ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Gender in speculative fiction

Okay kiddo, so you know how there are different types of people in the world, right? Like boys and girls, and some people who are neither boy nor girl. People call this gender, and it's something that's really important to who we are and how we see ourselves.

In stories and books, there are also different types of people, but sometimes they are not like the people we know in real life. This is called speculative fiction. In this type of fiction, authors imagine and create new worlds, with new beings and different ways of living.

So when we talk about gender in speculative fiction, it means that the author is imagining what gender might look like in a different world. This can be really interesting to explore because it allows us to question and challenge our own assumptions about what gender is and how it works.

For example, in some stories, there might be a world where gender works differently than it does for us. Maybe everyone is the same gender, or maybe there are more than two genders. These stories can help us see that there are different ways of being in the world, and that's okay.

Sometimes, stories use gender to explore important ideas and issues. For example, a story might have a female character who is really strong and brave, but she has to fight against people who think that girls can't be like that. This can help us think about how people sometimes use gender to limit others, and how we can work to change that.

Overall, talking about gender in speculative fiction can be a really fun way to explore new ideas and perspectives. It helps us to see that there are many ways of being in the world, and that everyone's experience is valuable and important.