I think there’s a big difference between overly graphic sexual descriptions and the simple fact of characters having sex. LeGuinn, to me, does the latter, not the former, and I think it’s fine for teenagers to read that. They know people have sex.

I didn’t feel that the characterization of gender roles felt dated because none of these places are earth, they’re alien worlds with their own norms being described. We, the readers of today, are left to think about those norms in comparison to our own, just as readers were at the time the books were written. Sure, there has been some shifting of our society’s norms since then, but I think the points being made still apply.

One of the things I think is most masterful about TLHoD is the initial underlying sexism of Ai, our narrator. He’s just a little dismissive of women and feminine things, and the subtlety of his evolution as he really comes to grips with a race who alternate between male and female is amazingly well done. I think that message is absolutely as relevant today as the day it was written, and can be applied to more than just gender.