I've read all her other books and could probably provide an encyclopedic rundown of every portrayal of homosexuality in them at the drop of a hat. I will resist, however. :)
Fledgling isn't one of my favourites overall, but I did like the portrayal of sexuality in it. Anyanwu has a female partner that it's implied she's sometimes female-bodied with in Wild Seed, I think?
Thematically I think my discomfort with Xenogenesis comes down to the way Butler applies her fascination with biology, which is central to so many of her books, to sexuality. I can maybe buy that it would be a 1:1 relationship for the alien species, that their norms would be universal, but I know it isn't like that for people and I always want to see how that complexity would play out. Butler deals so beautifully with complex motivations on other grounds, I wish she would in this too.
Re: homosexuality in Xenogenesis
Fledgling isn't one of my favourites overall, but I did like the portrayal of sexuality in it. Anyanwu has a female partner that it's implied she's sometimes female-bodied with in Wild Seed, I think?
Thematically I think my discomfort with Xenogenesis comes down to the way Butler applies her fascination with biology, which is central to so many of her books, to sexuality. I can maybe buy that it would be a 1:1 relationship for the alien species, that their norms would be universal, but I know it isn't like that for people and I always want to see how that complexity would play out. Butler deals so beautifully with complex motivations on other grounds, I wish she would in this too.