Ungendered or ambiguously gendered characters: Difference between revisions

From Feminist SF Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (List of works that do not gender one or more characters moved to List of works that with ungendered or ambiguously gendered characters: Many if not most entries are characters who switch gender or are ambiguously gendered, so the title was very mi)
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
NOTE: Some of the explanations below contain spoilers.
* [[June Arnold]] . [[The Cook and the Carpenter]]
* [[June Arnold]] . [[The Cook and the Carpenter]]


 
* [[L. Frank Baum]].* [[Oz|''The Land of Oz'']]  
* [[L. Frank Baum]].* [[Oz|The Land of Oz]] (Tip/Ozma gender-switch)
    The young boy Tip is eventually revealed to be the Princess Ozma.
* [[L. Frank Baum]]. The Enchanted Island of Yew
* [[L. Frank Baum]]. ''The Enchanted Island of Yew''
*[[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]. [[Darkover]]
*[[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]. [[Darkover]]
* [[Emma Bull]]. [[Bone Dance]].
    Despite its inclusion in this list, Darkover is not generally known for its ungendered characters; it does feature homosexual characters, and also celibacy as a path to magical power
 
* [[Emma Bull]]. [[''Bone Dance'']].
 
    Sparrow, the protagonist of ''Bone Dance'' appears to be a character whose gender the author is deliberately not revealing, but in fact Sparrow is something very different.
* [[Sarah Caudwell]]. [[Thus was Adonis Murdered]], [[The Shortest Way to Hades]], [[The Sirens Sang of Murder]] and [[The Sibyl in Her Grave]].
 
 
* [[Candas Dorsey]]. [[Machine Sex and Other Stories]]
* [[Candas Dorsey]]. [[Dark Earth Dreams]] (discbook).
* [[L. Timmel Duchamp]] . "[[Welcome, Kid, to the Real World]]" in [[Tales of the Unanticipated]] Spring / Summer / Fall 1996
 
 
* [[Greg Egan]]. [[Distress]]
* [[Kelly Eskridge]]. "[[And Salome Danced]]." (Little Deaths, Ellen Datlow, ed, 1996, and Best Lesbian Erotica, Tristan Taomino, ed.)
 
 
* [[Mary Gentle]]. [[Golden Witchbreed]].
 
 
* [[Phyllis Karr]] [[At Amberleaf Fair]]


* [[Sarah Caudwell]]. [[''Thus was Adonis Murdered'']], [[''The Shortest Way to Hades'']], [[''The Sirens Sang of Murder'']] and [[''The Sibyl in Her Grave'']].


* [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. [[Left Hand of Darkness]]
* [[Candas Dorsey]]. [[''Machine Sex and Other Stories'']]
* [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. "[[Coming of Age in Karhide]]" (New Legends, Greg Bear, ed.)
* [[Candas Dorsey]]. [[''Dark Earth Dreams'']] (discbook).
* [[Walt Leibscher]]. "[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Love?]]" in Strange Bedfellows edited by Thomas N. Scortia (1972)
* [[L. Timmel Duchamp]] . "[[Welcome, Kid, to the Real World]]" in [[''Tales of the Unanticipated'']] Spring / Summer / Fall 1996




* [[Laurie Marks]] . [[Delan the Mislaid]]
* [[Greg Egan]]. [[''Distress'']]
* [[Laurie Marks]]. [[The Moonbane Mage]]
* [[Kelly Eskridge]]. "[[And Salome Danced]]." (''Little Deaths,'' edited by [[Ellen Datlow]]; ''Best Lesbian Erotica,'' edited by Tristan Taormino; [[''Flying Cups and Saucers'']], edited by [[Debbie Notkin]] and [[The Secret Feminist Cabal|Secret Feminist Cabal, The]]
* [[Laurie Marks]]. [[Ara's Field]]
* [[Judith Moffet]] . [[Time Like an Ever-Rolling Stream]]


* [[Mary Gentle]]. [[''Golden Witchbreed'']].


