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A review by johnbreeden
Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon
4.0
This book is an exploration of the extend of differences between men and women. There are two stories running through the book: one a time travel experience, the other a modern suburban world. This story's main focus is on Charlie Johns, who is pulled out of his own time into a future populated by the next evolution of humanity. The residents of this new world, Ledom, no longer exist as male and female, but instead are a joined-sex species, with all members bearing the aspects of both genders.
While the book primarily focuses on Charlie's experiences in learning about Ledom, it is interwoven with a narrative regarding a more day-to-day homo-sap(ien) community. Here, the reader is given examples of the way modern life brews conflict between the genders. Where the main story talks in depth about the similarities of men and women and how few the differences are, the secondary illustrates that these differences, though very minor, are used to push social ideologies and unnecessarily restrictive gender roles.
Sturgeon's work is a study in the role of gender in daily life and to what extent humanity has simply made up the differences in their own minds.
While the book primarily focuses on Charlie's experiences in learning about Ledom, it is interwoven with a narrative regarding a more day-to-day homo-sap(ien) community. Here, the reader is given examples of the way modern life brews conflict between the genders. Where the main story talks in depth about the similarities of men and women and how few the differences are, the secondary illustrates that these differences, though very minor, are used to push social ideologies and unnecessarily restrictive gender roles.
Sturgeon's work is a study in the role of gender in daily life and to what extent humanity has simply made up the differences in their own minds.