The Left Hand of
Darkness as an Examination of Culturally Established Ideas of
Gender Binaries
The Left Hand of Darkness
examines culturally constructed ideas of gender-linked character
traits, by showing the gender neutral Gethenian society through the
perception of individuals from a familiar gender binary culture. This
tactic calls attention to the lens of culturally constructed ideas of
(perceived) gender-linked behaviours in our culture. Gendered human
characters from either side of this constructed gender binary
struggle when attempting to interpret behavioural traits outside of a
gendered society.
Male viewpoint character Genly Ai's
persistent attributions of characteristics as either masculine and
feminine demonstrates this cultural fixation of attributing
characteristics in gender-linked binary. Genly perceived his
'landlady' as feminine based on the presence of qualities attributed
as feminine within his (and our) own culture, but the premise that
these characteristics are gender-linked is questioned when it is
revealed that the 'landlady' has, if anything, experiences
(fatherhood, rather than motherhood) that are more biologically
masculine. This examination shows flaws in ascribing behaviours to
gender; rather than the characteristics of an individual, or the
behaviour they have been raised by their culture to exhibit.
Female investigator Ong Tot Oppong
similarly finds that the Gethenians challenge what she knows are the
accepted expectations of socio-sexual relations within her own
culture.
“A man wants his virility regarded, a
woman wants her femininity appreciated... On Winter they will not
exist. One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an
appalling experience.”
The veiled sarcasm of her report hints
at a deprecatory attitude towards the way people within her own
society are valued and perceived based on gender, and her viewpoint
provides a more direct criticism of entrenched ideas about gender
than the fallacy less explicitly revealed by Genly's narrative. The
Left Hand of Darkness challenges the validity of ideas entrenched
in our culture's gender binary by presenting gender as a flawed lens
for perceiving the value and characteristics of individuals.
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