Speculative Fiction by its very nature, lends itself to all manner of conjecture. When creating fictional characters, gender is almost-always a fundamental characteristic that needs to be determined. Some time ago, I found myself wondering why the majority of Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction writers out there seem to stick almost religiously to the standard male and female constructs. This invariably led to the question of how much gender diversity already exists on our awesome planet.
I dare say the following list makes for some pretty imaginative characterization in works of Speculative Fiction:
Asexual
- having no sex or sexual organs.
Androgynous
- having an ambiguous sexual identity.
Hermaphrodite
- an individual in which reproductive organs of both sexes are present.
Psuedohermaphrodite
- an individual having internal reproductive organs of one sex and external sexual characteristics resembling those of the other sex or being ambiguous in nature.
Protandrous
- changing from the male sex to the female during the growth of the same individual.
Protogynous
- changing from the female sex to the male during the growth of the same individual.
Dichogamy
Dichogamy is the separation in time of gender expression in a hermaphroditic organism.
So basically, they change from one to the next. Protandry and Protogyny are types of Dichogamy – but more specific as the organism changes from one gender to the next and apparently stays that way.
*Note:
Scientifically, dichogamy really only applies to fish, gastropods, and most flowering plants but when it comes to to the infinite possibilities we can dream up, anything goes – right?
I guess to many people the male/female distinction is so ingrained as to become a reflex in writing.
There was actually a sci-fi novel I enjoyed reading called Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman (see on goodreads here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1082276.Half... ) about a planet, Gammadis, in which people are born gender-neutral, and during puberty become one gender or the other. But there is a subsection of Gammadians who stay gender-neutral, and they end up working as servants to the others. The story follows one such gender-neutral being, called Tedla, and it was quite fascinating to read.
I guess to many people the male/female distinction is so ingrained as to become a reflex in writing.
There was actually a sci-fi novel I enjoyed reading called Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman (see on goodreads here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1082276.Half... ) about a planet, Gammadis, in which people are born gender-neutral, and during puberty become one gender or the other. But there is a subsection of Gammadians who stay gender-neutral, and they end up working as servants to the others. The story follows one such gender-neutral being, called Tedla, and it was quite fascinating to read.
I think it’s just maybe a matter of getting stuck in one’s way too. Gender bending characters make for such interesting plots too. This is now one of the top things on the list of things I difinitely want to experiment with, in my writing.