The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, published in 1969, describes a utopian world in which there is an absence of gender. The novel takes place 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 nonetheless created a completely masculinized text. The weakening of femininity was seen through her choice to use masculine pronouns and in the contradictory masculine and feminine connotations attached to societal roles. Additionally, the only male human character in the text assigns gender stereotypes to the asexual Gethenians based on their actions and behaviors. Science fiction is considered a male-dominated genre, and although Le Guin sought to avoid the gender aspect in The Left Hand of Darkness, women and femininity are continually marginalized, even in a novel in which gender does not exist. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Gender may be missing 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, the ambisexuality of the Gethenians has been considered to have 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 there, one enters a masculinized stage called kemmer, in which one becomes sexually active and switches from female to male hormones. Throughout mating cycles, Gethenians are additionally 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 connects the experience of the human female's menstrual cycle to the experience of sex and gender in it. novel (Pearson). There is a strong sense of sexual excitement and attraction throughout Le Guin's text concerning the Gethenians, as well as in Genly Ai. Estraven develops a closeness with Genly Ai, as they flee 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 intense cold for months, they manage to abstain from 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 were to have sex, as an alien and a human, this act would have the same reification effect. gender, regardless of Estraven's (Ruby) androgyny. The 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. acclimatizing and understanding the sexuality and cycle of the Gethenian leads him to establish a barrier between himself and the Gethenians. Additionally, Genly Ai experiences a brief, brutal state of erotic rage, increasing perversion, and sexual frustrations due to being an outsider in an ambisexual world. Discussing women and their anatomy in their entirety, Genly Ai describes the women in Estraven as being the same as Estraven and himself, but having larger breasts and resembling pregnant Gethenians. However, the Gethenians are capable of possessing both male and female sexual traits depending on the cycle. Fayad Mona,author of Aliens, Androgynes and Anthropology: Le Guin's Critique of Representation in The Left Hand of Darkness, argues that in 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 in which gender is deconstructed, it is important that reproduction is accessible to all, rather than those who simply possess an abundance of female growth hormones; we see in the text that Argaven, the king of Karhide, was able to become pregnant (Ruby). However, Genly Ai expresses his understanding of the distinctions between paternal and maternal instincts, stating that this distinction is "hardly worth making", as he believes that parental instinct is not a sex-related characteristic, but gender behavior (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 his text; however, it incorporates the same capacity for biological functions for all Gethenians. Although gender is absent and Gethenians identify as asexual, Genly Ai, as a human, has managed to live among the Gethenians by assigning gender based on her actions and behaviors. Genly Ai identifies any Gethenian considered weak as female, particularly when speaking of Estraven and Argaven. As Genly Ai explains: “Was it in fact perhaps his soft, supple femininity that I disliked and distrusted him? indicating his dislike for Estraven's character due to her feminine aspects, which he does not consider suitable for his societal role (13). Genly Ai sees Estraven as both feminine and masculine, but it is the feminine aspects of his behavior that he finds troubling. Pearson argues that the notion of sex and gender can be seen as an interrogation of our current sex and gender systems and the implications of relationships between men and women. The novel causes us to begin to think about how gender functions in our society as well as the implications of each sex (Pearson). Since Genly Ai was a human male, he understood the difference between the common behavior of men and women, while his explanation of women regarding Estraven determined how he distinguished the Getenians from Karhide: Suppose the most important thing, the most important factor heavier in a person's life, whether one was born a man or a woman. In most societies, it determines everyone's expectations, activities, outlook, ethics, mannerisms – almost everything. Vocabulary. Semiotic uses. Clothes. Even the food. Women… women tend to eat less… It is extremely difficult to separate innate differences from innate differences. Even when women participate equally with men in society, they continue after all to be responsible for all procreation, and therefore for the majority of child-rearing (253). Genly Ai adheres to a clear distinction between men and women and between gender roles attached to society. each gender. Arriving in Karhide, where gender did not exist but where one could change depending on the cycle, and/or inject themselves with different sex hormones, Genly Ai faced his new situation by assigning a gender to the Gethenians with which he came into contact with. In doing so, Genly Ai gives a negative, feminine connotation to those who are weak or do not perform their jobs in a masculine manner. Le Guin's novel can first be seen as an attack on binaries; however, it functioned more likean attack on harmful stereotypes separating men and women (Mona). Due to the accepted gender stereotypes that Genly Ai has been accustomed to in human life, he associates certain roles with more masculine and feminine characters. in the novel. Genly Ai describes women and femininity to Estraven, who was unaware of these constructs: “One does not often find mathematicians, music composers, 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 his knowledge of the masculine and feminine roles of modern-day men and women towards the Gethenians, making assumptions based on their roles in Karhide society: "Argaven was less royal, less manly than he is looked at a distance among his courtiers. His voice was thin and he held his fierce crazy head at an angle of bizarre arrogance” (33). Genly Ai thus discusses Argaven's role as king, implying that he is an unfit king due to his pressing femininity overcoming his royal duties. Genly Ai also harbors preconceived notions about Estraven based on his social position as a deep politician, but he later rejects his preconceived notions about her once he notices her feminine behavior (Mona). Important social roles in Karhide were seen as imperative to be fulfilled by one who embodies masculinity. Genly Ai meets a soothsayer named Faxe, who states: “It is a discipline which should arouse the interest of kings, politicians, businessmen” (72). Ultimately, Genly Ai advocates gender bias and sexism when discussing the need for a man in certain social positions, stating, "Even in a bisexual society, the politician is very often something less than a man in its own right” (15). The Left Hand of Darkness seeks to reduce the oppression and exploitation of women by eliminating women and gender as a whole (Rudy). Nevertheless, even in the absence of gender, femininity is undermined due to this doctrine that difficult and daring positions in Karhide (such as the responsibilities of politicians, businessmen or kings) must be administered by those who possess masculinity and the masculine gender. roles. This notion is based on the principle that those who possess femininity and feminine gender roles are unqualified. Le Guin creates a world without gender; however, in her novel she chooses to use sexist masculine pronouns when talking about all Gethenians. Everyone in the text was referred to as he, him, sir, or brother – Le Guin had also only made up a king of Karhide, rather than a queen. In doing so, Le Guin has created an imperfect job in terms of eliminating gender distinctions, as she rejects the option of creating a new language for the Gethenians to move away from sexist pronouns (Pennington). Pennington argues that Le Guin attempted to challenge the way we think about gender, but that her work is flawed because readers, both male and female, are confined to their own perspectives on gender and will interpret the text accordingly. Le Guin explains: “I eliminated the genre, to find out what was left. Whatever was left would probably just be human. This would define the space shared by men and women” (Pennington). Pennington believes that this attempt at gender deconstruction failed because of sexist pronouns, still-present gender stereotypes, and readers unconsciously interpreting the text based on gender. Additionally, as the reader seeks to deconstruct gender differences in the text, the individual response of the.