When I started reading this in April I struggled, 1960s writing alongside exams was not working for me, but starting it again in June I flew through it! The world of Winter was so cool, the whole book is a very interesting exploration into what a world devoid of sex would do. What would society be if there was no permanent men and women? And no potentially for endless sexual attraction? Later in the book where sex was being medically policed by the prison systems was particularly interesting to me, the passivity it caused was a curious result of ensuring that no one could feel sexual attraction via being unable to enter kemmer (the phase once a month where a person develops either the capacity for pregnancy or to make someone pregnant - there is no recreational sex).

I liked that the story wasn't simply Genly's perspective. The inclusion of folk tales, the previous mission by the Ekumen, and Estraven's POV was great world building and allowed us to experience a Genthian perspective. I would be interested to know how different the book would be if it was written now. I saw someone call Genly a misogynist and although I disagree, he is incredibly essentialist in a way I would expect Terran's not to be by the time we're part of an intergalactic organisation. His perception of masculinity vs femininity was expressly challenged by the existence of "hermaphrodites" and maybe that was part of the point. That it's not a transient prediction of the future but rather a reflection on contemporary views of sex and gender.

The length of the book was perfect, being only 245 pages created a succinct story that still had down time and opened questions, without getting too inside itself. It's definitely a classic of science fiction for a reason. (Also yes I do think they had sex in the tent...)