Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman

Halfway Human deals with a distant and very different future. It has many classic sci fi elements: the population grows to the point where the planet can no longer support it, large & slow-moving space ships take off in search of new worlds where humanity can start again, many years following the "scattering" of humanity people have organized and are systematically tracking down and getting familiar with "lost" colony ships that have created their own cultures and legends-on new planets-and are vastly different from where they started on old earth. That is where the "normal" sci fi adventure ends. In the novels beginning Val Enrada is the major wage earner for her family including her daughter and husband. Her job is information trading-specifically information about aliens and alien cultures. In Val's society people make their living by selling and trading information and all information, from how to play a simple game-to insights into alien cultures, comes at a price. Val receives an emergency call from her mother-in-law about an alien from a mysterious and closed planet who has tried to kill itself. From there unfolds the story of Tedla and its home planet of Gammadis-a human descended planet featuring three genders-male, female and neuter-called bland. Tedla is a bland and the only (bland) representative of its planet to ever leave Gammadis. Gammadis was first contacted by old earth when Tedla was in our equivalent of grade school, it was a disastrous contact (much of the disaster surrounding Tedla), and everything was hushed. Until Val meets Tedla, 12 years after its exit from Gammadis, after its attempted suicide in a back alley on a pleasure world and tries to help it. Tedla begins by telling about its life story on Gammadis first as a child or "potential" human and then as a "non-human" Bland. What unfolds is a story so shocking and horrific and at the same time familiar to anyone who has ever read a slave narrative or story of indentured servitude or wives owned by husbands or children used and abused by the adults who are responsible for them. On the surface Gammadis is humanity in a very real Utopian-like future making very real choices all human societies will have to make if we plan to continue as a species. I would almost consider Gammadians enlightened, if not for the status and treatment of blands. When humans first colonized Gammadis they lived on the surface of the planet and reverted to their old-earth destructive habits of destroying the environment, over-population, etc. As a forward thinking "enlightened" culture they decided to make permanent cultural changes to forever change Gammadis's destiny from following the destructive path of earth. An excellent and laudable ideal. One such change made was not living on the surface of Gammadis. Instead they developed technology which allowed them to live underneath the surface of the planet, completely underneath. On the surface were temples where Gammadians worship and are one with nature and the environment-but no construction or environmental damages exist on the surface of Gammadis. Instead there are elaborate living quarters under ground which have night and day settings and are very airy. Another cultural change made to protect Gammadis from going the way of old-earth is to change the family unit. This is a brilliant move, which changes much more than simply population control by abolishing familial ties, imagine what politics would look like in this nation if there were no family ties? Also serves to destroy differences caused by social castes-you can not inherit your families wealth, power and position if there is no family-which serves to level the playing field for everyone. There are no longer mothers, fathers and children-much less aunts, uncles, cousins, grand parents-further leveling the playing field. Women still have babies, but after the babies are born they go to a creche where they are raised with all of the children born in their generation. Niether the woman who gave birth nor the man who's sperm was used to impregnate the woman have any knowledge or involvement with the "child", it is simply handed over to the creche. In the creche children sleep in round rooms naked on the floor and play with their peers. They are primarily taken care of by blands and are over-seen by the humans in charge of each particular creche. Abolishing families also abolishes much of the population problem. Women are not really wanting to have one baby, much less multiple children-they can not keep them and so get none of the pleasures associated with parenthood. Without a baby pregnancy is a major inconvenience and woman are financially and socially compensated for giving birth by Gammadian society. Lack of family units also acts as a societal equalizer, there are no family ties or bonds to cause preferential treatment in employment or education. Of course preference still exists, but it is much minimized by lack of family unit. Fascinating solution for population control but the methods to control the population do not stop with an end to families. Gammadis goes one step further with an attempt to end gender issues as well as helping to keep the population down. All children on Gammadis are born neuter with the "potential" to become human(male/female) in their teen years. All children are primarily treated equally, of course more attractive children are doted on, people will be people it seems even in sci fi. At the entrance to the teens,12-13, all Gammadian children become either human (male/female) or non-human-bland (neuter). Blands are considered to be slow, stupid, alternately sullen and happy, lazy and a responsibility for the poor humans (male and females) responsible for making all decisions and caring for them. Tedla has the great misfortune to go to sleep a neutered "potential" human child and wake up a non-human bland. Tedla prepares itself to loose all of the intelligence it currently has, as blands are unable to learn after they leave childhood and become blands and slowly began to forget what was taught them in childhood. Blands live in what is referred to as "grayspace"-a sister community built side-by-side underground with humans. Blands ease their weight on society by being maids, cooks, gardners, butlers, etc to the humans entrusted with the care and responsibility of the world and of course, blands. In essence blands become slaves. No "human" washes clothes or toilets or cooks their own food or even puts their own clothes away. Blands wait until humans have left for their "important" responsibilities to society and then come in through their own doors from grayspace and clean