Le Guin presents to us, in The Left Hand of Darkness, with a breed of human which is truly biologically asexual, and posits that many of the traits we consider implicit to mankind are a result of the way we categorize behaviors, activities, ideologies and so forth in a male/female, dualistic manner. To strengthen the distinction between "us" (represented by Genly Ai) and "them" (the Gethenians in general and Estraven in particular), she gives us a very distinctive, stereotyped view of masculinity and femininity through Genly Ai early in the novel.