kemmer

Gethenians normally present as androgynous, but for a couple of days each month are in "kemmer" - that is, they become either male or female.

Locus Online News 2009

Gethenians normally present as androgynous, but for a couple of days each month are in "kemmer" - that is, they become either male or female.

Locus Online News 2009

When they’re in kemmer, (heat, basically, or perhaps something more analogous to a Terran female's period), they can assume either sex.

2. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin 2009

In the remaining two days, they enter kemmer, and can become either male or female.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin 2008

And the gender they take during kemmer depends entirely on those around them.

Reading Challenge #8 – The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K Le Guin « It Doesn't Have To Be Right… 2009

Since the Gethenians are neuter for 75% of the time, and can be either gender when in kemmer, their society is essentially single-gendered.

Reading Challenge #8 – The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K Le Guin « It Doesn't Have To Be Right… 2009

For three weeks of every month they are effectively neuter, but for a week they are in heat, or “kemmer”.

Reading Challenge #8 – The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K Le Guin « It Doesn't Have To Be Right… 2009

How about a non-sexed population that goes “in kemmer” and takes on sex now and then, not always the same sex as they did last time, the Ursula LeGuin idea?

Survey: Would you change sex? 2005

They even go into kemmer (nod to LeGuin), a hormonal/sexual state during which they achieve, say, adolescence, or mate-bonding, or conception.

goblinbox 2009

Le Guin was accused of wanting everyone to be an androgyne and of predicting that in the future they would be; conversely, of being anti-feminist because she'd used the pronoun "he" to denote persons not in "kemmer" ” the sexual phase.

The Queen of Quinkdom Atwood, Margaret 2002

Gender is fluid on this world: the people of the planet – the Gethenians – are ambisexual, and androgynous, all referred to by Le Guin as “he”; when they enter the state of “kemmer”, they can choose if they want to become either male or female, in order to reproduce.

Our favourite science fiction books of all time (the ones we forgot) Alison Flood 2025