*G* Yes, a lot of why I'm having a very different reading experience this time around (though it's fine when we're in Estraven's pov,) is because of all those years of people thinking about gender more deeply, and the enby community refining its terms. I'm a different person with a different understanding now, so of course it hits me differently. I still remember when it was one of the very few lifelines I grabbed onto in my teens, and I'll always be grateful for that :)

LeGuin's writings stand up much better to revisiting than CS Lewis's, who was also a big favourite of mine at the time. She is not merciless as he can be.