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
  1. 1998 James Tiptree, Jr. Award at Tiptree.org; retrieved November 5, 2018
  2. "Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award 1999". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus. Archived from the original on 2015-04-23. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  3. The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois, published 1999 by St. Martin's Press
  4. 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
  5. 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
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