LHoD Wave one Discussion Question

In the Left Hand of Darkness Genly Ai is a man on a planet called Gethen. On Gethen Genly struggles to see the Gethenians as they see themselves because Genly is not from Gethen. He is from Earth. On Earth everyone has a gender. Gethen is a planet of genderless beings. So it is understandable why he would have trouble not being able to see these people and not try to give them a defining gender because in his mind having a gender is normal. Whereas, on Gethen he is abnormal because to them he is in a constant state of kemmering, which is the only time Gethenians have a gender. To them Genly is a pervert. So it is only natural for Genly to struggle with accepting the Gethenians for what they are. When interacting with the people of Gethen he cannot help but pick out traits that would file them into a specific gender. Such as when Genly talks with his "landlady" or when Genly sees Faxe as a women. Genly continues to do this with many other people in the book. This shows that on Genly's planet people might have a hard time accepting those who are different. In Genly's mind these people are abnormal and strange. To the Gethinians Genly is a strange pervert. It is all a matter of what these people are used to and what they have grown up with. Genly grew up in a community of people with genders and the people of the planet of Gethen grew up without genders.