Gender and Sexuality on Gethen : A Contemporary Analysis of Ursula K le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness

Abstract: Ursula K Le Guin wrote The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) because she wanted to explore the limitations of gender and sexuality in a way that reflected the ongoing epistemic changes in her society. She created the Gethenians, an ambisexual, androgynous species that live most of their life without an assigned sex, making their entire society lack the concept of gender. Le Guin writes in her essay “Is Gender Necessary? Redux” (1988) that she wanted to erase gender to find out what was left. This essay will examine how the themes of gender and sexuality are explored in the Left Hand of Darkness, questioning if gender was actually erased. It is Le Guin’s linguistic choices and assumption that androgyny is masculine that assigns male gender to the Gethenians, without them having a biological sex. This renders the female experience invisible, creating a severe imbalance between the male and female part of them. However, by using Genly Ai - one of the main narrators, a male character from Terra (Earth) - gender is still presented as something fluid and non-binary, even though the Gethenians are generally perceived as more masculine. Sexuality, on the other hand, is more fluid and open, presenting a completely different idea than the norm present in the world of the reader. On Gethen, sexuality is celebrated when it is controlled and separate from everyday life, contrary to the celebration of a constant, masculine and aggressive view on sex. In conclusion, The Left Hand of Darkness presents the reader with a safe and comfortable version of androgyny, ultimately leaving many readers wanting more from the thought experiment.