* [[Melissa Scott]]. [[The Kindly Ones]]
* [[Phyllis Ann Karr]] [[''At Amberleaf Fair'']]
* [[Nancy Springer]]. [[Larque on the Wing]] (gender switch)
* [[Caitlin Sullivan]] and [[Kate Bornstein]]. [[Nearly Roadkill]]


* [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. [[''The Left Hand of Darkness'']]
* [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. "[[Coming of Age in Karhide]]," in ''New Legends'' edited by Greg Bear
* [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. "[[Winter's King]]," in ''[[The Wind's Twelve Quarters]]'' and elsewhere.
      On Karhide, all inhabitants are ungendered, except when in [[''kemmer'']], a pre-reproductive state which occurs in adults approximately one week every month. Adults may become male or female in any particular kemmer. If an adult in kemmer as a female becomes pregnant, she remains female long enough to bear and nurse the baby, and then returns to the natural ungendered state.
* [[Walt Leibscher]]. "[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Love?]]" in ''Strange Bedfellows'' edited by Thomas N. Scortia


* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]]. [[Silent City]].
* [[Laurie J. Marks]] . [[''Delan the Mislaid'']]
* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]]. "[[In the Pit]]" (Tesseracts 2).
* [[Laurie Marks]]. [[''The Moonbane Mage'']]
* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]]. "[[Bande Ohne Ende]]" (Tomorrow, 1/94, #3)
* [[Laurie Marks]]. [[''Ara's Field'']]
* [[Vonda N. McIntyre]]. [[''Dreamsnake'']].
    The character of Merideth is never given a gender identification.
* [[Judith Moffet]] . [[''Time Like an Ever-Rolling Stream'']]


* [[Melissa Scott]]. [[''The Kindly Ones'']]
* [[Nancy Springer]]. [[''Larque on the Wing'']]
    The protagonist switches gender early in this [[James Tiptree Award]]--winning novel.
* [[Theodore Sturgeon]]. [[''Venus Plus X'']].
    A planet in which people have no gender.
* [[Caitlin Sullivan]] and [[Kate Bornstein]]. [[''Nearly Roadkill'']]


* [[Jeanette Winterson]]. [[Written on the Body]]
* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]]. [[''Silent City'']].
* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]].  "[[In the Pit]]," in ''Tesseracts 2,'' edited by [[Phylis M. Gotlieb]] and Douglas Barbour
* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]].  "[[Bande Ohne Ende]]," in ''Tomorrow,'' 1/94, #3


* [[Jeanette Winterson]]. [[''Written on the Body'']]


* [[Chelsea Quinn Yarbro]]. "[[Allies]]" (in Cautionary Tales (1978)
* [[Chelsea Quinn Yarbro]]. "[[Allies]]," in ''Cautionary Tales''
    All characters have gender-ambiguous names (like "Chris" and "Sandy") and none has an identified gender.


==Credits==
==Credits==

Revision as of 20:09, 26 November 2007

NOTE: Some of the explanations below contain spoilers. 

    The young boy Tip is eventually revealed to be the Princess Ozma.

    Despite its inclusion in this list, Darkover is not generally known for its ungendered characters; it does feature homosexual characters, and also celibacy as a path to magical power

    Sparrow, the protagonist of Bone Dance appears to be a character whose gender the author is deliberately not revealing, but in fact Sparrow is something very different.



     On Karhide, all inhabitants are ungendered, except when in ''kemmer'', a pre-reproductive state which occurs in adults approximately one week every month. Adults may become male or female in any particular kemmer. If an adult in kemmer as a female becomes pregnant, she remains female long enough to bear and nurse the baby, and then returns to the natural ungendered state.

    The character of Merideth is never given a gender identification.

    The protagonist switches gender early in this James Tiptree Award--winning novel.

    A planet in which people have no gender.

    All characters have gender-ambiguous names (like "Chris" and "Sandy") and none has an identified gender.

Credits

List originally compiled by Laurie J. Marks as "Gender Ambiguity: A Seriously Incomplete Bibliography of Fiction in Which Gender Is Eliminated or Ambiguous" (1997 May 22) available at the feministsf.org website at http://feministsf.org/bibs/ambiggen.html

Retrieved from "https://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Ungendered_or_ambiguously_gendered_characters&oldid=27282"