Science Fiction’s unique characters make for unusual lifestyles

By Jared Vaillancourt
[creative writing bureau chief]

Sexuality is a defining aspect of everyone’s identity; it hints towards our values, speaks to our desires and even helps us find place within society. Over the years, society has changed to accept a broader view of sexuality, from the traditional and child-bearing heterosexual to the sensuous and colourful homosexual, and everything in between. For human beings, being sexual is something as open to exploration as anything else our intrepid spirit can flirt with.

However, neo-traditional sexual roles and preferences are just a small part of all the possible methods of reproduction – and more commonly, lovemaking – available here on Earth, let alone out in the universes created by the minds of the best science fiction writers. Drawing on relationships other creatures on Earth exhibit, and sometimes reaching into pure fantasy for inspiration, numerous lustfully tempting methods of expressing one’s feelings have caught our attention and curiosity in recent times.

Humans can (legally) love either the opposite gender, their own gender or both – but bluntly put, we’re a race prone to experimentation and proud of it. So are, it seems, the beings of our imagination.

“Star Trek” isn’t what you’d expect to hear in the naughty beginnings of a passionate, private night. But, the show is infamous for displaying and even desensitizing cross-species relationships – that is, intercourse and marriage between people from different planets. This is possible due to every sentient race in Star Trek being humanoid (just human enough in structure to copulate with). These relationships wouldn’t be possible if the two lovers were physically incapable of finding each other attractive. Just think of the creature from Alien. Also, some races in the show have alternatives to the traditional two genders – some are hermaphrodites (both male and female at the same time) while others can have up to five genders, although how they get it on is left to the imagination.

Another method of reproduction discussed in science fiction novels is the idea of symbiotic bonding. In the Trisulian species from Julie Czerneda’s Species Imperative series, females are upright, walking, talking and plotting individuals while their males exist merely as small humps that latch onto their backs and provide them with the choice to impregnate themselves whenever they want. The sexual relationship between males and females here isn’t one of mutual love and desire – females ignore the non-sentient males like a human would ignore his or her appendix, treating them more like desired accessories or pets (although some human men enjoy that too, it’s been said).

But being treated like a pet is preferable to being treated like a meal, and in the case of the Nemesians from Net Domination, that’s exactly the sentiment. Nemesians are biologically immortal (their DNA doesn’t degrade with each cell division), but males often don’t last past sixty or seventy years. Why is this? Because in order to lay fertile eggs, the females need to eat them (much like black widow spiders or praying mantises on Earth). Males grow up only learning about a time in their lives when they’ll go mad, get sticky and run off into the forest to gorge in fruits and small animals. They can’t even tell their men from their women! If humans reproduced like this, there would be no love – just close friendships and a lot of tragedies.

Homosexuality is nothing new – although it’s been around for thousands of years, and it’s only recently that the practise of making love with another of one’s gender has been accepted by most societies. But what if being able to reproduce while engaging in homosexuality without being hermaphroditic was possible? In the Mass Effect series of video games, that’s exactly what the Asari do. These blue aliens look like hairless human women – except that if they sleep with a girl, they can get knocked up. How, you say? They use telepathy to tell their gametes which of their partner’s genetic code is valuable to replicate inside their wombs. Simply having sex won’t do it – they need to “join”, and any sentient being can become a father. Of course, they prefer human girls… obviously a human male’s idea. The fantasy is valid for lesbians, however, as the Asari happen to rule the world of the game with absolute authority.

Inter-species relationships, both heterosexual and homosexual, the kind of respect for our own limited sexual palette when faced with intimate cannibalism and symbiosis, and even functional homosexuality and hermaphrodite relationships can’t compare to the complexity of the asexual. Humans have been attempting this concept for some time with varying degrees of success – it’s difficult to emulate a genderless entity when one is quite aware and adapted to exercising one’s gender. But there are some creatures on Earth that display genderless traits, and to illustrate the example the entirely fictitious species known as the Xap Xap will do nicely.

Xap Xap are a species with a unique lifestyle – once every year on their homeworld, two related species of tree will begin to bear fruit. Known as the green and yellow trees for the colour of the fruit they bear, the Xap Xap are drawn to the scent of the hormones oozing into the air like nuclear waste. Until these trees bloom, however, the Xap Xap are genderless – that is, no individual has any genitalia at all. Eating from the green tree causes a Xap Xap to absorb the female hormones and develop egg sacs, while feasting from the yellow tree endows one with the respective male components. Some would argue that this kind of symbiosis between the trees and the Xap Xap is something that would work well on Earth, as between mating seasons the Xap Xap have no discrimination based on gender and perceived gender roles. Granted, for humans to not engage in the amount of sex they do (or claim to) on a regular basis would be boring – picture your average gamer, eating desperately from both trees and shouting “Anyone? Anyone at all?”

Our appreciation for our sexuality is reinforced thanks to the creative minds behind the Stargate universe. The Asgard, an ancient and powerful race in the show, take asexuality to a whole new level; they’re all genderless clones, having long ago copied and copied and copied themselves literally to extinction, with no distinction between what is male and female, and even walking around naked because they have no reason to feel ashamed as sex isn’t something that ever occurs to them as even being possible – so attraction is out of the question. Without attraction, any human knows, relationships tend to falter and die – even friends are attracted to something in each other, be it personal qualities or hidden romantic desires. Exploring alien realms in this case really serves as an aide to understanding ourselves.

Homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, hermaphrodites and even the asexual are barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the various sexualities presented in science fiction narratives, movies, video games and more. Each has a connection to aspects of the human psyche and the idea of sexual identity, and none are at heart wrong or immoral. Behind each is a basic drive, a search for something more than just sex. Especially in science fiction, sexuality is more about finding one’s true companion – everything else is a detail.

That, if anything, should be the lesson we learn from our imaginations.