To be honest, the idea of people living on a planet and not
having any defined gender does in fact, intrigue me. My only confusion from the
book itself is the fact that we are told they have no gender, but are given
characteristics that shape the way we see them. We are told they are
"genderless" and yet the characters are referred to as being boy or
girl. The use of the words "he" or "his" is what I'm
referring to. In every case Estraven is depicted as "he" did this, or
"he" said that. Am I missing something, does the author not know how
to describe a person without using gender referencing? Technically speaking
shouldn't we be referring to all of the characters who are genderless as
"it" until they pick a gender? Or simply calling them by their name.
Repetitive, but not as misleading as tacking on gender specific words. I guess
what I’m saying here is,if you’re going to create a book where everyone is
genderless, shouldn’t you fully describe them as being without a gender? Now
every time I read anything about Estraven I completely think he’s a guy, I
envision him as being a guy, I’m even referring to him as a guy. Its so hard to
wrap my brain around the idea of a gender neutral state, when everyone seems to
have a sexual orientation regardless.
