The Left Hand of Darkness, written by Ursula K. Le Guin, is a science fiction novel that investigates the difficulties faced by an alien envoy that has the mission of starting contact with a race of humans living on another planet. In this universe, human beings long ago colonized many planets with variable conditions. The human inhabitants of these planets have formed a loose confederation with one another, but one planet has not yet been added to the association of human worlds. This is the planet that the envoy has been sent, and it is called Gethen. The main character calls the planet “Winter” because the planet is so cold and icy. Since the people that inhabit this planet have been separated from other people for so long on this icy world, …show more content…
One of the closest examples to a sexually monomorphic mammalian species is the spotted hyena. The spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta Erxleben have two sexes like all mammals do, but distinguishing the sexes based on genital appearance is difficult because the females have enlarged clitorises and no external vagina (Cunha et al. 2014). Since female spotted hyenas have normal female internal reproductive organs, they mate, urinate, and give birth through their penis-like clitoris. Because the sex of hyenas is so difficult to deduce from external observations alone, perhaps a similar development in Gethenians would explain how a sexually dimorphic species could become monomorphic. Also given that spotted hyenas appear to be the only sexually monomorphic mammal, it is assumed to be a derived trait (Rohland et al. 2005), meaning that perhaps humans could also arrive at this feature. Female spotted hyenas gain a more masculine phenotype in the womb when they are exposed to androgens (Browne et al. 2006). This adds to the feasibility of this Gethenian sex determination since human bodies are also capable of performing this mechanism (we use similar hormones in sex determination). Gethenians would have to have an evolutionary need for more aggressive behavior though, since androgens are also associated with these behaviors. Competition in a cold desert-like planet would definitely be enough to require this aggression, but this mechanism for sex determination is unlikely because the envoy never mentions the Gethenians being significantly more aggressive than other