Fiction of Ideas

This week I read the short story “Aye, and Gomorrah.”

            I found this to be an interesting read, especially the limited backstory of how the Spacers came to exist. It was ironic that the only reason the Spacers were chosen was not any measurement of intelligence or competency, but rather in how limited their sexual potential was. This is a society that values asexuality rather than sexuality, at least in those who do the important work up in space.

            The fact that a lack of sexuality is seen as a perversion is another interesting aspect to this story. The Frelk’s attraction to the Spacers stems from the attraction to the unattainable, and a sort of masochism of loving something which can never reciprocate your feelings.

            The story also explores ideas of gender. The idea that gender is inherently related to physical sex is a bit outdated, so the idea that neutering post-puberty (even a dysfunctional puberty) child would somehow remove their gender doesn’t necessarily make sense, but I’m willing to let it slide for the sake of the story. Gomorrah explores the concept of a third, androgynous gender outside of the male/female binary. Although concepts of third genders exist in many cultures, this idea is not really universally accepted. The idea of genders outside of male and female makes many people uncomfortable, which is represented here in Gomorrah. The concept itself of Spacers is unthinkable to some, let alone the concept of being attracted to such a being—hence why frelks are shunned as perverts.

            Finally, the story explores themes of love and companionship. The protagonist Spacer in the story desires to have even a small taste of a relationship, of knowing someone else. The Spacer wants a more meaningful connection than just a half-sexual one, and yet the Spacer always falls back into the familiar song and dance of using their nature to attract others. Unfortunately, this only attracts frelks, the exact opposite of the kind of companionship the Spacer wants. Essentially, in the future, the Spacer will have to find something else within themselves besides their sexless nature to broadcast. The question here is whether or not the Spacer has anything else. For a person whose entire life has been dictated by their sex (or lack of one), it may be that the Spacer doesn’t have any other meaningful qualities.