After learning about Gethen it is understandable to us readers why Genly has a hard time adjusting to the Gethenian lifestyle of no genders, kemmering, and other things. He has stated himself that even though he has been on Winter for two years he still has difficulty seeing the Gethenians as they want to be seen (12). For so long Genly is used to everyone having genders and so when he finds out that this place has no gender at all it is hard for him to adapt. In most situations, we have a hard time accepting something that is different because we often have a set mindset so it can be hard to adapt to changes sometimes. To Genly having no gender means change, it means that there is something different from what he is already used to. Even the Gethenian people have a hard time adjusting to Genly. He is defined as alien like and is automatically identified as the Envoy because he is set to one gender and his appearance is different. To the Gethenian people those who stay with a gender are even referred to as "sexual perverts" (36).
This just reveals to us that the world that Genly comes from has a hard time adapting to change. They are set in their ways and so when they are presented with something different they have a hard time accepting it. Even though we as readers know that the Gethenian people don't have any genders Genly continues to label everyone with pronouns such as he and she. He even describes Estraven's performance to be woman like but is unsure of whether or not he is a woman. However, when he starts to think of Estraven as a man he feels as if it is wrong (12).
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