History Literature / Provenance

** Taucris's mother didn't understand eir child's reluctance to declare a gender and become an adult, and was apparently disappointed in them, but loved Taucris because they were eir child, without the threat of being disowned and left with nothing that Ingray felt with Netano.

* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: The Hwae recognize at least three genders mentioned in the book: "Man", "Woman", and "Neman", with the latter having its own set of pronouns. The book does not give any details on the meaning, cultural significance, sexual identity or gender/biological roles associated with nemen, though to be fair it doesn't do that for "he" or "she" either. Additionally, children are referred to with the singular "they" and choose a gender and a name in order to become adults. Usually they do this in their late teens. Taucris delayed until her midtwenties, when she realized she had to be an adult to hold her dream job, and wasn't totally happy with having a gender after choosing.
** Ingray, meeting the Radchaai ambassador, is confused by her gender; all Radchaai are properly she/her, but the ambassador doesn't resemble a man, a woman, or a neman.

* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: As mentioned in AmbiguousGenderIdentity above, Hwaen children have no gender and declare one in their teens or later to become adults. Gender does not appear to limit their career paths or who they can hook up with. However, picking one of the three officially recognized genders (male, female, neman) is basically mandatory and does make some people uncomfortable, like Taucris, meaning this can be restrictive in a different way.

** Taucris's nother didn't understand eir child's reluctance to declare a gender and become an adult, and was apparently disappointed in them, but loved Taucris because they were eir child, without the threat of being disowned and left with nothing that Ingray felt with Netano.