: 2012-12-18 08:37 pm (UTC)I only hope that it's not going to insult me with something I didn't notice before.
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Date: 2012-12-18 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-18 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-19 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-19 02:49 am (UTC)Unlike some other trans/queer people I know, I've always found her attempts to rethink sex, gender and sexuality really interesting (even/especially the ones that don't 'fit' me).
Yeah, I don't agree with all the conclusions she comes to but she constructs some very interesting questions.
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Date: 2012-12-19 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-19 08:36 am (UTC)I really feel like her 'conclusions', at least in her short stories, are more like commas or semi-colons than full-stop-last-paragraph-fin-end-of-story kind of conclusions (both in terms of story-conclusions and answer-conclusions). The questions keep evolving in my mind long after I've put the book down - which is pretty much my definition of a good book!
And yes, she doesn't get all the gender/sex stuff 'right' (though should that really be the ultimate marker we use to judge art?), but I'd take her compassionate attempts to think through it over the millions of writers who don't even bother to try.
/PRO-UKLG RANT
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Date: 2012-12-21 12:28 am (UTC)Also, I would've loved to see more material dealing with the lives of monosexed Gethenians/same-sex kemmering Gethenians/etc. Birthday is a fantastic collection, but there are some glaring omissions.
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Date: 2012-12-22 01:18 am (UTC)Well put.
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Date: 2012-12-22 01:23 am (UTC)Ouch. Luckily I'm more going the other way so the surprises tend to be happier.
The End and the Way by Luzula is a great fanfic about a single sexed Gethenian.