科幻世界的性别重构——论伊恩·M·班克斯的《游戏玩家》

Reconstructing Gender in an Imaginary World:On Iain M.Banks' Player of Games

当代苏格兰作家伊恩·M·班克斯十分关注人类的性别身份问题,他在科幻小说"文明"系列中设想了未来人类自由转换性别的双性同体模式。《游戏玩家》作为"文明"系列的代表作,在性别问题上挑战了激进女性主义关于生育问题是两性平等关键因素的观点。小说引入中性人主导的、以游戏胜败决定个人社会地位的专制帝国"阿扎德"作为参照物,指出了激进女性主义者坚持女性气质的优越性可能走向本质主义,引发新的性别不平等。因此,他设想了一种灵活的生理性别,既可以实现性别平等,又可以保留性别差异,并尊重女性作为母体孕育后代的传统生育观。性别问题只是班克斯思考社会问题的一个剪影,他对人类本性中的"自私和互相仇恨的冲动"深怀戒心,认为本质主义思维如同一种历史的回声,作为"原始的东西"隐藏在人类本性之中,不但威胁着两性平等,更威胁着理想"文明"社会的未来。

The contemporary Scottish writer Iain M. Banks concerns so much about the gender identity of human beings, that he designed an androgyny future for human beings in his science fictions,＂ the Culture＂ series. As the representative of ＂the Culture＂ series,Player of Games poses a question about feminism ：would the improving status of traditional female identity result in radical feminism and bring about a new unequal gender relationship？ Therefore, Player of Games offers a solution by designing an unlimited changeable gender for individuals in ＂the Culture＂, and sets an autocratic empire ＂Azad＂ as both a reference and a con- trast. In his assumption, the possibility to transform one＇ s biological gender could not only dissolve the obstacle between genders, keep the diversity of sexes, but also provide an alternative choice to maintain traditional maternity. However, Banks realized that this utopian future for human gender equality is hard to realize. Es- sentialism as an influential way of thinking will always hide inside the deep mind of human beings,and be a dangerous and destructive element in the future Utopia.