…Or at least, female-presenting.
I don't know how I got that idea in my head. Maybe because I'm a woman myself. Despite it being referred to as, well, it, and despite it clarifying that it didn't have any sex characteristics, I read the entire book with a sardonic, mechanical, female voice in my head, and assumed that it had a slightly feminine face.
It might have been bolstered by the part where it says that it doesn't want people to look at its face because it's "not a sex bot." While I'm not suggesting that male sex bots wouldn't be taken advantage of in a scenario where they exist too, that's a theme that's historically most tied to women's issues.
So imagine my surprise when I used an Audible credit on the audiobook and the narrator was male! I was, to be honest, disappointed. No shade on Kevin R. Free, he did a great job narrating… it just took a lot of adjustment. Still a great book. Just a funny thing I had to get over.
(And to clarify, I understand that Murderbot as a character is not male either. At least, not in that first book. Not sure if it goes through any identity things in later books.)
by Wickersnap
26 Comments
So did I. I didn’t actually realize until afterward that Murderbot was genderless.
I honestly wonder if people generally read Murderbot as their own gender, if they read Murderbot with a gender (and read it as opposed to listened to it, where they would obviously be influenced by the narrator choice.)
Add to internal confusion that the upcoming Murderbot show on Apple TV is being played by Alexander Skarsgård! Wonder how they will portray it. I’m looking forward to the show!
Have you read *Lock In* by John Scalzi?
Honestly I unabashedly change anything I don’t like out of books. My headcanon is untouchable. In my little version of the book, people and places are exactly what I want them to be, no more no less. This is especially true for me reading books that don’t have a lot of diversity, because I would prefer to read about people who look more like me.
You are not alone, I thought Murderbot was more female than male. I was surprised when I saw that Amazon was casting a male in the role for the upcoming series.
I think it’s partly because I’m female and partly because the author is female and the voice comes through in the writing.
I think that it would be difficult to have a totally androgynous voice come through the writing; it would be great to have an androgynous person in the role though.
Sorry, as someone else said it’s Apple TV not Amazon.
I read Murderbot as a female presenting character and still do. I think for me it’s because Martha Wells is the author. And Murderbot is very sarcastic not unlike my wife.
Regardless I’ve read up to the 6th book and they’re really good. The fourth book was a lot longer than the others and I haven’t read 6 or 7 yet but I recommend you stick with the series.
Same. Thought it was female.
Was slightly shocked when a man was cast in the role on the tv show.
Will probably watch and enjoy the show and still reread in a feminine voice. Does that make me mentally stubborn or flexible haha?
Speaking as a guy I also thought of murderbot as having a female voice despite the pretty early clarification of being genderless. In all honesty at this point I don’t know if I could listen to a male narrated audiobook version. I’m in too deep.
Yup. Should have had the narrator with neutral gender voice. I really think a strong masculine voice would detract from the character. That said, I assume the narrator was approved by Martha Wells? Or maybe not.
Me too! I read the first one, listened to the 2nd on audiobook and was surprised that it was a male narrator.
It’s written by a woman, it might have been narrated by a male by luck of the draw. I feel, as others have said, that inserting yourself is a normal thing
I’m male, and read secunit as feminine. Even more weirdly, I read ART as masculine.
I did too and I think it was because I knew the author was female.
Interesting experiment is to ask friends who have read the books what gender voice they are hearing as the narrator in their head. The actual gender is decidedly “none” so it’s intriguing who hears what.
For me and sister it was solid female. Husband heard male, female friend thought “young male.”
The weary, fed up with everyone’s crap but doing your best tone is very female to me. 😆
I know it’s supposed to be genderless, but she’s a woman to me and I love her 😌
I knew MB was essentially genderless but still more or less depicted them fem leaning in the minds theater.
I’m a trans girl which probably doesn’t help.
I pictured the Murderbot as agender. I like who they cast for the role for the movie, but I never pictured a hot dude
I’ve always leaned toward Murderbot being androgynous but more on the feminine side. Pretty sure I only think that way because masculine characters are often angry and quick to upset, but Murderbot is very laid back and just wants to watch its shows.
In later books when forced to Murderbot describes it’s gender as “not applicable”. When trying to pass as human it lists it as “indeterminate”.
I read it the same way as well and now am kinda surprised this wasn’t specified somewhere in the book. It must of been the author being female that made me assume it was the case or something.
As a man reading the book I thought Murderbot was female. Or more accurately clearly not male.
I know! I think the great thing about neutral characters is as a female (or male) reader you insert yourself into the narrative. Then I saw the promo pics for the movie.
I (56m) logically knew that it was genderless in the setting. But my head canon always had a hint of the feminine in it. No clue why. Maybe because the author is. Or some subconscious thing in the reading. But something gave me that impression too. The show will be a bit of an adjustment.
That’s actually my main problem with both the audiobook and the show. EVERYONE reads Murderbot a little differently in terms of leaned gender presentation colored by their own experiences. That’s kind of the beauty of Murderbot, that it exists outside the concept of human gender.
I’m non-binary and actively imagine genderbot as being the platonic ideal of androgyny in a sort of hypothetical way. Like I can sort of vaguely see it in my head.
They really should have gotten super androgynous actors for both the audiobook and the show, imho.
Interesting. I only ever listened to the audiobook, so it was always masculine to me. I understood it was technically genderless, but I still imagined masculine features.
I wonder how I would have interpreted it if I had read it first.
I always thought of Murderbot on the madculine/NB border, but I can see that viewpoint.
I think this conversation says a lot about us as readers. I need to do a reread.