Gender and Romance

[Abby-Young]

I made identifications of the characters based off of their name. If it was a more traditional boy name then it was a he. I also labeled outies has he's. It just made it easier to relate the world the book created with mine.

When Kim's sensuality was reviled and what happens to those like Kim I found it to be cruel and backwards. In a world that prided themselves on how advance they were they don't let their people love who they love. They all had to fit in the same mold.

[Jenna Floyd]

I spent a good portion of the book wondering whether Kim was anatomically female or male, which bothered me. By that, I mean I was bothered by my obsession with gender and curiosity. I don’t know why I felt this burning need to know the “truth” and found it an interesting layer to the book's complexity. I can’t recall reading any other book that treated gender this way, and found it fascinating.

[Vidhi Adhikari]

I imagined the characters in the book as whatever gender their name suggested eg Kimberley, Kim ( I know men can be called Kim but generally this is a female name) I imagined these characters in my head as female. Good question

I tried to keep the characters gender-neutral while reading. Although that was difficult, it helped me avoid categorizing them under gender-stereotypes.

[Annas Felix]

I just submitted my review of this book. One of the issues I mentioned was the confusion that readers will have seeing that every character is addressed with the "she" pronoun. I know it was taken care of in the "Notes on Pronouns." I still believe many readers will have issues with it.

[Ntokozo Joy Ndlovu]

I thought it was sad when Kim was being persecuted for being herself. It highlighted what was wrong with their society as a whole and blew the bubble on the novel being more dystopian than utopian. I wonder, though, if we harbour so much disapproval for this because we are selfists and genderists.

[Tori_J]

I also made my own individual identities for the characters, as I don't like the idea of stripping one of his/her identity. It was interesting though how they managed to put (or tried) all the humans in the box.

Yeah, I did the same too. It really did feel a bit weird, the way everyone was referred to as she. I sometimes felt like a narrative was being pushed. Ultimately though, it did not affect my overall enjoyment of the book.

[Hunter Tester]

I wondered at times if there were any males at all in the book. We find later that even males (those with penises or "outties") are referred to as she as well. So I'm still trying to make sense of that. It was confusing throughout on who was what. But I guess when you have AI's involved, everything can be complicated.

[Fawmi FJumana]

I did make my own identification of characters depending on how they are described or by their naming. And I think it was interesting to see them trying to put all humans in one box.

[Abdul-Malik Hassan]

I have to be honest. At first, I thought it was confusing. But grasping the thought of it, it’s a unique form of identification. Perhaps the author was trying to question the norms of individual identity and how it came to be. But here’s the page-turner, what if identity is nothing more than individual labeling? Identifying characters as either male or female is just a systemic way of categorizing individuals. Therefore, just like all systems, it is bound to change at some point. Well, in this case, at least to some extent.

[Hazel Mae Bagarinao]

Even though the author uses "she" in all the characters, I still imagine another gender when Kim interacts with them. Especially with sexual intercourse, it's hard to imagine another gender. That part is interesting how the author intelligibly wrote it.

[Hazel Arnaiz]

It took some time for me to adjust to the idea that everyone is a "she," but I believe it is an effective approach to exploring ideas about identity, preferences, and uniqueness.

[Okorji98]

At first it was initially confusing to form mental images of the characters in my head as they were all addressed as “she” even though some of their actions, dialogue and conversations evinced a masculine undertone. It became more bearable as the plot progressed though.

[Jay David Randall]

I imagined the characters in the book as whatever gender their name suggested eg Kimberley, Kim ( I know men can be called Kim but generally this is a female name) I imagined these characters in my head as female. Good question

I tried to keep the characters gender-neutral while reading. Although that was difficult, it helped me avoid categorizing them under gender-stereotypes.

In a way, that can be quite disturbing during a read. Mostly names like Kim are used to refer to the feminine gender and not unisex, so using Kim as a male gender alters the reader's mentality and drives at some point to confusion. I think the reason behind the author doing this is to create gender neutrality as he possibly can in the minds of his readers.

[Sonia_Gonzalez]

I tried to keep the characters gender neutral, but I was bothered that they were only referred to as "she" as I do not understand why "she" in the book is gender neutral. I still do not know if some were female or male, but I do not think it will change the story in any form.

[FunkyFlowerLady]

As I read, I formed assumptions about the characters' genders, but I didn't mind that most of the characters' genders weren't really stated by the author. It was a fairly intriguing surprise, in my opinion.