Gender Roles In The Left Hand Of Darkness

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The Left hand of Darkness, a science fiction novel, introduces us to a genderless world. The people who live in Gethren have no genders until they go into the lunar cycle. The lunar cycle last about 26 days and in this period the people either turn male or female. When they reach the Kemmering phase, they then mate with their partner. Finally, when the lunar cycle comes to an end the people of Gethren go back to their genderless selves. With the exception of the perverts who never lose their gender. Never do we see them complaining about the gender they are given, which can be different every time. And, never once did the people of Gethren judge one another because of the gender they take on.
Gender plays a major in our society. In our world, …show more content…

Being that Gently Ai is from earth he is accustomed to all people having one set gender. So when he sees the people of Gethren he is confused and almost appalled. We take the idea of having genders for granted because it has been embedded into us from the day the doctors could tell what sex we were. On the other hand the people of Gethren saw Gently Ai and that he was a male. And at this point they were not in Kemmering, so for Gently Ai to still hold his male gender that weirded the people out. The people have a name for the people who remain gendered, they call them perverts. So the importance of a genderless society is so important to where they have a name for the outcast, even though they don’t completely shut them …show more content…

Yes, we have progressed but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still injustices as far as women today. For example, Donald Trump just had a tape released of him speaking ignorantly and sexually about women. He believes that because he was famous he could just kiss and women and even touch her privates. If we live in a society where gender and sex wasn’t a thing we wouldn’t be going through things like this and dealing with disgusting men like Donald Trump. On the other hand, with Gender comes the topic of emotions. We allow our gender affect how we can express our feelings. For instance, men are thought to be tuff and to never cry because that shows weakness, whereas, it is acceptable for women to cry and be vulnerable. Overall, the topic of gender is very important in both Gethrens society and also in our

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