up unseen after the humans. They also prepare all of their food and some blands even serve as "personals"-like a butler, maid and assistant all in one. Tedla is attractive and intelligent and as such starts training as a personal. What Tedla uncovers is the complex social, sexual and personal relationship between an owner and ownee, including respect and love as well as pain and depravity. This social situation explores what power does to those that have it, whether they recognize it or not and not only what it does to those without power but as important the power structure created by those that have no power amongst themselves. Inevitably there is sex between Tedla and the humans men and women she is assigned to. Tedla is neutered and as such does not seem to have any sexual feelings but it can still love and hate. The abuse is horrible and compounded by the fact that Tedla can not even share its pain with any of its bland contemporaries because it is forbidden for humans to have sexual contact with a bland. In addition is considered distasteful and disgusting for a human to have sex with a bland. Gammadis social position on sex between humans and blands is of course that it NEVER happens and if it does is probably inititaed by the blands. Yet like most of societial taboos, occurring everywhere, participated in by most and ignored by everyone. The most interesting part of the book for me is how Tedla views itself. It feels it is not human as blands are considered little better than trained animals and not really considered more intelligent. Tedla never questions its place in Gammadian society nor feels itself mistreated until it comes into contact with a representative from the newly united old earth. Old Earth finds and contacts Gammada and sends a team of researchers to study Gammadian society and its drift from old earth society. Tedla is assigned as "personal" to a researcher who is part of the first contact team from old earth allowed onto Gammada. He is appalled at the treatment and classification of blands and attempts to teach Tedla some pride and at the same time study the role of a bland in Gammadian society. What follows is Tedla's characters growth from a bland into a human. With all of the guilt that goes along with stepping so completely out of the place society has made for you, whatever society that may be and whatever role you may play in it, to a place where you alone are the first to live this change. No one else like Tedla exists and to even exist as it is Tedla must leave home, Gammadis. Yet once away from Gammadis, Tedla gains a university education and has many interesting insights into human culture both Gammadian and old-earth. How much sexuality effects our everyday life, aspects of human culture that is rarely even examined. Its horror at constantly being related to as either male or female. People do not know how to treat or handle a neutered gender, even the word "it" carries derogatory connotations in reference to a person. Choosing, upon leaving Gammadis, not to have a sexual gender but to continue to be neuter. Its startling observation that blands exist in every society, that "blands" are in fact the fodder that allows the wheels of society to turn. Tedla comes to not be angry at what was done to it. To, in fact, see that it began with the best of intentions, as a way to control population. The Gammadian solution to eco-friendly living fascinates me. I can see how it could have begun as a few simple steps to change so humans can live in harmony with their environment. I can even see how neuters were created, as a way to selectively control who procreates. At first I am sure blands were simply members of the population that were learning disabled and/or truly not fit for much more than manual labor and even that heavily supervised. Yet, as with many things that start out with the best of intentions, it went wrong from there. As the society grew and became more compled, there became a need for more and more blands. After all who was going to do the laundry and cook the meals and clean the rooms while the others were involved in the important business of running the world. Then, it became a reward for achievement or a status symbol to have a "personal" bland to see to all of your needs. Well, who wants an unattractive learning disabled neuter as their personal maid, butler and assistant? So, of course, more children were needed to become blands, whether they fit the original "bland" ideal or not. How can this problem be addressed, ever, when it is a societal standard to ignore the existance of blands all together? How often do societies ignore and not speak about or even develop taboos problems or solutions to problems that are not effecting the important or normal members of society? Yet, if Gammadians admit that this practice has gotten out of control, that blands are being mistreated, are in fact becoming slaves-what does that say about their advanced society? Gammadis is a near Utopia allowed to exist by the sacrifice of blands, eerily relevant to how we live as a "civilized" society today. How many on this planet go to bed every single night hungry and malnourished-how much food do I throw away a week? How many people on this planet are dehydrated or unable to grow crops or even maintain basic hygiene and how much water do I waste everyday while I brush my teeth and take 2 showers/baths a day?I have never read a book like this before. One of the main reasons I enjoy sci fi so much, good sci fi, is that it allows the reader to safely look at the failings of our present and past society-morals, values and equality. Sci fi allows us the opportunity to see from a view not clouded by gender, sexual preference, racial ethnicity, religious trappings or often even humanity, not triggering the readers own identification and therefore biased view of a group or class of people. With a fresh eye we are able to see and compare horrors from this fictional world and race of beings to our very real world and human beings. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to have an equal or equitable society? Is it possible to be truly advanced, civilized, enlightened and treat everyone fairly-will we ever have such a society? The world of the Gammadians almost reminds me of the idealistic world of Star Trek where people are honest and work to better themselves-not for personal gain. It also brings to mind where were the unseen "blands" of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek world? For the one thing Halfway Human taught me without a doubt is that the station that blands fill exist in all societies, even or should I say most especially ours.
~~~~Where you go, There you are!