The first thing I would like to draw attention to is when Leguin talks about thought experiments, and their use in science and science fiction alike. She points out the similarities between her use of a genetically genderless species and Schrodinger’s cat, which seem to be very different at first, but the way she explains it is very sophisticated and interesting. In life, people ask questions, and then perform experiments to find the solutions. In science fiction, authors take in the world around them, and ask how can it be better, or what might happen in the future, and then write their own answers to those questions.
Leguin also makes the rationale that there isn’t much differentiating men and women other than their physical form and function. However, I would like to counter this statement. I believe that hundreds of millions of years of evolution have led to the differences commonly found between the two genders, and that we as humans are actively changing this, in the process allowing for more gender fluidity than any other species we have ever observed, or the past of human history. My belief is that the need for an X and a Y chromosome came from the fact that by combining two of something to make a single or many offspring, it gives them more of a chance to survive with the best, or better qualities, of their parents. Those with the best and most survivable traits survived longer and mated more, thus creating a stronger species. What became of this, evolutionarily speaking in large organisms, is that the female carried the eggs and gave birth to their offspring, while the male protected them. While the female carried the offspring, as well as after they were born and while nurturing them, the male would go out and collect food for them all to eat, as well as protect them from any predators. The female would only have one extremely important purpose in life, while the male would have many not as important purposes, making a power dynamic where the female would be subservient to the male because of how much he did to keep them alive. Genetically, the male had to be stronger and smarter for the best chance of survival. However, humans are the first species (at least that we know of) that has gotten to the point where we have broken that power dynamic. There is no longer anything to protect the females from, as humans are the top of every food chain on earth, and there is nothing that can really harm females that can’t harm males. Because of this, females over the past 5000 years have become more and more equal to men, both in the general and genetic sense. We are slowly breaking gender norms and becoming more and more genderless by ourselves, which can be seen in the larger and larger LGBTQ+ community. Every year, it seems like more and more sexualities and genders are created, something that I believe stems solely from the fact that there is no longer a genetic reason to not have people that fit these self given labels. In the past, at least according to Darwin, there was natural selection, which meant only the strongest survived, but now humans as a collective are so strong that everyone is given the opportunity to survive, and everyone, regardless of their gender or where they were born, has more and more of an equal opportunity to succeed and survive. Anyway, my point is males and females used to be entirely different things, but Leguin is becoming more and more right, there is little separation between a man and a woman in 2020 other than the fact that one has an X chromosome and one has a Y chromosome.
Another thing I found really interesting about Leguin’s article was the absence of war. I find this to be a really comforting thought, because I personally don’t believe there is any idea worth defending by killing hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people. A war of minds is a much more civilized, albeit usually less effective, alternative to a war of strength and destruction.
A third thing I found interesting was the way Leguin chose her choice of pronouns in the book. She says that she didn’t want to create a pronoun in English that combined he/she, as “he” is a sufficient enough generic pronoun in English. Although it may be based in years of oppression and male hierarchy, I agree with this sentiment. Just because the base of the English language is male dependent doesn’t mean we have to go out of our way to change it. Having people define their pronouns in my opinion is a pretty large waste of time, and “misgendering” a person should not be considered an insult. I can understand that some people want to be referred to in a specific way, but years of social norm and biological constants make that a very hard thing. Leguin talks about how this causes people to miss things in the book, such as a character named “Estraven” who she wrote to have motherly qualities still being perceived as a man, but it is hard to look past pronouns and into the actual actions of a person, at least in the 1900’s when the book was written. I am almost positive that if we had read the book she is talking about in class, we would have had a full discussion about how Estraven was not a “he” as referred to by the pronoun, but was more of a mother to his children. Unfortunately we did not read this book, so I guess I’ll never know.