ABSTRACT
In her award-winning science fiction novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin describes the planet Gethen, where all the people are hermaphrodites capable of both fathering and mothering a child. The people of Gethen cannot comprehend the difference between male and female. When the Terran ambassador, Genii Ai, visits Gethen, he must negotiate with people who have never experienced gender. As a result,
heisforcedtoexamineallthepreconceptionshecarrieswithhim,asa manfromaworldinwhichpeopledefinitelydohavegender.
