Gender and Sexuality in the Left Hand

Gender and Sexuality in the Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

Science fiction, more so than any other literary genre, explores the question of 'what if' in a future-directed scenario. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin features a fictional country called Karhide on a planet called Gethen that lacks a concept of what we would call gender. Beings on the planet are not divided into male or female. In creating such a world, the author highlights the extent to which false gender stereotypes permeate our own consciousness. The people of Gethen only engage in sexual intercourse for reproductive purposes and the same person can fulfill either the male or female function. The unisexual beings unite during a period called 'kemmer' and alternate gender during each period of 'heat.'

Having non-reproductive sexual desire or being only one gender (like the visitor and emissary from Earth Genly Ai) is regarded as perversion. "Excessive prolongation of the kemmer period, with permanent hormonal imbalance towards the male or female, causes what they call perversion; it is not rare, three or four percent of adults may be physical perverts or abnormal -- normals by our [earthly] standards" (Le Guin 64). The obvious parallel within our culture is that of hermaphrodites or individuals born with genitalia of both genders. Le Guin says that perverts are treated similar to homosexuals in many societies -- they are not excluded, but tolerated with some disdain as abnormal.

Estraven, the hero of the book, is shown in both a male and female guise, as seen through the eyes of Genly Ai. Despite being from the future, Genly Ai takes the likely reader's perspective that there are inherent differences between males and females, given that they still exist on his planet. His experiences as an emissary to Gethen challenge this assumption about the inherent division by gender between all beings. However, Le Guin's novel does not take an idealized perspective of genderless life. On one hand, there is no discrimination against women and no patriarchical authority that forces women into an inferior position, based upon their biological status. However, Karhide is in a political conflict with the neighboring state of Orgoreyn. Lacking gender does not result in a perfect society, but it does make the people of Gethen more 'human' to some degree. All beings are equally able within their respective societies to enjoy their full capacity to think and maximize their full potential, regardless of gender. What is considered strange and perverse depends upon what is constructed as normal, not something inherent to the human condition. Ali is considered just as odd in Gethen someone who transgresses gender norms in our society.