Neuter and androgynous species in SF

Stories where either the whole species is neuter; there is a neuter sex; or members of the species pass thru a neuter phase.

• Betan hermaphrodites (Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga)
• Children are neuter (Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed (1983))
• Children are neuter (David Gerrold's Moonstar Odyssey (1977))
• Alien neuters in "Chocky" (TV series and novels)
• Children are neuter until adolescence, and then become male, female, or neuter. Carolyn Ives Gilman's Halfway Human (1998))
• --. (M. C. A. Hogarth's "Freedom, Spiced and Drunk" (2002))
• --. (Kameron Hurley's "Genderbending at the Madhattered" (2004))
• Gethenians, who are neuter unless in kemmer. Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness)
• Children are gender-neutral and choose at puberty. (Vonda McIntyre. "Wings" in The Alien Condition, edited by Stephen Goldin (New York: Ballantine, 1973))
• A race of humans appears to be neuter. (Theodore Sturgeon's Venus Plus X (1960))
• Some people on Darkover are born neuter, others choose to become such. (Often after traumatic sexual experiences)
• The dragons in Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles are neuter until they get old enough to choose which sex they want to be.

Soren (played by Melinda Culea), a member of the androgynous species, the J'naii, on ST:TNG episode "The Outcast" (1992)

• The J'naii, a humanoid species that has "evolved" beyond gender. Unclear whether androgyny is merely a social convention or whether it is also a biological change. (ST:TNG episode The Outcast (1992))

Other Possibilities

• Androgyne character in R. M. Meluch's Wind Child (1982) (single individual, or member of androgyne species?)
• Harvey L. Bilker, "Genetic Faux Pas" in Thomas N. Scortia's Strange Bedfellows (1972)
• Samuel Delany, "Aye, and Gomorrah ... " (first published in Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison, 1967).

See also

• Neuter and androgynous species
• Non-binary sexed species
• Single-sexed species
• Hermaphroditic species