The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, published in 1969, describes a utopian world in which there is no gender. The novel is set in Karhide, where winter is the nation's only season and its inhabitants are Gethenians, androgynous beings. Although Le Guin sought to create a genderless world, she still created a thoroughly masculinized text. The weakening of femininity was seen through her choice to use male pronouns and in the contrasting male and female connotations attached to social roles. Additionally, the only male, human character within the text assigns gender stereotypes to asexual Gethenians based on their actions and behaviors. Science fiction has been considered a male-dominated genre, and although Le Guin tried to avoid the aspect of gender in The Left Hand of Darkness, women and femininity are continually marginalized, even in a novel where gender does not exist . plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Gender may be absent in Le Guin's novel; however, sex and sexual ambiguity are still abundantly present. The sexual nature of the Gethenians corresponds to the female menstrual cycle and furthermore it was argued that the ambisexuality of the Gethenians had no adaptive value. The Gethenian sexual cycle lasts twenty-six to twenty-eight days, and for approximately twenty-one to twenty-two days one is sexually latent and inactive. From then on we enter a masculinized stage called kemmer, in which we become sexually active and switch from female hormones to male hormones. During mating cycles, Gethenians are further injected with male or female hormones. Wendy Gay Pearson, author of Postcolonialism, Gender, Sexuality/ies and the Legacy of 'The Left Hand of Darkness': Gwyneth Jone's Aleutians Talk Back, argues that Le Guin links human women's experience of the menstrual cycle to the experience of sex and gender in his life. novel (Pearson). There is a strong sense of sexual excitement and attraction throughout Le Guin's text concerning the Gethenians, as well as through Genly Ai. Estraven develops an intimacy with Genly Ai, as they escape Orgoreyn together and return to Karhide; they come to love each other, further developing strong sexual tension. Although they have traveled together on the ice in the intense cold for months, they manage to abstain from any sexual activity. Kathy Rudy, author of Ethics, Reproduction, Utopia: Gender and Childbearing in "Woman on the Edge of Time," argues that if Genly Ai and Estraven had sex, as alien and human, this act would have the same gender-reifying effect, regardless from the androgyny of Estraven (Ruby). Gethenians view Genly Ai's sexuality as a perversion. Sexual perverts and abnormals are called half-dead in Gethenian slang and are not acceptable within their society, as they are in the modern human society of Genly Ai. Genly Ai's attempt to acclimate and understand Gethenian sexuality and cycling leads him to create a barrier between himself and the Gethenian brief and sudden state of erotic rage, growing perversion, and sexual frustrations of being a foreigner in an ambisexual world When it talks about women and their anatomy in their entirety, Genly Ai describes women Estraven appears to be the same as him and Estraven, but has larger breasts and looks like a pregnant Gethenian. However, Gethenians are capable of possessing both male and female sexual traits depending on their cycle. Fayad Mona, author of Aliens, Androgynes and Anthropology: Le Guin's Critique of Representation in The Left Hand of Darkness argues thatwithin the text Le Guin uses gender relegation to describe those who possess masculinity and uses biological characteristics to describe those who possess femininity (Mona). Through Le Guin creating a world where gender is deconstructed, it is important that reproduction is available to all, and not just those who simply possess an abundance of female growth hormones; we see in the text that Argaven, the king of Karhide, managed to get pregnant (Ruby). However Genly Ai expresses her understanding of the distinctions between paternal and maternal instincts, arguing that this distinction is "hardly worth making", as she believes that parental instinct is not a sex-linked characteristic, but is behaviorally gendered (106). In the absence of gender, Le Guin uses sex and sexual biology to examine and highlight the different gender roles of masculinity and femininity. Le Guin undermines the roles of women and femininity in her text; however, it incorporates the same capacity for biological functions for all Gethenians. Although gender was absent and Gethenians identified as asexual, Genly Ai, as a human, approached life among Gethenians by assigning gender based on one's actions and behaviors. Genly Ai identifies any Gethenian who is considered weak as female, especially when talking about Estraven and Argaven. As Genly Ai explains, “Was it his soft, supple femininity that I didn't like and distrusted about him?” indicating his dislike for the person of Estraven due to his feminine aspects, which he does not consider suitable for his social role (13). Genly Ai sees Estraven as both feminine and masculine, but it is the feminine aspects of his behavior that she finds disturbing. Pearson argues that the notion of sex and gender can be seen as an interrogation of our current systems of sex and gender and the implications of