View source for The Mote in God's Eye

One of four books set in the "Second Empire of Man" future history created by [[Larry Niven]] and [[Jerry Pournelle]], "Mote" (1978) was heralded by Robert Heinlein as the quintessential "first contact" novel. Other works in this universe include [[King David's Spaceship]] (1974), for which Pournelle recieved the [[John W. Campbell Award]] for best first science fiction novel; Pournelle and Niven's sequel [[The Gripping Hand]] (1994), and a second sequel, [[Outies]] (2010), authored by Pournelle's daughter, [[J.R. Pournelle]].

Germane to this forum, Mote posits first contact with an alien group of species described as "sex changing." Beginning life as males, "Moties" become "female" on insemination, then bear live young. This intersex attribute has been described as meaning that Moties are thus inherently "matriarchal," and Motie charachters are consistently described as "male or "female." However, other than suffering discomforts associated with pregnancy, gender roles ''per se'' are not not explored, other than being presumptively androgynous. 

Contra the Moties, human characters are markedly gendered. Few are women, and these are ascribed limited, and largely "gender-appropriate" feminine roles. However, at the time of its publication, and especially within the highly militarized and masculinized space opera readership community, ''Mote'' was viewed as edgy, original, and daring in its willingness to posit a spoecies in which (female) reproductive biology posed no barrier to aquisition of positions of political authority, military leadership, technical competence, and economic dominance. In multiple venues over the decades, the authors themselves have repeatedly asserted their intent at that time to demonstrate that technology effectively countered any barrier to such advancement on the grounds of putative male physical, intellectual, or emotional superiority.  Thus, although ''Mote'' does not explore the social and emotional consequences of a sex- and gender-changing physiology with the authority and sensitivity of, for example, [[Ursula LeGuin]]'s [[Left Hand of Darkness]], as a "plot forward" space opera intended to appeal to a young, predominantly masculine readership, ''Mote'' played a role in introducing second-wave feminist arguments regarding gender-neutral, performance-based employment equity and political power to that audience.