Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation
""Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" by K.N. Sirsi and Sandra Botkin" is a 1998 science fiction short story by American writer Raphael Carter. It was first published in the anthology Starlight 2.
Synopsis
Rather than being a conventional narrative, "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" is presented as a scientific paper in which two researchers describe a rare condition whereby individuals are unable to perceive gender — or, rather, are able to so accurately perceive subtle differences in gender and sex (being able to distinguish, simply by looking at a photograph, categories as disparate as 'born with hypospadias', 'takes supplemental sex hormones after a hysterectomy', and 'has a high androgyny score on the Bem test') that they find the terms 'male' and 'female' hopelessly inadequate.
Reception
"Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" won the 1998 James Tiptree Jr. Award[1] and was a semi-finalist for the 1998 Theodore Sturgeon Award.[2]
Gardner Dozois considered it to have "some very intriguing ideas", but to be "as dry as the form it is mimicking" (i.e., academic literature).[3] Strange Horizons observed that the story's "premise seems simple" but relies on a notion which is "both challenging and invasive."[4] At the SF Site, Paul Kincaid called it "extraordinary."[5]
References
- ^ 1998 James Tiptree, Jr. Award at Tiptree.org; retrieved November 5, 2018
- ^ "Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award 1999". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus. Archived from the original on 2015-04-23. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
- ^ The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois, published 1999 by St. Martin's Press
- ^ Render Unto Chaos: The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2, edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, and Jeffrey D. Smith, reviewed by Victoria Hoyle, at Strange Horizons, published November 6, 2006; retrieved November 5, 2018
- ^ The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2, edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, Jeffrey D. Smith, reviewed by Paul Kincaid, at the SF Site; published 2006; retrieved November 5, 2018
External links
- Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Post-Binary Gender in SF: “Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N. Sirsi and Sandra Botkin” by Raphael Carter, at Tor.com
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winners
- A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason (1991, tie)
- White Queen by Gwyneth Jones (1991, tie)
- China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1992)
- Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (1993)
- "The Matter of Seggri" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1994, tie)
- Larque on the Wing by Nancy Springer (1994, tie)
- Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (1995, tie)
- The Memoirs Of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak (1995, tie)
- "Mountain Ways" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1996, tie)
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996, tie)
- Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey (1997, tie)
- "Travels With The Snow Queen" by Kelly Link (1997, tie)
- "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" by Raphael Carter (1998)
- The Conqueror's Child by Suzy McKee Charnas (1999)
- Wild Life by Molly Gloss (2000)
- The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto (2001)
- Light by M. John Harrison (2002, tie)
- "Stories for Men" by John Kessel (2002, tie)
- Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff (2003)
- Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2004, tie)
- Not Before Sundown by Johanna Sinisalo (2004, tie)
- Air by Geoff Ryman (2005)
- The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (2006, tie)
- Half Life by Shelley Jackson (2006, tie)
- James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (2006, special recognition)
- The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007)
- The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008, tie)
- Filter House by Nisi Shawl (2008, tie)
- Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales by Greer Gilman (2009, tie)
- Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga (2009, tie)
- Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić (2010)
- Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (2011)
- The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2012, tie)
- Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam (2012, tie)
- Rupetta by N. A. Sulway (2013)
- The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne (2014, tie)
- My Real Children by Jo Walton (2014, tie)
- "The New Mother" by Eugene Fischer (2015, tie)
- Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz (2015, tie)
- When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (2016)
- Who Runs the World? by Virginia Bergin (2017)
- "They Will Dream in the Garden" by Gabriela Damián Miravete (2018)
- Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (2019)
- Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (2020)
- Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (2021, tie)
- Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (2021, tie)