About.com: There are no explicit references to Asach's sexuality or in fact the sexuality of anyone, human or Motie. Is that because you wanted to separate gender from sex? Is Asach asexual as well as gender neutral? How many genders do you perceive in the world? Is your notion of gender tied up with sexual attraction?
Jennifer Pournelle: That's a lot of questions. I'll try to boil it down. Our society, in general, presumes that biological sex (male/female) = gender (masculine/feminine) = sexual attraction/preference. But neither biology nor society actually breaks down that simply: there is no necessary connection between any one of those things and any other. Further, there are more than two biological sexes - even within the human population, and certainly across species.
Broadly, people who have aspects of both male and female primary sexual characteristics are "intersexed." In the past, often without their parents' knowledge, and certainly without their own consent, those with externally visible dual genitalia were subject to sexual reassignment surgery at birth. Interestingly, attempts to socialize these people to one gender or another often failed miserably (in either direction). Their "gender" could not be predetermined by either surgery or social influence.
And we haven't even gotten to sexual "orientation" or "preference" yet. So if you are asking why I don't write love scenes - well, I do, for the Moties: Longshanks conceive Leica in the first chapter. And there are long passages describing the "Royal Marriage" that populates new colonies. For people, I note right up front that Asach is married (although I don't say to whom), so I doubt that Asach is asexual. Later, I hint, vaguely, at another primary attraction for Asach, but it's not one I imagine most readers would pick up on, because it doesn't include any of the gendered clues you'd expect.
What do you imagine it would be like to be a truly "gender neutral" human? So much of human behavior is defined or at least shaped by gender; would you see a gender neutral person as freer than those of us hampered by cultural expectations and hormonal chemistry? I perceived Asach as an excellent anthropologist and diplomat; do you consider that an aspect of her/his gender neutral-ness? What other aspects of Asach can be attributed to being gender neutral?
JP: Neutrality only confers more freedom if it is a socially acceptable path. If not, it leaves one as the ultimate social outcast (as is Asach). But yes, that is key to Asach's ultimate compassion, detachment, and pragmatism.
Could you define "intersexed", and talk about how you communicate that to your reader?
JP: I think I discussed that above. Key in recognizing Asach as being intersexed was first, the Motie accountant at the city entrance categorizing Asach as "entire." I realize to humans "entire" means "uncastrated male." But that's not what it means to Moties. That was reinforced during the doctors' examination, during which Asach takes great pains to make them understand that, among humans, it is Laurel who is "normal," and that Asach is not. Finally, of course, there's Laurel's outburst when she realizes that Asach, is "like" the "angels" - neither male nor female nor neuter, but both male and female, that is "entire" in the Motie sense.
