Rambling Readers

penwing reads (they/them) commented on The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle)

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness (Paperback, 2010, Ace Books)

On the planet Winter, there is no gender. The Gethenians can become male or female …

Really good discussion of Left Hand of Darkness tonight at #wsf because one person thought Le Guin should have feministed harder...

I mean, I can accept a level of disappointment that Genly's gender prejudices and stereotypes are the same as ours (the same as 60s when it was written - SF is absolutely about the now - and boy is that depressing too) and haven't changed much in thousands of years, but to say Le Guin didn't push the boundaries with this novel - nope, not having it.

I mentioned Palmer's approach in Terra Ignota (where lying liar narrator is introducing people with gendered expectations despite gender being outlawed) but forgot to discuss how Leckie fell into the same pronoun trap with Ancillary Justice but using She rather than He on a society without gender.

penwing reads (they/them) reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle)

On the planet Winter, there is no gender. The Gethenians can become male or female …

Love this book

5 stars

I didn't realise how much I loved this book until I reread it. It is the scifi book on gender in a very substantive way, but it is also, as the author acknowledges, out of date and lacking. Like Genly, le Guin and society learned and moved - one way and now, sadly, another...

It still shows misogyny in how Genly thinks of women and his (initial) attempts to put Gethians into gendered categories - perhaps exaggerated by the choice of "he" as pronoun (a great example of how "default" is not the same as "neutral").

But it is also much much more than just the scifi gender book. So much politics which must have had an impact on me when I read the book as a youngster - especially on patriotism and kindness - that I picked up much more brazenly on each reread.

Now to go discuss at …

I didn't realise how much I loved this book until I reread it. It is the scifi book on gender in a very substantive way, but it is also, as the author acknowledges, out of date and lacking. Like Genly, le Guin and society learned and moved - one way and now, sadly, another...

It still shows misogyny in how Genly thinks of women and his (initial) attempts to put Gethians into gendered categories - perhaps exaggerated by the choice of "he" as pronoun (a great example of how "default" is not the same as "neutral").

But it is also much much more than just the scifi gender book. So much politics which must have had an impact on me when I read the book as a youngster - especially on patriotism and kindness - that I picked up much more brazenly on each reread.

Now to go discuss at book club #wsf

penwing reads (they/them) started reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle)

On the planet Winter, there is no gender. The Gethenians can become male or female …

Reading (actually the Folio Society edition but that ain't loaded up here) for #wsf

penwing reads (they/them) finished reading Mickey7 by Edward Ashton

Edward Ashton: Mickey7 (2023, Rebellion)

Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living.

Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable …

I enjoyed that... #wsf