relationships between men and women. The novel causes us to start thinking about how gender works in our society and also the implications of each sex (Pearson). Since Genly Ai was a human male, he understood the difference between common male and female behavior, while his explanation of females regarding Estraven determined how he distinguished the Gethenians in Karhide: Suppose that the most important thing, the single factor heavier in one's life, whether one is born male or female. In most societies it determines expectations, activities, perspectives, ethics, manners – almost everything. Vocabulary. Semiotic uses. Clothing. Even the food. Women… women tend to eat less… It is extremely difficult to separate innate differences from learned ones. Even where women participate equally with men in society, they are, after all, still responsible for childbearing, and therefore most of the child-rearing (253). Genly Ai adheres to a clear distinction between males and females and between gender roles related to society. every sex. Arriving in Karhide, where gender did not exist but could be changed depending on the cycle, and/or injected with different sexual hormones, Genly Ai faced his new situation by assigning gender to the Gethenians he came into contact with. In this way, Genly Ai gives a negative and feminine connotation to those who are weak or do not perform their work in a masculine manner. Le Guin's novel can initially be seen as an attack on the tracks; however, it functioned more as an attack on harmful stereotypes that separate males and females (Mona). Due to the accepted gender stereotypes that Genly Ai has been accustomed to in human life, she associates certain roles with more masculine and feminine characters. in the novel. Genly Ai describes women and femininity in Estraven, whichhe ignored such constructs: “It doesn't seem like we often turn up mathematicians, or composers of music, or inventors, or abstract thinkers. But it's not that they're stupid. Physically they are less muscular, but a little more resistant than men. Psychologically” (253). Genly Ai uses her knowledge of modern male and female human roles towards the Gethenians, making assumptions based on their roles in Karhide society: "Argaven was less regal, less virile, than he looked at a distance among his courtiers. His voice was thin and held his fierce, moody head in a corner of bizarre arrogance” (33). pressing femininity that surpasses her royal duties. Ai also harbors preconceptions about Estraven based on his social position as a profound politician, but later rejects her preconceptions about him once she notices his feminine behavior (Mona). prominent in Karhide were considered imperatives to undertake for those who exemplify masculinity. Genly Ai meets a seer named Faxe, who states: "This is a discipline that must arouse the interest of kings, politicians, businessmen" (72). Ultimately, Genly Ai supports gender bias and sexism in discussing the necessity of a man in certain social positions, stating: “Even in a bisexual society the politician is very often something less than a whole man” (15). The Left Hand of Darkness seeks to decrease the oppression and exploitation of women by eliminating women and gender as a whole (Rudy). Nonetheless, even with the absence of gender, femininity is undermined due to this doctrine that challenging and bold positions in Karhide (such as the responsibilities of politicians, businessmen or kings) must be administered by those who possess masculinity and male gender. roles. This notion is based on the premise that those who possess femininity and feminine gender roles are unqualified. Le Guin creates a genderless world; however, in her novel she chooses to use sexist male pronouns when discussing all Gethenians. Everyone in the text was referred to as he, him, lord, or brother: even Le Guin had only constituted a king of Karhide, rather than a queen. In doing so, Le Guin has created an imperfect work in terms of eliminating gender distinctions, as she rejects the option of creating a new language for Gethenians that deviates from sexist pronouns (Pennington). Pennington argues that Le Guin attempted to challenge the way we think about gender, but her work is imperfect because readers, both men and women, are confined to their own gendered perspectives and will interpret the text accordingly. Le Guin explains: “I eliminated the genre, to find out what remained. What remains would presumably be merely human. It would define the area shared by men and women” (Pennington). Pennington believes that this attempt to deconstruct gender failed because of sexist pronouns, because of gender stereotypes that are still present, and because of readers who unconsciously interpret the text based on gender. Furthermore, as the reader seeks to deconstruct gender differences in the text, the reader's individual response becomes an essential theme (Pennington). Genly Ai, as the only male human in the text, nevertheless acknowledges his use of male pronouns towards asexual Gethenians: "Wiping the sweat from his dark brow the man - man, I must say, having said he and the the man answers" (5 ). Le Guin's experiment in eliminating genre is ambitious, a departure from the norms of the traditional science fiction novel. Yet The Left Hand of Darkness had missed the mark as the implication of gender was present through the.