"The following must go into my finished Directives: When you meet a Gethenian you cannot
and must not do what a bisexual naturally does, which is to cast him in the role of Man or
Woman, while adopting towards him a corresponding role dependent on your expectations of
the patterned or possible interactions between persons of the same or the opposite sex. Our
entire pattern of socio-sexual interaction is nonexistent here. They cannot play the game. They
do not see one another as men or women. This is almost impossible for our imagination to
accept. What is the first question we ask about a newborn baby?
Yet you cannot think of a Gethenian as "it." They are not neuters. They are potentials, or
integrals. Lacking the Karhidish "human pronoun" used for persons in somer, I must say
"he," for the same reasons as we used the masculine pronoun in referring to a transcendent
god: it is less defined, less specific, than the neuter or the feminine. But the very use of the
pronoun in my thoughts leads me continually to forget that the Karhider I am with is not a man,
but a manwoman.
The First Mobile, if one is sent, must be warned that unless he is very self-assured, or senile,
his pride will suffer. A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity
appreciated, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On Winter
they will not exist. One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling
experience."
— Ursula K. Le Guin The Left Hand of Darkness
