Post-binary Gender in SciFi?

[Carter]

There is a new post up at tor.com concerning Post-binary gender. It apparently is the first in what will be a series of posts on the topic.

Considering our recent read of Ancillary Justice and The Einstein Intersection, thought that some of you might be interested.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/01/post...

[Baelor]

Is the entire issue of gender not circumvented with a discussion of biological sex instead?

The article seemed like a load of blather, honestly. The author does not actually define "binary-gender" in any systematic fashion, but spends the entire column talking about how important it is. She should know that defining key terms should be standard. As it stands, the reader does not even know what texts really qualify as "post binary-gender," or why we should care.

[Dharmakirti]

About 10 years ago, I went to a workplace diversity seminar dealing with trans-issues and gender was one of the main topics of the presentation.

One of the things that really stuck with me over the years are three of the ways the presenter categorized gender:

1) biological gender - What most people think of when they think gender- the male/female binary.
2) gender identity - The gender a person perceives themselves to be. This may relate or may not relate to the person biological gender.
3) gender perception - The gender others perceive a person to be. This may or may not relate to a person's biological gender or gender identity.

I can look back now and say that this presentation really helped me understand the idea of gender being a social construct. It was fascinating.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I think the post is just an intro, Baelor.

[Ben]

In a lot of ways this is why we have the James Tiptree Jr award because the fantasy and sf genre's have a lot of potential to explore issues of gender and also many works do manage to address these in effective and interesting ways.

I think the article does make an interesting point that when it comes to non binary gender issues the main text that people bring up is Left Hand of Darkness - whilst this is a good example there are many more out there.

[Joanna Chaplin]

Ben wrote: "In a lot of ways this is why we have the James Tiptree Jr award because the fantasy and sf genre's have a lot of potential to explore issues of gender and also many works do manage to address these..."

I didn't know about the James Tiptree Jr award before this. *adds winners to to-read list*

[Ben]

Joanna wrote: "I didn't know about the James Tiptree Jr award before this."

Last year I went to WisCon for the first time. It was wonderful. The con hosts the award and has lots of good panels about gender, etc. I'm having trouble doing it justice, but the way they create such a welcoming atmosphere for everyone made me feel like I had a revelation. I'd recommend it to anyone who's curious about this sort of thing.

[Joanna Chaplin]

Ben wrote: "Joanna wrote: "I didn't know about the James Tiptree Jr award before this."

Last year I went to WisCon for the first time. It was wonderful. The con hosts the award and has lots of good panels abo..."

Personally, I'm fairly content keeping my gender expression in line with the sex I was born with, but I do like reading fiction that discusses and plays with gender, in hopes of gaining greater understanding of my fellow human beings.

[Ben]

Joanna wrote: "...I do like reading fiction that discusses and plays with gender, in hopes of gaining greater understanding of my fellow human beings.
"

I also look like and identify with my birth gender. A huge thing I enjoyed about going to WisCon was the open atmosphere where I didn't feel like everyone else, but I felt welcomed. I was able to learn directly from others what their experiences were like, to talk about the genres I love in a deeper way (there's an 'academic track' of panels in addition to the standard ones), but also just geek out with a bunch of fellow sf fans.

Wow, I don't want to make anyone feel like they have to go, I was just so excited by it that I'm (poorly) trying to share my excitement.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I know people who go every year (to WisCon) and really love it. It's a great con to be exposed to authors from underrepresented groups.

[kvon]

Thanks for pointing out that thread. I look forward to reading it. I always wish there was a spot in the gender checkboxes for 'Gethenian'.