Nonbinary gender in fiction: Difference between revisions

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 *Adam Rex's sci-fi novel, ''The True Meaning of Smekday'' (2007), features the Boov, an alien people with seven genders (boy, girl, girlboy, boygirl, boyboy, boyboygirl, and boyboyboyboy) based on their fish-like role in fertilizing an egg after they lay it in a designated part of town. Because of the impersonal way they reproduce, Boov society is egalitarian and aromantic. The sequel, ''Smek for President'' (2015), has a girlboy character named Ponch Sandhandler. She-he is addressed as "ladyfellow," and by she-he pronouns. The movie loosely based on the books, ''Home'' (2015), doesn't directly mention anything about Boov gender, and only refers to any Boov by he pronouns.
 *In ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness The Left Hand of Darkness]'' by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin Ursula K. Le Guin], the inhabitants of the planet Gethen are referred to as ambisexual, and lack sex characteristics for the majority of the lunar cycle, which they acquire in order to reproduce.
-* In Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's collaborative novel ''Good Omens,''  Neil Gaiman has confirmed that both of the main characters are non-binary, and they present as different genders at times in both the book and the 2019 tv-series (Crowley presenting as female as a nanny, and Aziraphale presenting as female while possessing madame Tracy). The characters usually present as males, and don't show any inclination to correct people on using masculine pronouns, but this is presented more as them not caring, and less them defining themself as males. The book specifically says that all angels and demons in it are neither male nor female, which is the standard belief about [[Gender variance in Christianity#Angels in Christianity|angels in Christianity]].
+* In Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's collaborative novel ''Good Omens,''  Neil Gaiman has confirmed that both of the main characters are non-binary, and they present as different genders at times in both the book and the 2019 tv-series (Crowley presenting as female as a nanny and at Jesus's cruxification, and Aziraphale presenting as female while possessing Madame Tracy). The characters usually present as males, and don't show any inclination to correct people on using masculine pronouns, but this is presented more as them not caring, and less them defining themself as males. The book specifically says that all angels and demons in it are neither male nor female, which is the standard belief about [[Gender variance in Christianity#Angels in Christianity|angels in Christianity]].
 * In ''Wyvern'', a kids book by Kyle McGiverin, there is a sentient race of beings called wyverns. The wyverns are genderless and use "wy/wym/wys" pronouns.<ref name="Helkio">{{Cite web |title=ALDIA: A World Where Gender Is Meaningless |last=Helkio |first=Raymond |work=theBUZZ |date=2017 |access-date=14 June 2020 |url= https://thebuzzmag.ca/2017/03/aldia-world-gender-meaningless/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204213811/https://thebuzzmag.ca/2017/03/aldia-world-gender-meaningless/ |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref>
 * The ''Lilith's Brood'' series by Octavia Butler (three novels: ''Dawn'', ''Adulthood Rites'', and ''Imago'') features the oankali, an alien race with three genders: male, female, and ooloi.<ref name="SturgeonFW">{{Cite web |title=17 Pathbreaking Non-Binary and Gender-Fluid Novels |last=Sturgeon |first=Jonathon |work=Flavorwire |date=11 May 2015 |access-date=9 December 2020 |url= https://www.flavorwire.com/518203/17-pathbreaking-non-binary-and-gender-fluid-novels|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210032841/https://www.flavorwire.com/518203/17-pathbreaking-non-binary-and-gender-fluid-novels |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref>
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 * In ''Ice Song'' and ''Tattoo'', fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal books by Kirsten Imani Kasai, the protagonist, Sorykah Minuit, is a type of person known as a "Trader", meaning her physical [[sex]] changes at certain times due to her genetics. Traders are treated with superstition and harassment. Sorykah's male persona is Soryk, and his memories are separate from Sorykah's. Sorykah has twin children, Leander and Ayeda, who are also Traders.
 * ''Everybody Loves Large Chests'', a (dark)comedy-fantasy webnovel by Exterminatus, features several sentient species who have no or only one biological sex. Some of them display gendered features and behavior, like the "motherly" Dryads and the various kinds of demons. Boxxy, the anti-hero protagonist, is explicitely stated to be genderless in the chapter "Mindgames 2".<ref>{{cite web |url= https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/EverybodyLovesLargeChests |website= TV Tropes |access-date= 20 May 2021 |quote= The irony of a genderless creature with zero sex drive somehow surrounding itself with all manner of lewd women was so thick that one would probably need to dig through it with a pickaxe. |title= Literature / Everybody Loves Large Chests |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230315111851/https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/EverybodyLovesLargeChests |archive-date= 17 July 2023 }}</ref> The story follows its life from Dungeon-Mimic to walking calamity.
+* In the ''Wayfarers'' series by Becky Chambers (''<nowiki/>'The Long way to a Small, Angry Planet', 'A Closed and Common Orbit', 'Records of a Spaceborn Few'<nowiki/>'' and ''<nowiki/>'The Galaxy, and the Ground Within''') there are multiple interpretations of gender within the alien species.
+** The Aeluon species are a four-gendered species, and separate them based on reproductive capability: Those who produced eggs, those who fertilised eggs, those who shifted between both reproductive abilities in phases (called shons) and those who could not do either. In galactic society, they used the common feminine-masculine-neuter pronoun set, which in the universe is she/he/xyr. Shons used the pronoun set that their body matched, unless they were in the middle of a shift. Children and those who could not reproduce used xyr. In book two, ''A Closed and Common Orbit,'' there is a Aeluon fertility festival called a ''Shimmerquick'', and the Aeluon taking part wear colour-coded clothing to illustrate their gender.
+** In ''The Galaxy, and the Ground Within'', Tupo, a Laru child, is referred to with xe/xyr pronouns, as xyr has not yet reached adulthood where gender is chosen.
 ===Comics and graphic novels===